Page 11 of Last One Standing (Saint Brothers #5)
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ANGEL
A lot of the performers had come out and talked to us.
Even Leo had stopped by to say he was happy we’d come back.
The only person who hadn’t greeted anyone was Kona.
Pika walked onto the floor fifteen minutes ago, and I overheard someone asking where “Anita” was, and Pika said he was having a costume issue. I wasn’t buying it.
Three of the Dead Kings were leaning against the bar, watching each and every person. If any of them recognized me from the other night, I couldn’t tell.
“There you are!” Ima Cummings—whose name was Russell, I’d found out—declared as soon as Kona stepped onto the floor.
“Sorry, everyone, I had some issues. I didn’t mean to keep you waiting.” His smile appeared genuine, but I didn’t know him well enough to be one hundred percent sure that was his real smile.
Phoenix was so happy, I swore his face would split in two. After Kona went to each person, he finally stopped in front of me and Phoenix.
“So glad you could make it. Did you enjoy the show?” he asked.
“Oh, my God, it was brilliant. When you sang ‘Lilac Wine,’ I almost cried. You’re so incredibly talented.”
Kona chuckled lightly. “That’s very sweet of you to say. You’re a ballet dancer, though, right?”
Phoenix’s eyes widened. “You remembered?”
Kona snorted. “Of course I did. And I dare say that is a lot harder than this.”
Phoenix was shaking his head before Kona even finished talking. “No way. This is a lot more complex.”
They’d probably continue to go back and forth like this if I didn’t stop them. “I think you both work your butts off equally, and it shows in your beautiful performances.”
I was then graced with two beaming faces. Right…um . “So, anyway, I thought the show was amazing as well.”
Kona tilted his head, and a small crinkle formed above his brow. “Thank you, Angel.”
Over Kona’s shoulder I saw one of the Dead Kings approaching us. I could tell from the way one of them was staring at me that I wasn’t hiding my distaste for them from my expression.
“Kona, time to go. Brick’s asking for you.”
I didn’t miss how Kona winced at Brick’s name, or how his smile dimmed. “Right. Well, thank you both for coming.” He turned on his heel, and a second later he was gone.
“That was odd.” So, Phoenix had picked up on it too.
“You saw that, huh?”
He nodded. “I assumed he liked being with the MC, but I know when someone in the house says Noel’s looking for me, I light up. I don’t feel like I’m being marched to my funeral, and Kona didn’t appear too happy.”
I had to agree. I hummed. “Let’s get home; it’s late.”
I wasn’t sure what exactly I could do to help Kona without him asking and us voting.
But I did know that the Dead Kings were causing this town—hell, the whole state according to my research—a lot of grief.
Vandalism, threats, a few even claimed they were forced to give a percentage of their weekly profits to the MC.
Not for protection but so the Dead Kings wouldn’t destroy their livelihoods.
It wouldn’t shock me if that was how Brick dealt with everything—both business and personal.
“What’s the difference between nautical miles and regular miles?” Gabe asked after Noel made some comment about nautical miles…and now here we were dealing with whatever this catastrophe would be. I just wanted to eat my waffles in peace.
“Nautical miles are slightly longer than land miles,” Noel answered, and judging by the blank look on his face, he believed that was the end of the conversation.
“Why?” Yeah, Gabe wasn’t going to accept that simple nonanswer.
“What do you mean, why?” Noel wiped his mouth. “It’s based on the Earth’s longitude and latitude coordinates.”
The whole table was now watching Noel and Gabe.
We all knew this wasn’t going to be simple, and part of me was wondering why Noel had even bothered answering Gabe.
It wasn’t like Gabe was dumb; he wasn’t.
He was the guy you wanted to come find you if you were in trouble.
He drove better than any of us in stressful situations, and more than once he’d led an operation.
But certain things just didn’t compute with him.
We all had those things that didn’t click.
“Don’t we have longitude and latitude on land?”
Noel rolled his eyes. “Gabe, really, are you just fucking with me?”
Gabe sighed and gritted his teeth. “No, what the fuck? Do you even know?”
“I do know. I literally just explained it.”
Gabe’s brows shot to his hairline. “Did you? Because that was a shitty explanation.”
“The answer was shitty?” Noel glanced at me for help but nope, I wanted no part of this. “Gabe, it’s the answer, though. It makes sense.”
“Does it, Noel?” Gabe turned to Mason. “Did that answer make sense to you?”
Poor Mason, he had a scoop of eggs halfway to his mouth and now he’d frozen, likely hoping by staying still Gabe wouldn’t see him.
“Mason?”
“Uh…” He placed his fork down. “Well, yeah, but I understand the difference.”
Gabe smiled. “Perfect, I’m sure you can answer this better than Tweedle Dum over there.”
“Me, dumb?” Noel shouted. “Me?”
Phoenix patted Noel’s arm. “Let it go. Mason’s got this.”
Mason did, in fact, not have this. He was a deer in the headlights.
“Well, okay. So think of it like this. A nautical mile is defined as one minute of latitude, which is a unit of measurement for navigation on Earth.” His eyes were darting to each of us, but we weren’t jumping in.
I was actually considering not finishing breakfast and running.
“A statute mile is land based, which is the unit of measurement that uses. It’s not directly linked to Earth’s coordinate system.”
I was watching Gabe’s face the whole time. He was trying to get it, but there was nothing.
“It doesn’t have to do with the fact that one is on the water and the other is on land?” he asked.
“No.” Mason grinned. “Pilots will use nautical miles also.”
And now he was completely lost. “But it’s called nautical, not aerial miles.”
JJ stood, his chair scraping on the floor.
“Gabe, sweet cheeks. It just is. Some sciency people were all like, ‘Oh, so it takes fifteen minutes to go this distance in my car, but this in the water and in the air, so let’s name it something that is not the same as to not confuse people. It just is.” He picked up his plate and left the dining room.
“But I’m still confused,” Gabe whispered just as I was taking my last bite. I needed to start eating in my room from now on.
I was going to broach the subject about the Dead Kings, knowing Phoenix would back me up on how Kona had reacted to Brick’s name last night.
Phoenix had even wondered if Kona was maybe being hurt. The few times I’d seen Kona, he’d appeared physically fine, but I wasn’t dumb enough to think that meant nothing. Many abusers left marks where others couldn’t see.
The room began to scatter, and I realized I’d have to wait until later.
Matt was headed to work. He was a physical therapist. Nick and Noel were going to some tech store a couple of hours away for something.
Phoenix, JJ, and Mason were going shopping, and I believed the others were headed to Saintly Sweets for the day.
I was going to continue to do some digging into the Dead Kings. If I wanted my brothers to do something about them without anyone asking us to, they needed proof…and I’d give it to them.