Vicious Rebel (82 Street Vandals #2) - Heather Long Page 0,28

that on me, you better shoot me, because I’m done with the attitude.”

“What do you mean by agreed?” Jasper took the gun back slowly and didn’t seem in a rush to put it together.

“Exactly what I said. Now go shower and change, you reek. Vaughn, keep an eye on Freddie or get some shut eye. I’m going for food. When Freddie’s well enough to go back, I’m going to pick up Emersyn to spend some time here…”

“What?”

“Excuse me?” Jasper’s words crashed into mine.

“You heard me,” Doc said, leveling us both. “When Raptor asks, he’s damn well going to know she had all of our protection, that includes mine. But you go ahead and fight me on this. I dare you.”

With that, he turned and stalked away from us. It wasn’t until the door closed at the end of the hall that Jasper turned to look at me. “What the hell was that?”

“I think Doc’s smitten with Dove.” And that might be putting it mildly.

Instead of saying anything, he slammed his fist into the door then left the room, and his feet hit the stairs with noisy thumps. I exhaled and rubbed my face before I went looking for my phone. I didn’t have it in these pants, it was still in the room where we’d been looking after Freddie.

Dove didn’t have a phone, though. That was something we needed to change. She wasn’t a prisoner, and being able to reach out to her would be nice. Nicer, would be her reaching out to us.

Freddie was still out and snoring. He looked way too damn young at the moment, even with the dark shadows under his eyes. It was too close to how he’d looked…

Yeah, I shoved that thought out of my mind and dropped into a chair with my phone and sent a message off to Kestrel.

He didn’t answer, but then he was probably at the shop. If it was loud there, he wouldn’t hear his phone. I let Rome know Freddie seemed to have turned the corner.

Rome: Good.

One word, but better than nothing. Still…

Me: How is Dove?

The response was slow coming.

Rome: Beautiful.

I chuckled. Well, she was that. Exhaustion wore at me, but I fought it off until a freshly showered and wearing clean clothes Jasper returned to the room. He had pillows and a sleeping bag with him. Rather than find a room, he just set up on the hard tile floor.

We’d certainly slept on worse.

“I don’t want to start anything,” Jasper said slowly. “But you need to know something.”

I waited.

“I’m not letting her go.” He glanced at me, and I raised my brows. “To you. To Doc. To anyone. I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want her.”

“And if she doesn’t want you?” I kept the challenge out of my voice because now wasn’t the time.

“She does,” he said slowly, but in a tone that held a hell of a lot more confidence in himself than I had. “I kissed her. She kissed me back.”

Fuck.

“You’re my brother…” he began, but I shook my head.

“I’m not backing off,” I informed him. “You aren’t the only one who cares and has cared for a long time.” She was in my blood and already embedded deeper in my skin than any ink I used. “If I were a wagering man, I’d say Doc isn’t going to retreat either.”

Because in all the years since he came back and Raptor got sent up, Doc hadn’t once challenged Jasper the way he had today.

“If we’re calling dibs on Boo-Boo,” Freddie mumbled in a raw voice, “count me in.”

It wasn’t a joke and it shouldn’t be funny, but I wasn’t the only one who looked at Freddie with real relief, and Jasper actually laughed.

“It’s about time you woke your ass up,” Jasper said, and Freddie groaned.

“I’m a burrito, Hawk. I’m going to lay like broccoli. My head is splitting.”

“Yeah,” Jasper answered him. “Go back to sleep. We’ll be here when you wake up.”

A yawn stretched his jaw, and then Freddie made a face. “I smell like ass.”

“Yes,” I told him. “You do.”

Jasper snorted. “He’s smelled worse.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. “But we all smelled like a dumpster then.”

“It wasn’t a dumpster,” Freddie groaned.

“No, it was a compost heap,” Jasper teased, and something in me relaxed a fraction. Being on the edge constantly had begun to take its toll on Jasper, and it had been a long time since this guy had come out to play. “You wanted to help out at the community garden ’cause you figured