Blood Bonds(The Bonds That Tie #3)(71)

“He’s been worried about North, so he offered to help the best way he knows how. We all are. Atlas and Gryphon are working through the Resistance stuff, I’m helping with the buildings, and you’re—”

I cut him off. “I’m sleeping in and being hand-delivered food by men who have better things to do. I might go crazy here, Gabe. I can’t sit on my ass doing nothing just because my Bonds would prefer to keep me somewhere safe at all times. I can’t be useless.”

He scowls back at me. “You took out another camp and then came back here to recover from it. Now we’re going to go build some shit. That’s helping out, Bond. If you have anything else you want to do instead, just tell me and we’ll go find North.”

The problem is that I don’t have anything else I can do because I’m a high school drop out who has only ever worked as a damn waitress. I guess I could go work in the kitchens and help feed people, that’s important work. But then North would move security around so I have a TacTeam operative with me, and I don’t want to move people away from other areas just to babysit me.

So building with Gabe it is.

I wash up my plate and grab a Coke out of the fridge to take over to the building sites. I’d love a coffee, but I feel like I’ve taken up too much of Gabe’s morning already, so the Coke will have to do. Gabe pulls on a set of work boots and pulls out a brand new pair for me as well, grinning at me when I sputter out a thank you. It always catches me off-guard when my Bonds buy me things, even just basic necessities, and it takes me a minute to get them laced up properly. They feel like clown shoes on me, big and bulky, but I’d rather have the protection because there’s nothing quite like the pain of a broken toe.

I’m already wearing jeans and one of Gabe’s plaid work shirts over a tank top, like a dress-up doll of what a Builder Barbie would look like. It’s funny, and when Gabe gets a proper look at my whole outfit, he cackles at me, taking a photo that I ham it up in.

When we leave the house on foot, he catches my hand in his and threads our fingers together, sliding on a pair of aviators that make his look unbearably cool. Ridiculously hot too, like almost too much to freaking look at.

How can I feel this way about more than one man? I do, and I don’t feel guilty about it either. I just feel like maybe we need to head back into the house for a quick minute.

Fuck.

Right, distraction. I need one and quick. “I’m dying my hair again. I’m thinking hot pink. Or maybe some lime green streaks. Which do you like better?”

Gabe pulls a face at me. “I thought you were good with North now; who are you trying to piss off with that choice?”

I roll my eyes at him and make kissy noises at Brutus until he comes to walk behind me, butting into the backs of my thighs with his little comfort nudging that he does. He’s always extra affectionate in the mornings, as though me sleeping and not being awake to love on him makes the nights unbearable. “No one. I hate the silver, and now it’s almost freaking white. Black won’t stay in, I’ve tried it before. The purple washed out fast, but at least it stuck around for a few days. I just… don’t want to look at the white for a few days. Maybe I should just shave it off.”

He looks incredibly alarmed and starts rummaging around in his pockets for his phone in a very obvious display of calling in backup. It’s almost comical and, with extreme effort, I keep my face straight as I watch him fumble around for words.

“I don’t think you need to do that—I mean, you can do whatever you want, obviously, it’s your hair but—pink is good.”

He gives me a shaky smile, tapping on his phone without even looking at the screen, and I start counting, because he’s about as obvious as a smack in the face. Honestly, if it wasn’t so freaking funny, I’d be chewing him out for it.

Don’t you dare shave your head. I don’t care what color your hair is, but do not shave it.

I giggle at North’s stern tone and shake my head at Gabe, who doesn’t even attempt to look innocent.

“You’re lucky you’re hot, Ardern, because you’re also a total freaking narc.”

He shrugs. “I work with what I have, and you can’t deny that North is the best person to convince you to do anything. If being an asshole is Nox’s superpower, then this is his brother’s.”

It’s true, and when Gryphon chimes in, he goes for a very different and effective tactic, one I’m not going to tell Gabe about because I don’t need him setting Gryphon on me more regularly.

What am I going to wrap around my fist when I fuck you from behind if you so much as trim it? You’d look good with the pink, the purple was hot too. Just don’t touch the length.

Well.

That sounds very reasonable.





Watching Gabe help with the construction is a great way to spend the afternoon, and I can see why this is where he’s most useful. He’s strong, smart as hell, and knows exactly what the builders need when they start with the framing on the new structure. There’s six other houses on this street in various stages of being built at the moment, and I help with the one that is at the lock-up stage, carrying in supplies and holding up giant sheets of drywall for the guys working there.

At first they all eye me like I’m just there to get in their way, but after a couple of hours of good, honest work, they’re including me in their stories and joking around. It’s hard, but it clears my brain out to actually be helping out. By the time Gabe comes looking for me, I’m up on a ladder having a go at one of the nail guns and whooping with joy when I actually get a piece of the ceiling fixed in place without any new holes in my fingers or hands.