“Yup.” Locke’s features darkened. “Six cans deep and having a wank behind the wheel.”
My lip curled. “Why are men so...men?”
“Couldn’t tell you. I drive lorries with your brother. With Saint. Trust me, the last thing I’m thinking about is my dick.”
That made me laugh. I burrowed closer to him, gaze drawn to the sunlight casting hazy glitter in the early morning sky, finding solace in his steady heartbeat beneath his brother’s clothes.
“Logan likes you.”
“Hmm?”
“My brother.” Locke let his other hand creep over my hip, his fingers finding the bare skin of my lower back. “He’s cordial with Kara, and she trusts him with Willow and Nicky more than she does me half the time, but they’ve never been friends.”
“They don’t like each other?”
“More that they don’t understand why they ever had to try.”
Locke’s phone went off again, a different tone.
Alexei. Fear gripped my heart, and tension flooded Locke too.
He opened the message Alexei had sent to the council group chat.
Laughed, flashing me the screen.
Alexei:This man is a comedian.
Alexei:All this time I did not know.
Alexei:How does one stop this?
Another crack in my heart healed over. Nash wasn’t a natural clown like Rubi, but he was an absolute menace if he was bored. Poor Alexei. The accident hadn’t killed Nash, but he might. “How long till we can rescue them from each other?”
Locke checked the time. “Three hours.”
It was official. The world had stopped turning. Locke lifted me onto the workbench and stood between my legs as we both faced the window, watching Mother Nature welcome a new day, leaving our hellish night behind.
“The boys will be here soon.”
I sensed the smile in his voice before I looked up. “Excited?”
He shrugged. “I wish we were here for different reasons, but yeah. They’re my pals and it’s been too long since I hugged them.”
This man. Every time I thought I couldn’t love him any more, he opened his mouth and let swoonsome magic like that fall out. “You want to go back?”
“Eh.” He pulled a face that took years off him. “I can live without seeing Bec.”
“Logan’s ex? You don’t like her?”
“I’m a gentleman, queenie.”
“And I’m your woman.” I poked him. “Give me the tea.”
Locke restrained me, his grip firm enough to make me forget we were having an actual conversation. “I don’t hate her.”Bec.Logan’s ex-wife. “And I’m kind of glad she fucked Lo over cos it brought him to Remy, but I’m never going to willingly share oxygen with someone who caused my brother so much hurt.”
“Ugh. You’re so reasonable. I’d have punched her in the tits.”
Locke snorted, believing me. “I’m worried I’d let you, so we should probably stay up here until she’s gone.”