Chapter Thirty-Two
Zahra
Me:
Hey baby.
So, since you’re in London for the week, and our last operation in Brazil was a bust, Street and I would like to use your house to study the map more.
We need good security and space, and your home is perfect for it because of its safety and freedom within the compound.
I promise we won’t touch the wine or whiskey.
Please …
“There, I sent it. I didn’t abbreviate it for effect. Give it a few seconds, and we’ll get our yes, some expensive wine, and a clear mind to get to work,” I said to everyone gathered around the table.
Devil offered me a pointed stare. “I see no reason why we should go to the compound. There’s enough security here and enough space.”
“It’s the wine,” I answered.
“And the kitchen,” Dog added.
“The game room, too; I got lost in there at the birthday party,” Upper said. “Have you ever tried drinking good alcohol while having a wild 4D experience with cars you know you could never drive?”
“There are also many picture spots for the gram.” Milk shrugged.
Devil sighed. “It all depends on his response. Besides, if Dog plans to cook, he will trash the kitchen; Elio doesn’t like a mess.”
I narrowed my eyes, keeping silent.
Dog’s face scrunched up. “The fuck are you trying to imply? That I’m a messy cook?”
“Exactly,” Devil said.
“Zahra and I will help him clean,” Milk said. “Besides, isn’t Elio going to be back in a week or something?”
“A week and a few days,” I answered, not exactly knowing or caring to know what kind of work he had traveled to do.
He’d told me, but I had zoned out when he started talking about politics—and I might have said the word “awesome” too many times—which he had innocently taken as my keen interest in the topic.
However, I couldn’t understand the meaning of half the words he had used while talking.
“See.” Milk grinned. “That’s enough time to clean up whatever mess we make.”
“And I’d be a fool to believe you guys would leave that house today if he actually says yes,” Devil said.
I shrugged. “I mean … it’s not like he’d be back today or something … it’s a long week. A big house, with amazing drinks, and a good game room, with a fully stocked kitchen, very spacious, absolutely luxurious. A mini cinema room. Why the hell wouldn’t you want that?”
Upper tilted his head at Devil. “Weren’t you given some privileges in the compound? We literally don’t need permission when we have you.”
“Ah, why don’t we use the brother.” The sarcasm from Devil’s statement didn’t seem to reach Upper.
“No, no, I mean, don’t you plan on using some of those privileges?” Upper asked.
“We’re still trying to build our relationship; I don’t think being overbearing is the right thing at the moment.”
Upper’s brows shot up, eyes widening in surprise. “Wow.”
Devil frowned at the tone, his gaze falling directly on the dark-haired boy who had returned to focusing on the complicated map.
“What’s ‘wow’?” Devil asked
“Nothing. I didn’t say anything,” Upper said.
“If you have something to say, say it, don’t be a coward.”
“Bloody hell, relax.” Upper met his stare. “I have nothing to say to you.”
I looked between them. They obviously hadn’t talked about their relationship. I didn’t know why, or if they ever planned to visit it, but there was some animosity between them, and I wondered how they could still share a room with all that negative energy in the air.
“Guys,” Milk cut in, “no need to fight; let’s just hear what Marino says, and then we can move forward.”
“Yeah,” I said, watching the little stare-down that Upper broke with a shake of his head and a frown.
I cleared my throat. “I understand where D’s coming from, but I think Elio might want us in the compound for whatever heist work we want to do.
The only reason we’re outside the compound is his little show of making it clear to us that we’re not his prisoners and—”
A sound pinged from my phone, and I rushed to grab it from the table, knowing it was his response.
Big Baby:
No.
I blinked at the message. So abrupt. So decisive. So. Fucking …
I blew a calm breath and remembered that his intention wasn’t to sound mean.
“He said no.”
Dog’s eyes widened. “Now, what kind of boyfriend denies his girlfriend entry to his house when he’s not home? Sure you both are in love?”
I gave him the middle finger, my shoulders slumping. “I guess we’re stuck here for the week.”
“Hell no, I didn’t spend all last night thinking of drinking that addictive wine and cooking in that kitchen to end up in this decent fucking dump.” Dog removed his feet from the table, pinning Devil with a stare. “You’re gonna text him and ask.”
“Where’s the logic?” Devil asked him with a bored look. “Why do you think he’d say no to her and yes to me? She literally just asked him minutes ago. He’s totally not going to sense something weird going on. At all.” Sarcasm, again, which meant he was growing annoyed.
“It’s a gamble. If you do it and he rejects it, then fine, we’ll stick to the decent fucking dump, but if you don’t do it, we’ll just break into his house and the compound, possibly die if we’re caught—or get injured or some sad shit where we’d probably lose Upper in the process—”
“Why me—”
“What do you dig?” Dog asked over Upper’s voice, watching Devil intently.
Devil’s jaw locked; his gaze steady on Dog, who raised a challenging brow.
With a groan, Devil reached for his phone in his pocket and started typing furiously while reading aloud what he typed. “‘Hello, brother, can Street and I stay in your condo to sort out some stuff we can also sort out in our own con—’”
“Tell him we won’t touch the wine,” Milk quickly added, earning a glare from Devil, but he continued typing.
“‘We won’t touch your wine collection unless we decide to touch your wine collection, which we probably will—’”
“Tell him we might cook too,” Milk added again, earning another sharp glare.
But Devil continued typing.
“‘We will use and trash your kitchen and will probably miss a stain on the counter, which you might come back to see. It will probably irritate you until you decide to move out, so please, it is very, very okay to say no to my request to stay in your condo when we can as easily stay in ours.’ Send.” He dropped his phone by his side. “There, done.”
“How in hell’s arse do you think he will ever say yes to you, basically telling him to say no?” Upper asked.
“I did what the Dog asked me to do.”
“Point of fucking correction, it’s just Dog.”
“That’s what I said,” Devil answered.
“No, you said the Dog, which just made it seem like you were calling me a dog. And you’ve done that, like, a couple of times before, and I have corrected you a couple of times before, but a fucking douchebag will always be a fucking douchebag.”
“And I won’t stop until all of you stop trying to use my supposed last name as some ticket to getting away with shit you indirectly pull with my brother.”
I sighed. “That’s not what we’re trying to do, and it’s not like he’s gonna say yes anyway.”
Milk nodded. “Upper’s right; you kinda did tell him that it was okay to say no, and—”
Devil’s phone pinged, and we all went quiet as he picked it up, swiped up at the screen, and widened his eyes. “He … said yes.”
“What!” I yelled, snatching the phone from his hand and bringing it to my view.
Elio:
Of course. Anything you want.
My jaw dropped. “What the fuck?”
Milk peeked over my shoulder and cooed. “Aw, he said anything you want! Ugh, to have a big brother … Think he’s looking to adopt?”
Devil grabbed his phone from my grip. “No, he is not.” And then he looked at Dog, who relaxed back on his chair. “Happy?”
With a smirk, Dog responded, “I knew he would say yes. Who wouldn’t do anything for a brother who has never asked him for anything like that before?
Simple logic.” His gaze landed on me. “He also probably said no to you because he knows you’re always up to no good, or you guys probably got into a fight we don’t know about, or …
he doesn’t really fancy you.” His smile was proud.
“Again. Simple logic. You’re all welcome. ”
I rolled my eyes and fought the urge to call and give Elio a piece of my mind.
We hadn’t gotten into any fight; in fact, I was mainly at the compound all through last week, and I had followed him to most of his therapy sessions.
We talked, we ate, we had sex, we hung out, we were perfect, and I was positive that he most definitely— to Dog’s fucking disappointment—fancied me. Plenty.
Or does he?
Or is this how he’d act with any other woman he fancies?
Does he fancy any other woman?
No. Nope. I’m not thinking this.
We spent the next hour packing up our things and heading out. When we got to the compound, we were escorted by a few soldiers who addressed Devil with the same respect they would have given Elio.
The frown on Devil’s face didn’t exactly tell me if he liked the new attention or the power—it reminded me a lot of the times when Elio would frown, and you wouldn’t be able to tell exactly why he was frowning or what might have triggered his silent anger.
The urge to call the mean man tugged at me, and surprisingly, it was not to call him out for saying no to me and yes to Devil. It was to hear his voice—even if we had been on the phone hours ago when he called to check up on me. For no reason at all.
I didn’t know small gestures like that could make the heart flutter, but it made mine flutter. I had rolled my eyes, but I could still not stop the smile from curling on my lips.
We all settled into the huge kitchen, Upper setting his laptop on the mini dining table, which was for—I don’t know—food tasting? A much grander dining table was a closed door away—an entirely different room.
I spread the map on the table, and Milk laid out notes to put down coordinates and make our own description of the map while Devil studied it.
Dog popped open a bottle of expensive wine while trying to find something good and fast to cook.