Page 13 of Kaz
He noticed a few empty camping chairs and decided it was a safer option than the rickety lawn chairs. He dropped intoone with a heavy sigh, knowing he should be elated, but finding himself anything but. Miles wasn’t supposed to see any of this. He’d wanted Miles to see a man put together and in charge of his own life. The leaking roof and rotten siding didn’t exactly paint a great picture.
A bump to his shoulder had him glancing up, a beer right in his face. He took it and grunted out, “Thanks,” before taking a gulp. Wilder took the seat next to him, and while he tried to ignore his friend, he could feel his gaze on him.
“What?” he grumbled, glancing over at Wilder to find the man watching him with his head cocked to the side, a contemplative look on his face.
Wilder narrowed his eyes, then sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
“If you’re gonna do something stupid, I would like to be informed of it beforehand,” Wilder said, making Kaz regret putting forth the vote that made Wilder his vice president.
“Fuck off.”
Wilder’s brows jumped, and he looked pointedly across the fire pit at Miles. He’d regretted telling Solo and Wilder about Miles the second the words left his mouth. Solo had told him to grow up, resulting in Jane laughing and telling him to take his own advice. Wilder, though? He’d given him a long look, then said, ‘I think you hurt yourself before letting others get a chance to.’Wilder’s words had struck true, and when he’d followed them up with,‘But it’s not like you to hurt others in the process,’he’d felt something tug hard at his heart. Guilt. Shame. He had enough of it that if it had been currency, he’d be a millionaire by now.
“I mean it, Prez,” Wilder said, giving him a stern glare. “Don’t mess it up again.”
“Easier said than done,” he muttered, scowling when Wilder arched a brow at him.
He sighed and took another gulp of beer, grimacing when he found it already lukewarm. The warm weather wasn’t going to do them much good during the renovations. They needed to stock up on water bottles and sunscreen. The last thing he wanted was for someone to get heatstroke.
Laughter drew his attention away, his gaze clashing with golden browns across the fire. His whole body came to life in an instant.
They stared at each other for what could’ve been a split second, but felt like an eternity he never wanted to escape. He’d always been drawn into those amber eyes like a moth to a flame. He’d only had a few weeks of Miles looking at him with something other than hate, anger, or annoyance, but he’d still missed that look in his eyes. He’d missed Miles looking at him with soft creases around his eyes and that wry smile on his lips. He’d missed their quiet moments the most. The way Miles had seemed to understand him in ways no one else could. The way most never bothered to.
Emma and Miles headed toward the patio, and he found himself standing a second later, his beer shoved into Wilder’s hand.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Miles
HE WANTED to get settled into the room he’d be sharing with Emma for the foreseeable future before it got too late and he’d have to navigate his way through a bunch of drunk idiots with guns and overinflated egos. Whoever decided that arming the twins was a good idea had to be out of their damned mind. Then again, they’d also armed Nicky, though he wasn’t sure if that made them any saner.
He followed Emma outside to grab his go-bag from the car. The fact that he still had one probably spoke volumes to his state of mind. Despite the assassin who murdered his parents being long dead, he still felt that niggling in the back of his mind sometimes. One of his fathers was an outlaw biker, and he’d always had a go-bag for the whole family at the ready. He’d just continued with the precaution way into his adult life.
He pulled out his car keys and clicked the button to open the trunk, stopping in front of it to stare down at the toolbox he also always kept at the ready.
Was he really doing this? Spending the next few weeks with Kaz so close? With his biggest mistake walking around giving orders? Could he do it without losing his sanity? If he got his damned attraction to the man under control, then maybe?
“What’s on your mind?”
He looked up to find Emma watching him with a line between her brows, golden-brown eyes gleaming in the outdoor lights.
“Nothing.”
Her brows jumped, and she gave him an incredulous look.
“Right. Because my overthinker of a brother would definitely be thinking ofnothing.”
He barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes.
“Fine. I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“Like what? Kaz?”
He blinked slowly, his jaw clenching tightly.
“Wanna talk about it?” she asked, brows raising.
“No,” he said through gritted teeth and reached into the trunk to grab the strap of his bag. He pulled it over his shoulder, ignoring his sister’s raised brow as he shut the trunk and trudged back toward the crumbling building he dreaded spending even a night in, and not just because he feared the foundation might give and the roof could cave in.
