VINCENT
“Where’s your blushing bride?” I asked, coming into the kitchen the following morning to find Dom fixing a breakfast tray with food he’d prepared.
Eggs, bacon, pancakes, waffles, fruit, orange juice.
“In bed,” he muttered.
“How’d last night go?” I swallowed and watched him.
He was frowning, his green eyes downcast and his shoulders heavy.
He shook his head. “It didn’t. I caught her and brought her back. She fell asleep halfway here and stayed that way all night.”
“So your union is unconsummated? Nice.” I grabbed a pancake off the platter he’d made and poured maple syrup over it. “I can fix that for you if you’d like.”
“Hell no,” he growled. “I got it.”
“She hates us.”
“Tell me something I don’t know, Valentino.”
He shot me a sour look as he adjusted the glass of orange juice on the tray before looking back at me.
“Your face looks like shit.”
“She hit me with a lamp when I went in to get her ready for last night.”
He raised his brows at me. “She did?”
I nodded. “Nearly knocked my ass out. She’s wild, man.”
A tiny smile touched his lips. He’d smiled more in the last few weeks than in the entire time I’d known him. It made me happy to know one of my best friends was in love with the girl of his dreams. She was the girl of my dreams too though. Levin’s as well.
“I know you just married her and all, but do you think I could see her—”
“No. Both you and Levin need to make an appearance at school today. We need to decide what we’re going to do with Fallon when you get back. I’m not his fucking maid, so me nannying his ass isn’t going to happen.”
“How about I stay behind and take care of things here, and you make the appearance—”
He shook his head. “I know you want to see Bianca, but I need to get her to talk to me without trying to take a swing. I need this. Please. Just give me a couple days.”
“Fine,” I grumbled, hating it but accepting it.
“Besides, it should be me who fucks my wife first.” Dom picked the tray up and glared pointedly at me.
“I get it.” I gave him a tight smile and watched as he left the room.
Levin appeared a moment later.
“Dom said there was food.” He stalked past me and grabbed a pancake, stuffing it into his mouth.
“I don’t know if that son of a bitch is going to let B off her chain long enough for us to have her again,” I said glumly.
I’d always trusted Dom. He’d never steered us wrong before. I still found it worrisome though because with B he was different. And that difference was fucking terrifying.
“He will. If he doesn’t, I’ll just take her.” Levin shrugged and grabbed another pancake like it wasn’t a big deal.
I sighed, knowing it wouldn't be that simple. “Dom wants us to make an appearance today at school. We’ll go there, smile like fucking assholes, then come back.”
“What would be the difference?” Stella sauntered into the room, dressed in her uniform, her dark hair in a high ponytail. “You’re always assholes.”
I gave her the finger while Levin ignored her.
“Dom made breakfast. Eat then we’re leaving,” I said, nodding to the small stack of pancakes.
She wrinkled her nose. “No thanks. I don’t do carbs this early in the morning.”
“You’re a fucking party animal,” Levin muttered, grabbing another pancake and stuffing it into his mouth.
She sneered at him and picked up her backpack. “When do I get my phone back?”
“Never. You know what Dom said. You have the burner we gave you. It’ll have to do.” I snatched my bag up from the floor as Levin moved forward.
“This is stupid. I’m not dumb enough to betray the kings—”
“We’re not willing to find out. We can track what you do this way. If you fuck up and talk…” I made a neck-slitting motion which made the blood drain from her face.
Levin shuffled past me and snagged a black bag off the table, slipping it over Stella's head without a word before he went outside.
She sighed as I gripped her hand and led her out. She may have an arrangement with us, but she still didn’t need to know how to get to our safe house.
We followed Levin out to his car, and I slid onto the passenger seat after stuffing Stella into the back. I’d dumped the priest back at his house last night, vowing to filet him like a fish if he ran his mouth about what went down.
“Dom wants us to figure out what to do with Fallon,” I said as Levin backed out of the garage and onto the two-track dirt road through the forest.
“He’s not talking. I’ve tried. Without bumblebee, he’s dead inside and doesn’t give a shit. He has nothing to live for,” he said gruffly.
“Do you blame him?”
He shook his head. “No. I’d be the same way, I guess.”
“Me too. So what do you think? Should we just kill him and bury his ass?”
“You can’t kill Fallon,” Stella cut in, her voice muffled through the bag. “Hail will lose it if Fallon is murdered. Like, Fallon is very important to the lords. Hail always talks about his skills.”
Levin snorted but said nothing.