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“Detective, I’m so—”

I cut the call. Each step to the other end of the bus feels like trudging through mud. The storm is gone and Kelsey is asleep. Kodiak has an arm wrapped around her middle. He won’t leave her.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want to stay. I grab my clothes and reluctantly dress.

I’m after her heart and—despite what happened between the three of us tonight—giving him a chance to get in the way of us is agony.

I want to slide back under the blanket and hold onto her for as long as she’ll let me. Even if this chink in her armor only lasts until the sun rises.

Fuck Sonatina and her demands and her backstabbing, blackmailing bullshit. I promise you, Little Vandal, I’m going to get us out of this situation. I’m going to earn back your trust and your heart. We’ll be a duet again.

I promise.

23

Kelsey

“Hey, Kelsey.”

I glance up from the book I’m reading as soon as I hear a long-missed and familiar Maddox voice. He’s loitering in the doorway of my hotel room in Houston. A cautious smile flickers on his face. “Rebel. Oh my God.”

I drop my Kindle and jump off the bed. I haven’t seen him in so long and my whole day is instantly better for it.

“Oof.” He exhales when I slam into him.

My arms go around the man I always kind of wished was my big brother. One of them. Rebel and Rogue were the package deal of older brothers. But Rogue was the funny one and Rebel was the one you went to when shit was bad. The one who would happily start a war if he thought someone he cared about needed protecting.

I’d almost told him about Marco a few times, but every time I tried the words wouldn’t come. If I couldn’t tell Riot, there’s no way I could tell his older brother. Besides, what if he tried to do something about it? I was living with thugs. I couldn’t risk Marco or his father retaliating.

Rebel hugs me back. Both arms around my head. “Good to see you too.”

“What are you doing here?” I pull back so I can see his face. “Is Summer here? Oh, you have little ones now. I want to see all the cute baby pictures. Tell me all about them. How’s Rogue? Ivy? Dizzy came to visit a couple of weeks ago.”

I’ve missed such a monumental two years for all of them.

His smile weakens. “We’ll get into all that in good time. Though Rogue is here with me. He’s currently hunting down our baby brother.”

“He’ll probably find him with Sonatina Savant.” Do I sound bitter? Because I am. I let Riot in when I was vulnerable, and two seconds later, he went running back to Sonatina’s side like a fucking lap dog.

Shame on me, really. I knew better. I just... needed him. And he’d been there. He’d let me put him in his place and call the shots. Watched Kodiak fuck me without any expectation that I would let him be a part of it.

Yeah, I probably need to not think about that. Especially with his brother in the room. I turn off my Kindle and grab my boots. Slip my feet into them and tie the laces before slouching into my jacket.

He’d been there the night I’d been followed through the dark streets of downtown Vegas, too. And he’d been trying to be before Sonatina decided she needed him on her arm. We were going to go home and say goodbye to our baby girl.

And he’s trying to protect me from Sonatina. In his own fucked up way. That I didn’t want or ask for. And it has as much to do with L.A. Riot as it does me. So yeah, whatever. He can go eat a bunch of dicks.

“Yeah.” He runs his thumb over his lips, almost like he’s zipping them shut. “Can’t say I like this new development. And that’s part of the reason we’re here.”

The way he says that. “Is there another part?”

“We should wait,” he says.

I thrust my hands in the pockets of my jacket. “They’ll probably still be at sound check.”

“Actually, we’re back.” Kodiak fills the space behind Rebel. He checks out Riot’s older brother as he walks around him. “Rebel, right?”

“Kodiak.” Rebel tips his chin.