Page 7 of Last One Standing (Saint Brothers #5)

CHAPTER SEVEN

ANGEL

It had been a week since the show at Stilettos and Sangria, and I couldn’t get Anita…Kona out of my head. Two had been the only one who’d occupied my thoughts as much. While he was never far from my mind, as of late it was Kona most of the time.

He—or they…I wasn’t sure but hoped I’d get the chance to ask—was definitely with Brick of the Dead Kings. They were very bad news, and I was having a hard time believing Kona was like that. Honestly, I didn’t know enough about him to be positive. I could hope.

“Why are you in the tech room?” I peeked over the monitor to where Noel was staring at me with wide eyes.

“What do you think? Isn’t this where people come to research shit?”

“Nick!” Noel shouted. “Angel is using technology unsupervised, code red!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I muttered and continued to scroll through the article I’d been reading.

“What the hell?” Nick joined his brother, and now they were both watching me. “Angel, brother, please step away from the keyboard.”

“The keyboard is that thing in front of you with letters and numbers on it,” Noel added.

“I may not know how to code and do all the techno-shit you both do, but reading an article isn’t rocket science.” I shook my head and tried my best to ignore them.

“Did he say techno?” Nick asked.

“That’s a type of music; we’re doomed. Is everything backed up if he happens to delete it all?” Noel whispered.

“Yeah. After the time Gabe thought he was backing out of a program but instead erased three hours of coding, I created the Stupid Brother Backup Protocol that immediately engages anytime the computer is turned on.”

That got my attention. “Did you really do that?”

Nick nodded. “You’re all like gremlins in this room. Destructive, careless, and not very bright.”

“I almost became a doctor, shit for brains—I’m able to do the basics of a computer.”

Noel hummed. “If I break a leg, I’ll call you. I won’t go ahead and try and set it myself.” He motioned to the workstation I was on. “I don’t do your thing; why are you doing ours?”

They were dramatic. “Didn’t both of you say we all needed to do more and not rely on you two all the time?”

“That was before we realized you were unteachable,” Nick answered.

I waved them away and returned to an article that had Kona in it. The reporter had raved about Kona’s show down in Tucson, Arizona a year ago. There was no mention of Brick or the MC.

“What are you even doing?” Noel moved closer, and I backed out of everything.

“Nothing.”

He smirked; Nick snorted. “You know we can find out, right?” Noel waggled his eyebrows.

I sighed. They were exhausting. How Matt and Phoenix tolerated them was beyond me. “Fine. I was doing research on the Dead Kings. They’re causing a lot of problems in the area, and it was worth pursuing. I wasn’t going to do anything without a vote.”

“Uh-huh.” Nick came over to me, clicked a few buttons, and the last article I was reading popped up. “And it has nothing to do with that fine piece of man?”

“What fine piece of man?” Matt stormed into the room, and I’d normally take great joy in watching Nick flounder, but I also didn’t want to be here for the drama.

“No, you came in at the end of something, babe.” Nick rushed to Matt. “It’s Angel.”

Matt’s brow furrowed. “Angel’s the hot piece of man?”

“Gross,” Gabe said as he walked past the door—not stopping, just tossing out his unwanted opinion.

“No!” Nick groaned. “He’s looking up a guy, and I was just teasing him.”

“Is that right?” Matt pursed his lips and he met my eyes. “Is he lying?”

“ Uhhh …this is a trust thing in your relationship, Matt. I’m not getting involved.”

“The drag queen from the club, he was checking him out.” Noel, of course, came to Nick’s rescue but…

“Oh!” Matt rounded on Nick. “You thought Anita Pounding was a hot piece of man?”

“Shit,” Noel whispered.

“No. First off, he was looking at Anita as Kona.” Nick was just burying himself further, and I wanted away from all this.

I stood. “Listen, Matt. These twin rejects fuck around more than they do anything else.”

“Fuck and you.” Noel glared.

“They tease me, relentlessly. It’s abuse, really.” I shrugged and decided I was leaving.

“So you do like Kona?” Matt asked, but I refused to answer and walked out.

I should’ve known that wouldn’t be the end of it. As I entered the kitchen Matt, Nick, and Noel were on my heels. My mistake was in not going to my room, because JJ was in the kitchen with Mason and if either of them got wind of what Matt was asking, I’d never get peace.

I tried to pretend I was alone. My intention was to grab a drink and move to my room. But fate had a different idea.

“Angel has the hots for the drag queen.” Matt smiled.

JJ’s eyes widened. “This is wonderful. I was just saying to Shep the other day that you needed to get laid.”

I’d have spit my water out had I been drinking. “Why are you talking to Shep about my sex life?”

“Lack thereof,” Noel said under his breath.

“And how would you know?” I snapped at him.

Phoenix chose that moment to enter the kitchen. Everyone had gone silent, and he eyed each of us.

“Hi?”

Noel went over to him and wrapped him in his arms. “We’re messing with Angel, nothing to worry about.”

Phoenix nodded. “Why?”

Noel shrugged. “He has heart eyes for Kona, that drag queen from Stilettos and Sangria.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. I’d have bolted, but Phoenix and Noel were blocking my escape route.

“Oh!” Phoenix shouted excitedly. “I saw him the other day at Sephora. I was there with my sister and Lizzy. I needed some new eye stuff. He was there with his brother.”

That sparked my interest, but I didn’t want any of these guys to know that. They were like sharks—if there was a little blood in the water, they’d come swimming.

“Did you talk to him? I know you really loved the show.” Noel was grinning at Phoenix.

I understood why. Even though it was a year ago, he’d been the victim of a serial killer, held for three months in a shed and mentally abused. Fortunately, hikers found him and he was saved before The Broken-Doll Killer was able to carry out his sick end game. But for a while Phoenix had struggled.

“Yeah, I said hi and that I loved the show. It was Saturday, the day after, so almost a week ago. I haven’t seen him around since. He’s super nice. But I could tell something was wrong. I wasn’t gonna pry.”

“Wrong, how?” I asked.

Phoenix’s nose scrunched. “I could just tell, you know. Like, his smile wasn’t genuine, he was moving stiffly, there was no light in his eyes.” He whispered the last part. “I could be reading into it, though. Maybe he was uncomfortable talking to me.”

“I’m not sure about that.” Mason walked over to the coffeepot to refill his mug. “After my attack, I saw people differently. I sometimes saw myself.”

“I get that.” JJ nodded. “You totally can see the silent struggle in others if you’ve lived through it yourself.”

Both JJ and Mason had suffered at the hands of monsters, and I didn’t doubt they were right.

“Kona is connected to the Dead Kings. Do you think there’s an issue there?”

Everyone turned to look at me, all with different expressions.

“What?” I snapped.

Nick held his hand up. “Nothing at all.” He glanced at Noel. “Maybe Noel and I can dig into it, though…you know, just to be a hundred percent certain there’s nothing nefarious going on.”

I nodded curtly. “That’s a good idea.”

I was positive there was something going on, and I was determined to figure out what it was.