Page 56 of Beyond the Blue Horizon

“Thank fuck. Last thing I need to do is freeze my balls off when my boys still have plenty of work to do.” Otto rocked his hips.

He was lucky River didn’t push him back down the stairs and the only thing he got was a scowl filled with daggers.

Otto cracked up. “Seriously, though, excited to see my Nolan and Maci. Been missing them like crazy. Can’t believe we’re going to have a new little to add to the mix soon.”

It was going to be wild, having a tiny baby be a part of this family.

River might have been trying to fight it, but I could see the smile itching at the edge of his mouth. “Yeah. It’s going to be cool.”

We hit the top landing and stepped through the hidden opening and into Kane’s office.

He kept it decorated in dark, carved woods and rich leathers, like the goof thought he was some kind of reigning king from long ago.

Once we’d all piled out, Kane pushed the false bookcase in front of the passage, making sure it was locked up tight.

We all grabbed our coats, slinging into them as River unlocked the main office door.

“Anyone sticking around?” Kane asked as he stepped out into the hallway, the long, dank corridor leading into the fray.

River shook his head. “Nah, gonna get home to Charleigh.”

“Yeah, my girl is likely snuggled up in bed reading one of those romances, so she’s going to be in need of me.” Otto wagged his brows.

“Was thinking I’d head straight home, too. Em said she was going to wait up.” Kane gave a nod of agreement.

A year and a half ago, all of us—minus Cash, of course—would have stuck around. Threw back a few drinks while we prowled through the crowd, hunting for someone who was game for a good time.

Now, if Charleigh, Raven, and Emery weren’t here? The guys almost always bailed.

Even though they ditched me, I usually stayed.

Needing the breather.

The reprieve.

I’d seek out someone who wanted to be touched the way I needed to be.

A surface connection that would last for a few hours before we parted and went our separate ways.

Easy.

Detached.

Didn’t know what it was that didn’t sit right about that tonight, and I scratched my fingers through my beard as I followed my crew out into the long hall that led to the raving crowd beyond. “Think I’m going to call it, too. Been a long day.”

Otto’s attention whipped toward me like I’d grown a fucking tail, though his expression turned smug. “Ah, I see.”

“You don’t see anything, brother,” I muttered as we hit the end of the hallway and stepped out into the melee of Kane’s, emerging at the far back corner of the club.

My gaze wandered over the crowd that was packed shoulder to shoulder.

Lights flashed and strobed over the crush, and laughter and voices attempted to rise over the roar of the music that blaredfrom the speakers. The heavy bass thudded through the club, the old, worn wooden floors vibrating with the lawless beat.

You could feel the energy in the air. The barely fettered chaos that rippled through the mass.

People pushed up against the long bar that ran nearly the full length of the wall to my right, and the dance floor that sat below the elevated stage on the far back wall was packed with writhing bodies.

The bands had finished their sets, and now the DJ was set up in that prime spot as he incited a riot on the floor.