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“What do you need to get this done?” I ask him.
He gently strokes the back of my neck almost absently, like he’s thinking. “I want to be left in a room with whoever’s there. My bet is that Rhys will want to stay with me. And I want you to scour the ship and record with this, looking for anywhere that those fuckers can hide something. Or someone.” His fingers trail down my arm, and then he presses something against my palm. It’s the size of a button.
“Camera?”
“Pin it to your jacket. No one will realize what it is.”
He’s not wrong. It’ll blend in to the leather, and there’s enough metal shit attached to me that no one’s going to pay attention to that.
“And you?”
“Already taken care of,” he says with a smirk. He starts to let me go, then curls his hand around my elbow, and he kisses me. It’s possessive and it’s slow and it’s hot. It reminds me that we haven’t spent a lot of time together in a while. Not since Kane was brought home and since Alice and I have been trying to give our god his offering.
Phoenix pulls back and goes to his own coffee while I add cream and sugar to mine. It’s barely coffee by the time I’m done with it, but it’s exactly the way I like it.
“Do you have any idea who else it might be if it’s not Aldis or Rhys?” I finally ask as I cap the mug and tuck it against my ribs by my stump. I can’t take my bike if Phoenix is coming, so I snag the keys to the Bentley that Kane will strip flesh from my back for if anything happens to it.
Phoenix, who is pulling one of his canes off the wall, turns his head back toward me. “No. There are too many in the family who would see Alice as a way of seizing power. People always thought Kane was weak, especially after he brought us here and turned this place into a fucking fortress. And I think marrying Alice might be a step too far in their eyes.”
I feel immediately defensive. Not because of who she is—though I can’t deny that’s part of it. But she’s so bloody much stronger than anyone gives her credit for. She’s been trapped her entire life and neglected, yet the moment she was set against her family, she fought.
She embraced us and this fucked-up life, and for that, I’m beyond devoted.
It also helps she might be carrying my child, but I haven’t let myself think about that over the last few weeks. I’ve been watching her like a hawk for even the smallest symptom, but it’s far too early to tell.
Besides, Kane has been leaving her tests on her vanity every morning, and so far, nothing. I know he wanted an announcement for the party, but it’s entirely possible that even though I’m the only one with sperm in my balls, I might be too broken to provide us this one thing.
“James?”
I’ve been quiet too long. Clearing my throat, I glance around the room, then start toward the door that leads to the garage. “Let’s go. We’re taking the Bentley.”
He laughs behind me as he follows, and I hear the gentle tap of his fingers as he touches the cars while we pass by them. I unlock it as the garage opens, and I wait for him to get settled before starting the engine and making our way out.
It’s bright and warm, which I appreciate, and I throw my shades on as I lean back. Phoenix has his face in a patch of sun, and I wish I could reach over and touch him. He looks his age, but not in a bad way. He wears the years on his face better than most men.
The silver just now starting to show in the shadow of his facial hair is beyond sexy, and I get off more than I like to admit by dragging my tongue over the lines at the corners of his eyes. I think he knows it, though he rarely says anything about it.
“Tell me what you’re worried about,” Phoenix says once we hit the freeway.
I’ve developed a new habit of double-checking our tracking system in the car, though I know Phoenix has it under control. “Things feel unstable,” I admit once I’m satisfied. “I’ve always known that we live adjacent to a rat’s nest. Kane made sure I was never naïve enough to trust just anyone, no matter how they were related to him. But if you’re right about this, this is a step too far.”
He nods, his jaw tense, and his fingers play along the door handle, feeling out the dips and grooves. “I don’t like it either. This isn’t the world I wanted to come into when he finally set me free.”
There’s a tinge of bitterness in his voice that will probably always live there, for the rest of Kane’s life, if not his. I don’t blame him. There are times when the scars on my back twinge, and I hate Kane a little for them. Even if those scars were a mark because I almost cost Phoenix his life.
It’s hard to feel okay in a world of pain, but I’ve known so little else.
“I know we’ll get this handled,” I eventually say.
Phoenix says nothing, but the sigh he offers tells me he’s listening, even if he doesn’t completely agree.
* * *
We reachthe docks where the yacht is waiting. We’re sailing to a small island off the coast, but most of the party will start here. We haven’t spent a lot of time on it since Kane rarely liked to stay away from the manor with Phoenix at home. There were times he couldn’t help it, so he always brought at least one of us with him, the other to stay behind and get rage-fucked by Phoenix, who was pissed about being left behind.
The nights I spent with Kane on the deck were odd. They were intimate in ways I never expected. He didn’t allow anyone to speak to me for long or to linger in my presence. He kept a hand on me at all times, and it made me feel strangely wanted and a little underestimated.
Part of that, I know, is Kane’s trauma. Nearly losing Phoenix had done something to him that couldn’t be reversed. And that paranoia extended to us once he brought us under his protection. Now, with Alice, he’s going to be unbearable. The only difference is we’ll all be there with her.
