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“I’m ten times better at this than you are. Hence the reason you’re sitting up there on a perch.”
“No, I’m up here because my tolerance for the dick down there is at an all-time low.”
I could almost visualize the rage still boiling in Xander’s dark eyes. He’d impressed me with the length of time he’d managed to keep his cool during the meeting with Andraius. The asshole had tapped out my reserves of calm, so I knew Xander’s bordered on desert dry.
Thank God Theios Alex possessed this ability to focus Xander and give him purpose to channel his rage into a mission. Because the moment we’d entered Theios Alex’s office, he’d seen the turmoil boiling inside his son.
First, Theios Alex sent Xander to work his magic in the Caves with some less-than-forthcoming snitches, and then he’d worked with us on a plan to handle the next few weeks.
“Did I touch a nerve?” I asked.
“Fuck off. Some of us don’t have ice pumping in our veins instead of blood.”
We both knew this wasn’t true, considering my reaction to his question about us from earlier in the day.
“Are you jealous that it makes me better at work in the Caves than you?”
“You’re one sick motherfucker.”
“As Theia Brenna would say, pot meet kettle,” I said. “Besides, for me, it’s a means to an end. Not something I enjoy.”
“I swear, my mother likes you more than me.”
“You say to-may-to. I say to-mah-to.”
“Will you shut the fuck up and let me do my job?” Xander muttered.
“Our job just walked in.” I focused on the dining room entrance, where Simon Drakos, his wife Nyx, Andraius, and Nerine walked in.
The couples were deep in discussion. Well, all except the Angel. She observed and listened.
The glow of youth and mischief no longer lit up her features as they had five years ago. Instead, she carried herself with control, caution, and watchfulness.
She probably meant to carry off an understated look tonight with her simple silver gown and minimal jewelry, but nothing could hide her striking beauty.
She’d inherited her mother’s model features and height, making her as tall as Andraius at just shy of six feet in her three-inch heels. And then there was her body, curves in all the right places, perfect in every way.
She was a woman born for people to notice.
Although she’d lost weight in the last few years, something I’d seen from afar and couldn’t do anything about.
If what Xander and I had with her had become public knowledge back in the day, it would have caused problems with our families, but eventually they would have gotten over it.
Having our past come out now would get all of us killed.
As if sensing me watching her, Nerine’s cobalt blue gaze lifted to my corner of the room and homed in on me. Her lips parted for the briefest of moments as that familiar surge charged between us.
Memories of our past filled my mind, her nails scoring my skin, her mouth swollen from kisses, her body writhing between Xander and me, and her throaty moans and sighs. But, most of all, it reminded me of the long nights of talks, secrets, friendship, love, and laughter.
The next second, she looked away, breaking the connection and leaving the longing and pain behind.
“Fucking hell,” I muttered, not intending for Xander to hear.
But of course, he had.
“We’re playing the long game, Theo.” Xander meant his words to bring me back from the pit, but seeing her only emphasized the chasm separating us.
This was why I stayed in the shadows whenever I returned to Boston. I never wanted to chance running into her, especially knowing I’d failed her and was part of why she lived with the man who’d destroyed her family.
