Page 3 of The Devil's Pair

Dux straightened it in front of him with a wince. “Better. I’m glad we’re stopping, though. I could use a bit of a walk and a stretch.”

“Yeah, I bet you need a stroll.” Briley pulled on her coat, bracing herself for the chill and wind. “Plus you’reancient, right? Need to keep those creaky old joints flexible, huh?”

Two pairs of stunningly-blue eyes stared at her now, surprise and amusement shining out as clear as day. The twins seemed to like nothing more than her teasing them, and she liked nothing more than having them both smiling at her at the same time, so it was win-win, really.

“Who you callingold, babe?” Dux said. “Just ‘cause you’re practically atadpoleat thirty-three –”

“So are you saying thatI’mold too?” Drake said, switching off the ignition. “Because I’ll just point out that Dux is eleven minutes older than I am. Surely that counts for something?”

“Nope,” Briley said, batting her eyelashes at him. “Not one jot.”

“Not a single jot,” Dux said sadly. “Gosh. You’re jot-less.”

“It’s a tragic day, one with no jots,” Drake said. “How to carry on? How?How?”

“I guess us almost-forty-five years olds just have to lie down and wait for death.” Dux climbed out of the van, raised his gorgeous face to the sunlight. “But lunch first, right?”

“Yep,” his brother said. “Everythingwaits until after burgers. Thus has it always been, and thus shall it ever be.”

“Is that from the Bible?” Briley asked as they walked to the restaurant. “Is that the part that you wrote?”

Both men burst into hoots of laughter.

“Jesus, darlin’.” Drake held the door for her and ushered her in. “You have a sassy mouth, huh?”

She smiled at him as Dux helped her take off her coat. “Sometimes.”

“And what do you do with that sweet mouth the rest of the time, when it ain’t sassing innocent old people?” Dux asked her. “Maybe it doesnicethings once in a while?”

Briley cocked her head at them, briefly taken aback. This wasn’t the first time that the twins had said something that felt really,reallyloaded… and despite the joking, teasing words, they also seemed to have a serious undertone, a current of sensuality. Like maybe the men werereallyasking; like maybe they weremorethan just flirting to pass the time as they all drove from Utah to New York, and now back west again.

Briley had been alone in the van with Dux and Drake for almost ten solid days, ever since the group of them had peeled away from The Garden of Divine Light, leaving Gideon dead on his back and his Guardians and women-servants keening and wailing. She still felt incredibly guilty about the women but she knew that Wolf Connor, President of The Road Devils MC, and Ice Johansson, the ice-cold blond beast who didn’t seem to possess a single emotion, were staying on top of things.

It seemed that they had contact with someone in law enforcement – someone high up, maybe as high as the FBI – who was paying attention to the cult and its activities. Briley was nothing but shocked that that cocky little piss-ant Michael seemed to have abandoned the Garden completely and disappeared into the night, and that things had basically fallen apart in the wake of his escape. With no clear leader in their midst, the cult hierarchy seemed to have just crumbled, leaving a group of very confused people sitting amongst its rubble.

From what Dux and Drake had told her, it sounded like only a handful of Guardians were still on the loose: three had been killed in the assault on the compound, three had been arrested, and the remaining four had made a bee-line for New Mexico. As for the ten women, they’d been left behind in Utah to fend for themselves, and all Briley could think was that they were dead weight and would have slowed the men down as they fled the state.

She was totally sure that the four Guardians would simply regroup, recruit and rebuild; they’d just find a new Garden to grow. After all, Gideon had started his cult in the desert almost fifteen years ago and even when he’d moved to Utah, he’d kept the New Mexico facilities open and staffed. It made perfect sense that the Guardians had run there when everything had gone up in smoke and they were looking for safety and to start all over again.

It wasstilla source of great amusement for her that someone named ‘Ice’ was camped out in the wilds of sandy New Mexico at that exact moment, stealthily surveilling the Desert Bloom compound. It was because of his presence there that Wolf knew as much as he did – despite his glowering, terrifying size and unforgettable appearance, it seemed that Ice was, in real terms, one hell of a spy. The twins had told her to never,everbet against Ice Johansson when it came to protecting the MC and its interests, and she was quickly learning to believe that.

“Well,” she said now, wrenching her mind away from a vivid image of the cold-as-ice Ice burrowing up to his neck and sweltering in a sand dune, peering through binoculars. “My mouth gets up to all kinds of things, boys.”

“Dotell,” Drake said. “In great detail.”

She leaned forward and watched those identical sets of eyes widen in anticipation. “My mouth… orders a Cobb saladand then goes to call its good friend Cheryl.” She sat back again and flashed them a grin.

“Awww,” Drake said, clearly heart-broken. “That was a bit of a let-down.”

“Abit?” his brother asked.

She stood up. “I really am going to check on Cheryl now, so would you guys please order for me? Salad and some green tea?”

“Yeah, sure, darlin’.” Drake smiled up at her, devastating her with those damn eye-crinkles. “Say hi to that sweet girl for us.”

Briley nodded and headed over to a quieter section of the restaurant, semi-hidden behind a wooden partition. For no reason whatsoever, she looked around before pressing the ‘1’ on the burner to speed-dial her friend. She knew that there was zero chance that Michael was lurking around the buffet, but still – the fact that nobody actually knew where that sick little fuck wasdidgive her pause. She’d feel better when he rolled up to the Desert Bloom compound and Ice got eyes on him; it was just a matter of time before that happened, surely, because whereelsedid Michael have to go?

Pushing down hard on the flutter of worry that moved in her chest whenever she thought about that pathetic, twisted man, Briley listened to the phone ring on the other end. She sent up a quick prayer that Cheryl was still doing OK in her new life in New York.

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