“It’s cute that you think your remaining so-called brother wouldn’t stab you in the back just like the other one did.”
“Shut up, Rick,” JJ snapped from behind us, but I was on a roll now, enjoying seeing how hard I could get that vein in Fox’s temple pulsing.
“Nothing could destroy mine and JJ’s bond,” Fox said assuredly and I couldn’t help a dark chuckle, earning me a jab in the back from Rogue which I ignored.
“You’re a king sitting in a falling castle, brother, only you’re blind to the roof falling down around you.”
“My castle is just fine,” he gritted out. “But yours is sure looking pretty empty. You ever think about making nice and coming home?”
My eyebrows arched and I stole a glance at his face, finding an unreadable wall in his eyes. Why the fuck would he go and say that?
“I don’t ‘make nice’,” I muttered. “And there’s no home for me in Sunset Cove anymore.”
“I think you’re afraid,” he said in a low voice.
“I’m not afraid of anything,” I growled.
“Yeah you are,” he pushed. “You can’t let go of your anger at Luther or me because that’s all you’ve got left, isn’t it? Just you and your Isle and your rage. But it doesn’t have to be like that.”
“I’m rather fond of my rage, we go way back. But are you actually angling for a makeup hug, Foxy, or do you just want me to get closer so it’s easier to slide a knife into my back?”
He shook his head in irritation, saying nothing and I frowned, unsure what the fuck he was thinking until he finally spoke again.
“I guess we both know it’s too late for that,” he said, lifting a hand to run his fingers over the place on his neck where I’d shot him. My throat constricted like a python was coiled around it and I focused back on the track ahead of us as we all fell silent and marched into the dark.
“You seem a little bitter about me hating you, Foxy,” I said after a while and he shrugged.
“You seem a little half-hearted in your attempts to hate me, Rick,” he replied.
“How so?” I scoffed.
“Apparently you have eyes among my men watching me. I haven’t rooted them out yet, but I have to wonder how you haven’t caught me off guard before now if you’re watching my movements.”
“Nah, it ain’t men,” I said dismissively, ignoring his accusation. “Might be a bug or two though.”
“Hmm.” He eyed my expression, clearly trying to work out if I was lying or not. I guess he’d never know.
Eventually I turned us off the main path up into the woods, hunting for the star shaped rock I’d placed on the hatch that would lead us into the secret tunnel.
When I found it, I pulled it open, shining the flashlight on my phone down at the dark steps. JJ adjusted the pack on his shoulders and moved forward to take the lead. Fox caught his arm, pulling him back as he glared at me.
“It’s Maverick’s tunnel, let him go first,” he said firmly, like he thought I might have laid a trap down there.
“It’d be a pretty convoluted plan to lure you all out here and kill you underground,” I pointed out. “I could have shot you ten times by now with how often you lowered your guard.”
“Then how come when you had the chance to shoot me at Harlequin House you missed?” Fox taunted and words spilled through my head that had no business showing their little lettery faces. Because I didn’t really want you to die.
“I was untrained,” I said coolly. “But that ain’t a problem for me anymore.” I grinned psychotically just to remind him that I was always the danger in the room, but he just rolled his eyes at me. Asshole.
Rogue swept past us, heading straight down the steps into the dark. “I’m bored of you dickwads,” she called back. “I’m gonna go save Miss Mabel myself. Come on, J.”
Johnny James jogged after her and I cursed as I stepped forward to follow, my shoulder bashing against Fox’s as he did the same. We shoved and pushed our way down into the dark, fighting to get ahead, but every time I got a step forward, the motherfucker gained it back until we were both marching along the tunnel side by side as pissed off as two hungry lions.
“Hold up, Rogue,” I hissed as we made it to the end of the passage and