Vicky:He does not want to talk on the phone
Rubi:Call him anyway. I’ll sit on him till he picks up
Vicky:That is not necessary. Let him be
Rubi:You’re too nice for him
Vicky:That will never be true
Rubi:Is Riv okay?
Vicky:No one will be okay until you are all home
And there it was: proof that Viktor was a little sweetie pie, and honestly, it annoyed me. I didn’t have room in my heart to love more dragons. And then this pretty knobhead came along making me laugh, rolling me perfect zoots, and loving Ranger the way that feral spaniel had always needed.
Fucking-A.
The passenger door ripped open.
Ranger rolled into his seat, as moody as when he’d left. I made an executive decision and called Viktor onmyphone, tossing it at Ranger’s face as his one true love picked up. “You’re welcome.”
It was my turn to exit the cab and stomp off, but stuck on the motorway, I had nowhere to go but the hard shoulder in search of Decoy and Mateo.
I found them eight trucks back, flanked by the other brothers on the road with us, our last few miles together before they peeled off and left Bertha and the Bone Rattler in a clique of two.
Decoy was out and about, pacing while he talked on the phone. I expected Mats to be smoking somewhere, but he’d taken a pew on the cold ground, leaning against the giant wheels of the biggest HGV we owned, drinking water instead of smoking like it was going out of fashion. “Out of cigs?”
Mateo took the hand I held out and hauled himself to his feet. “Nah, just saving them.”
“You want some of Ranger’s baccy? I took three pouches off him yesterday.”
“Don’t get me involved in that carnage.”
“It’s not carnage. It’s keeping him busy.”
“Keepingyoubusy more like.” Mateo blew on his hands. “You’d be fucked if you only had me to pick on.”
“Nah, I’d just hide your sandwiches.”
Mateo blanched.
I cocked my head. “What’s up? Road belly?”
“Fucking right. If I eat another burger, I’ll die.”
He rubbed his stomach and leaned against the rig again while I snuck a closer look at him. Mateo always had sex hair and scruff, whether he’d just rolled out of Embry’s bed or not. But he never looked as tired as he did now. As battered, as if maybe being on the road this long with a marathon still to go was getting to him too.
I gave him a one-armed hug. “We’ll find some real food tonight. Get a cab somewhere or some shit.”
“Okay.”
Decoy came up on us as Mateo’s underwhelming enthusiasm fizzled out. He always had a serious mug, but his deep frown diverted my attention from whatever had Mateo so fucking miserable. “What happened?”
“Doherty came through the compound.”
Instant fury flooded my veins. “Which Doherty?”
“The old man.” Decoy stole a cigarette from Mateo and lit it, something he only did when he was stressed as fuck or drunk enough that he forgot he’d quit years ago. “He asked to see Nash. Got Cam and Folk instead.”