Page 114 of Love Thy Brother
“Right now.”
I didn’t miss the urgency in her tone. Or the ominous hum in the air.Orthe fact that River was attending church and it didn’t feel particularly out of the ordinary.
Don’t get used to it.
I scrubbed a hand down my face and nodded to Orla. “All right.”
She melted away. I hauled myself off my hog and drifted across the yard.
A full house awaited me. Despite Saint’s V-rod being MIA, he was already there, spinning in his seat. Embry was slumped in his, fatigue as deep and unwelcome as mine creasing his face.
River was by the window, shoulder propped on the glass, gaze latched on me. I wanted to go to him so bad, my soul ached, but Mateo wasn’t back yet.
I went to Embry first, reaching him in the same moment Nash filled the space on his other side. We didn’t look at each other, but together we stared the good father down, and it was me who asked the question. “What’s wrong, Em?”
Embry took the energy drink Nash held out. “I don’t know.”
That gave me pause. Embry was as terrible at talking about his own shit as the rest of us, but his deflection was usually more imaginative.
I edged a little closer, fighting to keep my attention on a brother who needed me instead of the prickly human who owned me body and soul. “You in pain?”
Embry blew out a breath and shook his head. “Not really. Just tired. Like, I-can’t-keep-my-fucking-eyes-open tired.”
I saw it then, the weight of something unseen bearing down on him. I watched him sip the energy drink and exchanged a glance across the table with Cam. “Does Mats know?”
“That I’ve got random narcolepsy?” Embry scowled. “Not exactly. But he knows I’m sleeping more than a fucking sloth and he’s making me go to the clinic after the weekend.”
“That’s good enough,” Cam rumbled from behind me. “Leave him alone. We’ve got shit to do.”
I gave Embry a one-armed hug and obeyed my president, dropping into the nearest vacant seat. With Mateo still on the road and Decoy with Ivy, there were spare seats at the table, but River remained by the window, stance as casual as it ever got when he was around club business.
Cam pounded his gavel.
Silence fell.
“It’s been a fucking day,” he started. “Don’t know about the rest of you, but I didn’t have a suburban gas explosion on my itinerary.”
A faint laugh went around the table, but it was short-lived. All of us knew Cam well enough to gauge his expression for what it was. Some shit was about to go down. Bad shit. Like always.
My temple throbbed in time with my anxious pulse. Like a weak motherfucker, I sought out River in the same moment he seemed to look for me. His gaze locked with mine. The chapel faded out. For a split second, it was just him and me and my heart settled.
Then Cam spoke again. “We’ve got a double bubble of intel. I’m gonna start with the county lines crew so we can get moving on that before we come to the rest of it. You good to stay?”
He spoke to River.
River blinked, tearing his gaze from me. “I can stay.”
“Take a seat then.”
“No.”
Cam rolled his eyes. “Do a fucking handstand for all I care.”
“Children,” Alexei intervened, smooth and deadly. “We do not have time for pointless conversations. Get to the point so River can make his decision.”
I sat up straighter in my chair. “What decision?”
“Patience, old one.” Alexei held up his hand. “There is a lot.”
