Joe shrugged. “Nah. They get on. It’s how I know Malone’s a wrong’un.”
Lies. Joe and Saint got on just fine. It was howIknew the animosity between Joe and Cam was more habit than real. Didn’t know why Saint was here, though. He’d fronted most of the money for the stable build we’d offered Joe in return for keeping the horse Liliana had outgrown, but I found it hard to believe he’d rocked up for a site inspection, and with Cam and Alexei still elsewhere, I was probably the only person he’d tell.
I left Liliana with Rubi and picked my way to where he stood, half expecting him to ignore me. But he turned as I approached and tilted his head, a faint smile tugging at his lips.
Then he shocked the shit out of me and opened his arms, drawing me into the latest in a long line of fraternal embraces I’d had today, but from him, fromSaint, a brother I hadn’t seen since he’d left the haulage run, it meant as much as Alexei putting a blade to my scruffy jaw had yesterday.
I hugged him back, surprised how long he let it go on for. How chill he stood in my arms instead of vibing like a trapped animal. “All right?”
Saint shrugged, easing away like we did this shit every day, as if it wasn’t the first time since he’d hugged me right here on this farm on my wedding day. “I wanted to see you.”
“I’ve been at home for a week.”
“I wanted to see youhere.”
“Why?”
His shoulders rose again, his only answer. But I could live with that. I’d known Saint a long time and I’d never wasted much of my puny brain power trying to figure him out. If he was out of words, he’d find another way to tell me. Or he wouldn’t and I’d never know, a scenario that seemed more likely as Saint reclaimed his tree and resumed his stare-down with Shadow.
It was my cue to go back to Liliana, but turning my back on him didn’t come easy. I glanced between him and the huge black stallion. “Careful. This one bites and he means it.”
That smile warmed Saint’s face again. “But look at you now.”
“I meant the fucking horse.”
Saint just stared.
I shook my head and walked away, joining Rubi and Joe at the ring fence while Liliana saddled Casper and got him ready for her lesson. “Where’s Clemi?”
Joe’s daughter was almost as cute as Hope and I liked hanging out with her while Liliana rode, especially now she had a new horse twice the size Chappie had been.
“Inside with her mum.”
Distracted by Liliana, Joe barely glanced my way. Beside me, Rubi made a sound like he needed an explosive shit.
Joe ignored him and walked away.
I shot him a glare. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Nothing.”
“Why are you all red?”
“That’s not the question.”
“What is the question?”
Rubi held out his tattooed hands, opening them like a book. “What’s yellow and invisible?”
I sighed, knowing he was going to tell me and I still wouldn’t get it. “Go on.”
“This bag of popcorn.”
“What?”
Rubi’s grin expanded into Cheshire Cat territory. “You’ll see.”
Like Saint, that was all I was getting, and I let it go to watch my kid mount her huge horse and ride him like a boss, brighter and younger than I ever saw her at home, pure joy lighting her face. It made me think of those crazy months I’d spent tunnelling under a crooked wall to get to her. All those years I’d spent playing cat and mouse with a cartel boss who wanted my head on a spike and my daughter’s virginity sold to the highest bidder. Every moment I’d survived to live this one and every moment after it.