Jake flashed me a grin. “We got a new mission. Your boy share the details with you? We’re going international, baby.”

I slightly grinned back at Jake, but then Raize straightened. “Don’t call her that.”

Jake’s eyes got wide, and he stepped back from the table. “I wasn’t thinking.” He held up his free hand. His other hand had a mug of coffee in it. “No disrespect intended.”

Raize frowned at him, side-eyeing him. “Have you handled your shit with your woman yet?”

The grin was wiped clean from Jake. He lowered his hand, and his mouth went firm. He shook his head briefly. “I made that call about my mom, but I’ve not handled it yet. I will.”

Raize gave him a brief nod before returning to the blueprints.

“What are you looking at?” I asked as I moved to stand on Raize’s other side, sliding onto a chair with its back to the wall. I was facing where Raize was standing, but rested my coffee on the table by his gun. I moved that over, too, just an inch.

“This is Marco’s main estate.”

My eyebrows shot up. “You got blueprints for that?”

“I got ’em before I left there.” His eyes were steadily on mine. “I knew what I was leaving behind.”

Right.

I glanced at the guys and neither seemed to be paying attention. Cavers was still cooking. Jake was looking toward the living room, lost in his thoughts.

Gus, well, he was infatuated with his bone.

Cavers brought over a plate and handed it to Jake before asking, “When do we leave?”

Raize glanced my way, then to Cavers. “This has to be swift and fast. Eat, then pack, and clean. We go in an hour.”

Jake paused before he took a bite of his omelet. “Do we not want to cross over at night?”

“Going down isn’t an issue. We’ll cross south of Phoenix.”

Cavers nodded. Jake went back to eating.

I was the only one who kept watching Raize, and he went back to studying the blueprints.

I knew he’d have everything figured out if he didn’t already, but we’d do what we did by now.

We’d go down. We’d get his sister. We’d come back up.

There might be some casualties. I was willing to bet it wouldn’t be on our side, and then we’d handle it afterwards.

Raize said before that we were going to war, but that statement was about Roman going after his brothers. But this move, this was the first on a chess board and this was the first act of a whole different war.

And I was in love with Raize.

I’d follow him into any type of war.

As if sensing my thoughts, he didn’t look at me, but he reached out and his hand intertwined with mine. Two of his fingers curled around mine.

We stayed like that until everyone was done with breakfast.

After that, it was time to start another war.

52

Ash

We didn’t fly, but drove.

I was assuming the large arsenal of weapons in our two trucks were the main reason. Just a guess. Raize drove. I kept him company. Every six hours, we’d switch.

Jake liked gossiping. He mentioned once it was the romantic side in him. I wasn’t sure if I agreed, but okay then. I got him to open up about his woman.

She was named Tracy.

She was a hairstylist.

She was funny.

A romantic.

She would snort when he’d tickle her.

She was also a reformed biker woman, but I didn’t know what that meant.

I wasn’t sure if Jake knew either.

She had big hair, and he missed her.

He didn’t tell me that last part, but it was easy to figure out. Once he started talking about her, he wouldn’t stop. When it got to Cavers, he was more quiet, but I found out that he was not into women.

“Really?” I sat almost facing him. “I had no idea.”

He kept facing forward, only glancing at me with the faintest of grins. He tightened his hold on the steering wheel. “Why’s that surprising?” He shrugged his big massive shoulder. “I’m strictly dickly.” That got a full smile from him.

I smiled back. “Do the guys know?”

His head folded down on that, just a bit. “Raize does. He gives no fucks about who I fuck, which is cool because that’s not always the case. Especially in this world.”

He hadn’t mentioned Jake.

I did then. “And Jake?”

He was quiet, still not commenting.

But, another shrug and his jaw tightened. “He made a ‘gay’ comment the other day, but I can’t tell if he’ll care. He might’ve just said it, not thinking. Some guys are like that, but… no. He doesn’t know.”

That sucked. A lot.

“Are you seeing anyone?”

He shook his head. “No. Not for a while. This life, it’s too hard. I mean, it’s not hard. There’s apps, but I don’t know. We’ve been locked down for so long and before that, I didn’t know if I was going to live after I got sent to work for Raize. Bronski’s a fucking dick. You worked for him?”

My gut tightened. So did my jaw. “For a few days.”

“That’s good.” He glanced over, giving me a sad smile. “That it was only for a few days.”

“I shot him.”

He nodded, that smile turning grave. “I heard.”

“Yeah.”

We drove in silence after that. Somehow the need to fill the space wasn’t there anymore and it was another two hours before I spoke up.

“Are you the boyfriend kind of guy or having fun type of guy?”

Cavers started laughing, the sound ripping through the cab. The entire mood lifted and once his laughter faded, he said, “I’m both, and when I start seeing someone serious, you’re the first one I want him to meet.”

“Good.” Then, “Raize knew?”

He nodded. “He saw a guy checking me out at a gas station. The only thing he said was that if I fuck someone, to keep my mouth shut about all of us and no relationships. Jake broke that rule.”

Yeah. Jake was the one to break that rule.

“He really likes her, you know.”

“Who?” The words were out before I caught myself. I knew who he was talking about the second I asked. I flushed. “I know.”

“That’s going to be a problem.”

Another nod from me, and this one felt heavier than the last. “I know.”

“Raize finds out, he’ll go back and kill her.”

I looked at him.

He was watching me, but turned back to the road ahead. “She ain’t you. Don’t know a lot of females who could get where you are. Jake either has to disappear or she will.”

Yeah...

“Jake doesn’t love her, but he likes her and that’s the problem. His situation is an all or nothing sort of situation, but he ain’t treating it like that. He’s not thinking right. He doesn’t believe Raize will go back and kill her. He thinks she’s in the clear, but it takes one time, one moment when she gets curious.”

Each word he said was making me shrink into my seat. Further and further until I felt so small.

“I know, Cave.”