Crooked Crows by Elena Lawson

I could still tasteAva Jade on my lips when I left Briar Hall for the day, deciding to swing by Sanctum for a long workout before heading home.

We had a decent home gym at the Crow’s Nest, but I didn’t want to run on the treadmill or bench today. The heavy bag was what I was after, and I didn’t stop until my knuckles bled.

I couldn’t figure her out.

She wanted me, that much I was certain of, but she was so hot and cold. One second, she was fucking my mouth, grinding her round ass against my cock, crying out, fucking screaming, and the next…

I hit the bag again, gritting my teeth at the sting.

What did she want?

Where did she come from?

For the first time in forever, I had an itch I couldn’t scratch. I wanted to know more about her. I needed to know what made her tick. In my head, I considered every place Corvus might’ve put the files he’d gotten on AJ. I couldn’t ask him for them. Didn’t want to see the smug look on his face when he passed them over.

If I wanted to read them, to know what he knew, then I’d have to find them myself.

Breathless, I stopped my assault of the heavy bag and rolled my aching shoulders back, walking off the frustration still clinging to my bones.

At least there was satisfaction in knowing that if the guys had gone for my little contest idea, I would’ve won.

My phone buzzed on the stool near the back of the private warm-up area in the basement of Sanctum. Sweat dripped down my temples as I shucked off my gloves and tossed them in the bin, snatching up my phone with a grimace.

I’d fucking dropped it in the girl’s bathroom this afternoon. I hadn’t even noticed for almost an hour after AJ kicked me out. At least when I went back to look for it, it was still there. Face down against the wall beneath the bank of sinks.

The screen was cracked now, a single long slice running from one corner to the other, making the message from Corv look like it’d been cut down the middle.

Corvus: Where are you?

I thumbed a quick reply, sighing.

Grey: Sanctum. Heading home now.

His reply came a few seconds later.

Corvus: Good. We have work to do.

I swiped his message away and tapped on Chrome, my thumb hesitating over the search bar. Habit.

My gut twisted as I pressed the search bar, and her name came up as a recent search. Siobhan Winters.

Fuck.

Changing my mind, I deleted the search history and dropped it back onto the stool.

I didn’t care where she was. I didn’t care if she was dead or alive. I didn’t care why she never came back.

I wiped a palm over my face and shucked off my gym shorts in favor of the clothes I’d been wearing earlier, purging her from my thoughts.

I’d wait to shower until I got home. If I didn’t leave now, I’d get another message from Corv in fifteen minutes asking why the fuck I wasn’t back yet.

At least I knew that if some shit ever did go south, Corv would be the first one to figure out what went wrong and drag my ass out of trouble. We had about a thirty-minute window for answering our big bro before he came looking. And if you took more than thirty minutes to reply, you better hope your ass was dead because you’d never hear the end of it.

I may not have known what it was like most of my life to have family. To know that multiple people had my back no matter what. But at least I did now.

I took the back roads home, sticking to the routes I knew AJ sometimes liked to run, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. No luck.

One of Diesel’s cars, the nondescript navy-blue Impala was parked up near the front door, and I drove around it, parking along the side of the Crow’s Nest. They’d been doing some recon work, then. Otherwise Corv would’ve taken the Camaro.

The smell of roasting chicken greeted me when I entered, and I inhaled deeply, scenting lemon and garlic.

Corvus was cooking, that was a good sign. He hadn’t cooked anything all week, forcing Rook and me to live off takeout and leftovers. If he was cooking, it meant they had a successful day.

Rook was just wandering to the kitchen from the living room as I entered, leaving the video game he’d been playing running on the load screen. It almost felt like a regular Friday as I snatched a bottle of water from the fridge and fell onto one of the stools at the kitchen counter.

“Hungry?” Corvus didn’t bother turning as he stirred sauce in a small pan atop the stove, pausing every few seconds to toss a pan of green beans.

“Fucking starved. How’d it go?”

“Good,” Corvus replied as Rook settled into the stool opposite me, pouring himself a fifth of whiskey from the bottle on the counter. He eyed me suspiciously as he swirled the liquid in the glass, his dark eyes narrowing.

“The MC’s source is legit. We’re good to go for the swap.”

I snorted, impressed. That didn’t take long. Now it would just be a matter of casing the meet point and then we’d be solid. More firepower. A solid payday. At least things were starting to look up, with that one thing at least.

“Any word from Dies? How’s the meet looking with the Aces?”

Corv gave a shrug. “He’s deep in it right now. Not sure what’s up. He’ll let us know.”

He played it off like it wasn’t a big deal, but I could feel the tension radiating off him from here.

“Shit, I forgot the bread in the car,” he said suddenly, flipping off the burners and tossing the dish towel on the counter as he stalked from the kitchen.

Rook leaned conspiratorially over the counter, and I lifted a brow at him. “What?”

He inhaled deeply and let out a sigh, his lips curving into a sultry grin. “What happened at school today? Anything exciting?”

I couldn’t school my face fast enough, the memory of AJ’s tight pussy wrapped around my cock came stampeding back to the forefront of my mind. I swallowed. “Not much.”

“Liar,” Rook said, calling me on my shit with a knowing look. “Leave you alone for one fucking day…” He shook his head, tossing back his whiskey. “How was she?”

Fucking Christ.

It was my turn to shake my head at him. No one gave the fucker enough credit. They saw him as the crazy one. All fists and fury, no brains. But my brother was the full package. He saw things other people didn’t. Saw them easily. Without even trying to. He’d always been that way.

I licked my lips, leaning back in my chair with a slow shaking inhale, conveying to him without the need for words just how goddamned good it was. Lips twitching into a suggestive grin.

He blew a breath out, shoulders twitching as a shudder rolled down his spine.

Corvus returned a second later, and I winced, hoping Rook would keep this between us, at least for now.

He tossed me a wink and poured another whiskey, sipping it this time, a distant look in his eyes.

“So,” I said, clearing my throat. “Work tonight; are we doing the job Julia texted about earlier?”

Julia sent a group text to the three of us like she always did. She got a call this morning at the helpline from a pair of little girls. We’d already visited their abusive father once. So this would be strike two for Billy Parker.

We had the address of a butcher shop he owned and intel that he often worked late Friday nights to prepare for the weekend rush. That he often worked alone, drinking in his locked up shop before driving home drunk to take out his rage on his five and nine year old daughters and their mother.

We knew Mrs. Parker tried to leave him once before, and that he almost killed her for it. She dropped her petition for sole custody less than twenty-four hours after she made it.

But...Diesel specifically said to hang up everything we were doing. He didn’t know about our little humanitarian project, or at least, he pretended not to. Either way, he wouldn’t like us going off to do our own thing with everything else going on right now.

It was why we all agreed to let AJ simmer on the backburner for the time being. Until we had more time to devote to her eventual surrender.

“Yeah,” Rook answered before Corvus could. “It’ll be quick.”

There was no room for discussion, then.

Rook rarely took an assertive role, but when he did, it wasn’t worth arguing. He’d go off and do it alone if we didn’t follow him.

Corvus grunted his agreement, carving up and plating the chicken and beans, pouring the sauce over it.

He set our plates down on the kitchen island, drying his hands on the towel slung over his shoulder. “Eat,” he ordered, turning his attention to me and wrinkling his nose.

I stiffened, thinking he could smell AJ on me as easily as Rook could, but then his gaze tracked to my sweat-greased hair. “And get washed up. We’ll leave after dark.”