Page 113 of Love Thy Brother
Orla:You didn’t have to. Now repay the favour.
Rubi:Nash is fine too.
Orla:RUBI
Oh.Oh.
Rubi:Locke doesn’t want to leave. Why isn’t he a fireman anymore?
Orla:I don’t know. Is he okay?
I careened backwards, straining my neck to get a better look at where Locke stood, flanked by Nash and Cam. He looked all right, but the tension banding his shoulders made mine ache in sympathy. Scratch that, it made them flare in agony, a bolt of pain shooting through them to the base of my skull, felling me with an instant migraine.
Fuck’s sake. I straightened, rubbing my temple. But Thor was in a shitty mood and he thundered back at me, blurring my vision.I need to puke.It was the only thing that ever relieved the pressure in my skull.And sex.Oooh. But River wasn’t here, and I knew I was in for a world of fun before my body played its trump card and purged my fucking soul.
In that moment, I wanted River so badly it was a physical ache stronger than any pain I’d ever felt. It nearly drove me to my knees, but Cam was all up in my face before I could buckle.
“Saddle up. We’re riding out.”
“Yessir.”
I had no shoes on. I tramped back to my house and found my boots. Stowed the half-cooked dinner in the fridge and trudged outside with my riding jacket hanging off my shoulders.
Cam was already mounted and ready to fly.
Locke too.
Nash gave me a lingering glance. One that saw every inch of me. “You good to ride?”
Nope. But I had to be. River wasn’t here, and being without him wasn’t an option. Not anymore.
I started my hog. “I’m good. Let’s roll.”
Newsflash: I was not good, and Nash knew it.
Cam and Locke roared away, leaving Nash caught between guarding our president and babysitting me, and despite the MOT our friendship needed right now, the struggle was real.
I jammed my helmet on, blocking him out, revving the bobber, crying on the inside as the powerful engine made my whole body tremble with pain.
Don’t ride. You can’t fucking see.
Couldn’t tell if it was my conscience or Nash’s pleading with me.
Either way, I ignored that too.
The ride to the compound was hell. Nash chose Cam and burned ahead to flank him, but any hopes I had of being left alone were dashed as Folk appeared from nowhere on his Fat Boy.
He tailed me all the way back, only peeling away when we were safely through the gates to park with the riffraff.
I barely noticed, too busy straining my sore eyes for any sign of River. Decoy’s car was where it should’ve been. Saint’s bike was MIA, but that meant nothing. Brother was never where he was supposed to be.
Neither was River, though, and I needed his spiky presence more than Saint’s silence right now.
I parked my hog and eased my helmet off. Late afternoon sun assaulted me. I winced before the body of a blessed sister blocked it out.
Orla took my helmet. “He’s in the chapel. Alexei called church.”
“Now?”
