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“Cameron’s involvement means we have contingencies to make.” Checking the door again, I jerked my head toward my room. I needed to rinse off the chlorine, and if they were insisting on having this conversation, they’d have to deal with my bare ass.
As expected, they each found a place to sit while I sorted myself out. “Not interested in watching me shower?”
“That’s Mari’s thing, not mine,” Dominic answered, tossing himself on my bed. Nate nodded, finding a chair at my desk. I waited for the warning bell to ring with him so close to our most private information, but it never came. We were family. I trusted him implicitly.
“Didn’t think playing hard to get was your thing, Dominic. You know you want me.” I made the most ridiculous pose I could think of, sliding the towel down my hips like I was going to flash him.
I got a pillow to the face for my trouble.
“Get cleaned up, asshole. We’ve got shit to sort out.”
At least he was laughing.
Leaving them in my space felt weird, but only because I’d never done it before. Previously, my room had been my sanctuary, but now that things with Mari were solid, her room had taken its place. This was a place I came to when I needed to be alone or to have space to think, but it wasn’t my home. She was, and she always would be.
My time in the shower was spent deciding how to word what I wanted to say, and by the time I was changed and back in my bedroom, I’d figured it out. “I want Mari alive at the end of this, even if it’s just her.”
Neither of them balked, and I expected they’d been thinking the same thing.
“She’s not going to like this,” Nate warned.
“No shit.” The laugh felt rusty and unused in my throat. But I was her husband, and it was my job—no, my right—to protect her.
This wasn’t how today was supposed to end. I was supposed to come home to my loving wife, eat good food, drink good booze, and take her to bed with my brothers at my side. This was supposed to be a reunion for us all, and while we’d connected, it wasn’t the way I’d imagined.
We’ll make it up to her when this is all over, I promised myself. A vacation somewhere far away from the Beckstrom bullshit plaguing our city.
Then again, maybe this was better. A reminder of my vows that, no matter what, I would always fight for her. I would always be hers. The boys may not have stood at the altar with her, but I knew they’d made commitments to her just the same. It was obvious in the way they drifted to her, like she was the thing they orbited around. The center of their universe.
We were Mari’s creatures of the night. And no one, not even her double-dipping cousin, was going to take her away from us.
“I have some people I can reach out to. But they should be last-ditch efforts,” Nate volunteered. I focused on him, fully seeing the burden he carried, and wondered if I’d missed something.
Dominic saw it too and narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms like he was protecting himself from another heavy blow. “You got something to tell us, Beckstrom?”
“It’s Black,” Nate corrected swiftly. There was a moment where I saw him consider keeping his secrets, but a look at Dominic—who still hadn’t fully forgiven him—made the decision for him. “My contact told me it would be best if I avoided using them. The last thing I want to do is end up back in the company’s clutches and away from Mari.”
Dominic huffed, but it seemed more performative than realistic. Was he softening toward Nate already? It wouldn’t surprise me. For all his faults, and there were many, Dominic loved his family. And whether he liked it or not, Nate was part of that family. He wouldn’t have it in him to hold out for too long.
“What about the rival cartel? Would they have any intel on them?” It was the nuclear option, but Cash was years ahead of us, so we had to consider every angle.
“I doubt it, but since I’m already reaching out, I’ll ask,” Nate promised. “Eagle can probably get us a name, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for any way to contact them. We’ll probably have to figure that out ourselves.”
It wasn’t much, but it was a place to start. “Do it.”
Nate nodded, pulled out his phone, and began tapping, though he talked while he did. “I don’t know what the price is, but I’ll see if I can’t get a rescue option for Mari sorted out.”
“Whatever it costs, we’ll pay it. We’ve got more than enough resources to get her out.” Dominic leaned against the wall.
“Not everything costs money.” Nate’s eyes darted to him and then back to his phone. He kept his focus on his message, but I saw the sag of his shoulders, the weight of everything he’d been dealing with.
“Are you okay?”
He looked up from his phone, surprised, and a sigh shuddered from his lips. “He’s unstable, and he’s only going to get worse.”
We weren’t talking about his friend or Cameron. This was his brother.
“We’ll take care of it.”
