Cam cringed. “Really?”
Rubi just laughed, but it was cut off by an outraged screech from next door, the downstairs room Nash had built to be a day nursery for the twins.
He got up.
Mateo stilled him. “I’ll get her. Take the help while it’s here.”
Nash sank back down in his seat and took over where Cam had left off, exchanging a meaningful glance with Rubi—one that had me noticing how close the three of them were sitting, like they’d been plotting shit all morning before the rest of us had arrived. “Staying on the subject of utilising land, we’ve finally made a decision on what to do with the fields we bought last year when none of you were around to take the rum away.”
Laughter filtered round the table, from everyone except Alexei who shot all three of them a barbed look.
“Make it good, zolotoy mal’chik. Or your treasurer may refuse it.”
Nash cocked his head. “You already know everything.”
“Some.” Alexei leaned back in his seat. “But I am all ears for the rest, so continue.”
Nash folded his face into comical obedience. “Can’t claim credit for this, cos it was all the big boss man?—”
“And Remy,” Cam cut in. “He was telling me how he met Logan and then we got to talkingabout...”
“Festivals,” Rubi took over. “Being so ASBO and busy over the years has meant we don’t get to go to many anymore, but it’s something we all loved back in the day, and it was a big part of club culture until the O’Brians got their rowdy selves banned from all the local ones.”
“Not just O’Brians.” I threw a thumb at Embry beside me.
He rolled his eyes. “That fed had it coming.”
“Either way,” Rubi continued. “It was a pipe dream of ours to build one of our own when we were younger and dumber. Even the parents were into it, but they started dying before we could make it happen, and life got in the way.So...we’ve decided it’s time to put that right.”
I blinked. “You’re going to put on a festival? At the club?”
“Weare, Riv. You and Nash know all the bands and musicians in the South West, so we’re going to need your help building the line-up.”
“When?”
“Now.”
“Eh?”
Rubi grinned. “Once we got the queen’s approval, we set things in motion back in January. Barring any acts of God or natural disasters, the inaugural Rebel Fest will take place at the end of August.”
Stunned silence rippled around the table.
Donovan objected and made enough noise that Mateo passed her off to Cam.
She let out another indignant squawk.
“Don’t start, missy.” Cam shifted her to his other arm, the one without the bullet hole through his shoulder. “I survived a childhood with your mother.”
It broke the quiet. Rubi talked more about logistics and tapped Folk and Decoy to handle security, Locke the health and safety, and even Alexei seemed happy with the numbers Cam and Rubi produced while Nash looked everywhere but at the laptop they passed around.
Only Ranger stayed quiet, and when the festival talk died down, I jabbed a finger at him. “What are they making you do for this shit?”
Ranger glanced at Cam.
My brother nodded and the air in the room shifted enough that even Donovan shut the fuck up.
Still, though, Ranger rose from his seat and took her, staring at her big blue eyes, hertranquileyes as she wrapped a little hand around a lock of his messy hair. “Brothers, your future sounds amazing, but I can’t commit to anything, cos I don’t know if we’ll still be here.”