“You’re the boss.”
“Not when we’re naked.”
She slunk past me and headed outside.
I followed with the trays and set them down where Cam was working the pizza oven, moving the hot embers around to create optimum heat. The oven was safe. I’d checked it a dozen times. But I checked again anyway until something hit the back of my head.
Nash. He’d tossed a fuckin’tomatoat me.
I chucked it back.
Missed.
He gave me the look.Stand down. Cos he was the only one who ever called me on the compulsion tocheckthat I’d never shake. Lo thought that shit was normal. I knew it was triggered by trauma and disaster, and I didn’t need to give either of those fuckers my energy tonight.
I moved away from the oven and found a seat near Folk. He was alone, scribbling in one of the ledgers Decoy kept his meticulous notes in. “What do you even write in those things?”
“For Seth it’s lists.” Folk stuck his pencil behind his ear. “I write things to make him smile.”
“Like what?”
“None of your business. I heard about the house.”
“Already?”
“Rubi was emotional about it. I was around to listen.”
Sounded about right, but Folk’s attention didn’t waver. “It’s going to be a big year for you three.”
I tipped the bottle I’d brought from the chapel to my lips, fighting to stay awake now I was settled. He wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t in a place to talk about that yet. I sought refuge in beer and let my gaze skate around the compound, taking it all in while I enjoyed being close to a brother I loved as much as if we shared blood. “Ranger’s still MIA.”
Folk was drinking tea, the gentle caffeine buzz the only chemical thrill he could handle these days outside of the natural highs he found in love and life. “He’ll surface soon.”
“You think?”
“He’s usually in touch with Finch by now.”
I gave him a look.
The barest hint of a scowl creased Folk’s features. “Not like that. They haven’t been together in years.”
“I know. I just like winding you up.”
“It doesn’t wind me up.”
Bet it did. But I let it go and let my mind drift to what I remembered of the last time I’d seen Ranger. “You think he’s okay?”
Folk shrugged. “Last year was crazy and he gives a shit more than he likes to show us.”
“He’s never been gone this long before.”
“I know, but Jean’s getting old. I can’t see him not being here for her birthday next month.”
I wasn’t so sure. Ranger and his beloved nanna had a unique relationship. They loved each other to death, but liked their space, living their own lives. It wasn’t unthinkable that Ranger could be gone far longer than a few months, and contemplating that somehow putViktoron my mind. I still hadn’t translated his note, and I considered passing it to Folk while he didn’t seem to have anything else to do, but we were interrupted by Saint and Alexei appearing like ghosts from a graveyard. Folk was sharp enough that perhaps he’d heard them coming, but I hadn’t, and Saint’s sudden presence at my side shocked the shit out of me.
He was too nice to leer like Alexei did sometimes when he caught me off guard. He offered me a fresh beer.
I took it—we were staying on the compound tonight so Rubi and River could go home—and opened my mouth to say thanks, but a flash of Orla’s dark hair distracted me. Hell, everything about her was distracting, but I zeroed in on her face as Cam offered her the first pizza out of the oven. The blanch. The hand over her mouth as she backed off and said something rude enough that Cam turned away from her without a response.