No one laughs. Instead, Blake says, “You fit right in, Pri. These guys are always volunteering to get themselves killed for the greater good. Fortunately, we always find a way to get the job done and keep everyone alive.”
I fit right in.
There is a pinch in my chest, a past pain, and now my demons are the ones asking me to dance while they declare permanent residence in my life. Fitting in is exactly what I wanted once upon a time. And then I discovered fitting in can come with a price. With my father, that meant giving up my soul. If fitting in here means giving up someone else’s life, then I’m not okay with that.
I start to turn away from the group when Blake says, “Pri.”
I glance back at him. “Use your technology as needed,” he says, “but full disclosure. I forwarded your calls to that phone. I’m also listening in. You have zero privacy right now.”
“Your team signed confidentiality agreements and I have no private life. I can forgo privacy for the greater good. I just want to catch Waters.”
“Right there with you,” he replies and Savage, Adam, and Lucifer hold up their breakfast beers, and add a cheer of, “Here, here.”
I almost smile, but tiredness wears heavy. There is no denying the surge of confidence and unity I feel.
I’ve often had a team around me, but until Walker, until right now, I still felt as if it was me against the world. This shift to having a team is all because of Adrian. I glance up at him and he motions toward the stairs. We head in that direction and travel to the lower landing, side by side, but without words.
Two flights down we pass through a lower level complete with a fancy full bar, a living area, and a pool table on our way to a hallway, and then a door. Adrian opens it and motions me forward. I step inside the massive, master bedroom with its own bathroom, and expect him to follow, but he does not. He lingers in the doorway.
I turn to face him, expectancy in the action.
Instead, I get his command. “Rest. It’s been a hell of a ride.”
“You’re not staying?”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea. And I want to check on my brother before I lay down.”
His rejection punches me in the chest and I hug myself, fighting the impact. “All right,” I say, “but I wanted to tell you that I was wrong to question Walker. I know they didn’t betray us. I’m not used to having people I can trust around me. I’m lucky to have them working on this and I know that’s because of you.”
He draws a barely perceptible breath and then says, “You’re still trying to make this about trust. You still don’t understand.”
I step toward him. “Adrian—”
“Rest, Pri. We both need rest.” He backs up, shuts the door, and then he’s gone.Chapter FifteenADRIAN
I head upstairs, where I hunt down my bag that thankfully hasn’t been put in with Pri’s stuff, and just when I think I’ve escaped a conversation, I hear my name.
Grimacing, bag on my shoulder, I walk into the kitchen where Blake is sitting at the kitchen island. “Shower and sleep, then conversation,” I say, “unless you have a location where I can go kill Deleon.”
“I do not,” he says.
“Sleep it is,” I say. “Where’s my room?”
“With Pri, asshole,” Savage says, “Make up with her before you screw that shit up.”
I grimace and start to turn away but stop myself. “Rafael? Anything from the team watching him?”
“He’s good, man.” He glances at his watch. “He’s in Paris, right about now, on stage, performing.”
Thank fuck, I think.
With a nod of appreciation, I turn away, jogging back down the stairs. Me and my bag end up in the downstairs bedroom, where I find a duffle on the bed. I don’t know who’s claimed this room and I don’t care. It has its own bathroom, which I’m about to claim.
Tossing my bag on the tiled bathroom floor, I strip down. The lure of the hot water is real and I step under the showerhead, and soap up, washing away the weather and the forest, but I can’t wash away my sins or my mistakes that keep piling up. I press my hands on the tiled surface of the shower, chin to my chest, those sins, and bad decisions eating me alive. My inability to stay the fuck away from Pri is eating me alive right along with them.
The door to the bedroom opens, and my first thought is Pri. She’s looking for me. Adrenaline drives away my weariness and I turn off the shower, yank the towel from above and wrap it around my waist. Opening the door, I step out of the shower to find Savage leaning on the doorframe between the bathroom and the bedroom. He wiggles an eyebrow. “I had no idea you liked me like this, Adrian.”