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“All I’m saying is West has the connections to fix your problem. Or... he’ll hand it off to Soren. He could get the FBI involved. Either way...”

Involving law enforcement is exactly what we need to avoid until we can prove Sonatina fabricated the evidence and Kelsey isn’t involved. “This is my problem. One that I need to work out how to fix myself.”

“I get that.” His gaze darts off to the side and turns warm. Willa comes into the picture, and he pulls her onto his lap. “How was the hockey game? Did they win? Where is Ward anyway?”

“In the shower.” She kisses him. “I told him we wouldn’t celebrate until he washed the stench off. Oh, hey Riot. How’s Kelsey?”

Cozy between two of my bandmates. “She’s not really talking to me yet.”

“I can’t say I’m not impressed with that. You were a dick from what I heard. She should be making you suffer. You’re lucky Dizzy vouched for you. She was insistent that you used to be a good man, and that you’ll find your way back—”

I scratch the back of my head. Cringe. I really fucked up and I’m the only one who was too blind to see it. “I’m trying to.”

“Make sure you do, because I sent Kelsey a pair of my shoes.”

Micah pales. Deep lines around his eyes stand out for a second. “Damn, Hammer Time.”

That reaction seems disproportionately bad for a pair of shoes, but then Willa is friends with Dizzy and that puts whatever she’s done on a whole other playing field. “I don’t want to know, do I?”

“Invest in a cup,” he tells me. “And do the right fucking thing by her. That’s all the advice I can give you.”

“Bye, Riot.” Willa flutters her fingers at me as she gets off Micah’s lap.

“I have to go.” He stands. Bends to the screen. “I’ll keep looking into Sonatina. We might not be able to get her via the money, but experience tells me there is always something to uncover on people like her.”

He disconnects the call, and I pocket my phone as I grind out the end of my joint. Let’s hope he’s right because I can’t keep being her bitch while Kelsey gets further and further away from me.

I stride the length of the buses. Since Bronx, Golden, and Kelsey all decided to make Kodiak’s bus home when Sonatina took over my bus, I find myself gravitating here too.

It’s not unexpected since the band has always stuck together like a family except for a short period when Kodiak first joined us after Neil passed. We’d already lost two members of our family, so it took us some time to warm up to him. We weren’t ready to let in another who could leave at any time.

I climb into the bus. Jasper is posted up front with a book on psychology and the human experience. “Light reading?”

He grins. Nods.

I enter the front lounge. It’s tiny when the four of us guys and Kelsey are in here. Probably why Jasper stays up front as much as possible. But I’d still rather be here than stuck with Sonatina and her crazy desire to make our relationship real.

I grab a beer and take a quiet seat at the table since they’re all on the bench opposite the TV.

Kodiak’s arm is around her waist as she leans into his side.

Her bare toes are under Bronx’s thigh while the three of them play a video game. She keeps moving her feet, distracting him from his game until he loses.

He’s been with her too. I can tell by the way he looks at her. Lucky bastard got forgiven so easily.

I want to pretend it’s because there’s less between them. Less to lose. But I’d be kidding myself. Her friendship was everything to him.

He could tell her anything. She was the first of us to know that our bro was into guys as well as girls. She was the first to find out when he had a boyfriend. There to console him when they broke up. And she never gave him anything but love.

The way she loved us all... I’m the reason they lost that. If I had just been wiser to what that bitch was capable of. If I had said no to that drink... if I had kept Kelsey glued to my side...

Bronx grumbles but hands her the controller, in favor of resting his hand on her knee. His long fingers stroke the inside of it like his thoughts were never on the game anyway.

Have they taken her fantasies any further? I haven’t once seen the three of them disappear into a room together, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t.

It eats at me. Her fantasies are no longer my business. They’re not something we’re learning about and experiencing together. If she is living her best life in that way, she certainly isn’t involving me anymore.

Even when we were at each other’s throats, she wanted me to be a part of them. But now... She told me she wasn’t mine, and she’s made that very clear since then. Always cuddled up with Kodiak or Bronx. Or the two of them, like she is currently.