‘Their real father couldn’t have been happy about that.’
‘You’d be surprised.’
‘What about the boy?Did Jules feel like your son?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘She needed a parent.You didn’t.’
‘What did I need, Bodyguard?’
‘Drop it.’
‘Why?’
‘I know what you’re doing.Why is this your focus?’
‘Because it’s what you don’t want to tell me and I can feel it.’
‘Of all the things I could tell you,thatis the least relevant part of this current scenario.Everything that happened; Fenwick, the blackout party, fuckingSable Key.Roman.’Lachlan’s throat bobs.‘Danya.The people who died.The things I had to do.You and Mimi… you were my world, and then that world ended.Whether or not you and I—’
‘Did we fuck or not?’Kade cuts across, rudely impatient.‘Yes or no.’
Lachlan looks over Kade’s shoulder.‘Your boss is back.’
Riley comes into the mess hall, flanked by two others who he took out with him.People whoaren’tKade.It’s an insult.It’s unfair.
It’s what he deserves for breaking protocol
Butstill.
Riley scans the room until he spots Kade and signals him over with his usual two-finger gesture.Lachlan follows immediately behind, swiping the last piece of steak from his plate and cramming it into his mouth on the way.
Kade makes a face.‘You’re fucking gross.’
‘I’mhungry.’
Everyone in the hall is staring.
Riley gives Lachlan a cold look.‘Enjoying our food?’
Lachlan wipes his mouth.‘Thsgoothsteak.’
‘How did it go?’Kade asks, whatever “it” was.‘All OK?’
‘Let’s go upstairs.’
They head for the top floor.
‘Uh, boss?Maybe we shouldn’t…’ Kade says, instinctively knows to keep Lachlan out of the Watch,but Riley diverts into Kade’s room instead, dismisses the other two who were with him.
‘This is your room?’Lachlan asks, looking around.‘No blue,thank God.’
‘What’s wrong with blue?’Riley perches on the large, spacious windowsill.
‘He hated it,’ Lachlan answers, touching the quilt, the walls.
