Rubi sucked in a breath, emotion already hazing his eyes. “You leaving us, Roo?”
Ranger nodded. “Jean needs the sun on her bones, and Vik needs to be with his family, so we’re going to take her to the island while she can still travel and let her live out her days there.”
“You’re patching out?”
Ranger gave another slow nod. “Cam gave me the choice, said I could go wherever I wanted and come back when I was ready, but I can’t see that happening. That summer I spent with Vik was wild for all the wrong fucking reasons, but it showed me that I belong with him, and he belongs there, with his family, so... that’s where we’re gonna be.”
It shouldn’t have shocked me that he was leaving, or that hearing him say it punched a hole in my chest. But all those things happened anyway, and it wasn’t just me.
No one was ready for this news.
Locke rose to mark a friendship he’d had longer than almost all of us. Then, with damp eyes, he took his daughter and stepped aside, leaving room for Folk.
Their embrace was drawn out and made Rubi cry. He ditched his seat and came to me, crouching to hide his face for the hot second it took him to compose himself. “Did you know about this?”
“No, boo. You okay?”
Rubi sniffed. “Nope.”
“Maybe you can visit.”
“Have to find my fucking passport first.”
He left me with that grumble and rose to take his turn embracing Ranger.
Alexei sent me a dry look.
I ignored him and turned my gaze to the movement outside that caught both his attention and mine.
Viktor.
The first clue I ever had that he was nothing like Alexei was a moment like this one. Viktor sat on the grass outside, Lida standing over his chest, their noses together in a deep and silent conversation no one was pressed enough to interrupt.
He loves that dog.
And she loved him, and we all needed a love like that. We all deserved it.
Ask him. Ask him. Ask him.
How soon was now?
* * *
Not soon at all. Apparently building a festival in four months flat was as mad as anything the club had ever done. Rubi got sucked into triple checking the numbers with Alexei, and that became our entire lives for the next month. Meetings that felt like war councils, my phone ringing so much I had no chance of losing the damn thing.
And for once, I didn’t even want to. Planning a festival was a fucking ball ache, but Cam, Rubi, Nash... they loved it. The good, the bad, the ugly, and people didn’t die if they made mistakes—theydidn’t die, and that alone made every annoying phone call and never-ending to-do list worth it.
Still, the club’s spring ride out snuck up on me, and Rubi got to be right about me forgetting it was happening until the yard was suddenly crammed with three hundred brothers and their hogs.
I wasn’t in the fucking mood.
Rubi hustled me out of the garage anyway and shoved a dusty leather cut at me. “Play nice. Even the accountant’s coming.”
“If Teddy’s wearing a cut and riding anywhere near the rest of us, I’ll do my part naked.”
“That’s almost worth trying to bribe the mad bastard, but at this point I’ll be happy if you’re just vaguely dressed.”
“I am dressed.”