“It’s really quite quaint,” Oscar said, looking around. “Cold, of course. But quaint.”
“Connectivity is shit up here,” Emir complained. “It’s below zero. It has to be, right?”
“Thank you all for coming out here,” Tempest said, in her excessively patient voice, the one she used with me a lot. “Even though you’re bitching and moaning about everything.”
Oscar smiled. “West Bend is lovely,” he said. “Picturesque. It reminds me of the Swiss Alps. Besides, Emir should learn to ski while he’s here. Get some fresh air.”
Emir paused, standing up from where he’d been digging around in a case. “Oh, no, no,” he said. “I’m not skiing. This grift doesn’t involve me skiing, does it?”
I tightened my grip on Tempest’s waist and drew her in close to me, laughing. “I can teach you,” I said. “I’m teaching her.”
“I already skied pretty well before you, thank you very much,” she protested.
“Oh, sure you did, sweetheart,” I said, kissing the top of her head. Then I shook my head no and mouthed the word, exaggerated, and Tempest pulled away, punching me on the arm.
“I do ski well,” she said.
“If by well, you mean as well as the tourists do,” I said.
“That’s not bad. I’ll take it.”
“I mean the child tourists,” I said.
“I’ll ignore that,” Tempest said. “Is this place low profile enough for everyone?”
“I think it’ll do nicely.” Iver straightened from where he’d been looking inside the refrigerator. “We’ll have to take appropriate precautions, split up when we adopt our identities, but it’s fine as a base camp. Quite literally a camp almost, in this case.”
“We’re so far from West Bend,” Oscar said. “Over an hour, and in the middle of nowhere. And everyone’s in a rental. No one’s being tailed. All precautions were taken.”
“And, the most important thing is that you even stocked champagne.” Iver said, holding up a bottle.
“You can thank Silas for that one,” Tempest said. “He special ordered it at the general store.”
“Silas, you’re growing on me,” Iver said as he popped the bottle. “I’ll pour glasses and we’ll toast the new grift.” There was a knock on the door and he scowled. “Now who is about to ruin a perfectly good toast?”
“That would be Luke,” I said, crossing the room. “Don’t worry - he’s all good. I was schooled on precautions they needed to take, avoiding a tail, all that.”
“I hope you’re not revealing all of the trade secrets,” Iver said.
“What trade secrets?” Luke asked.
“Is this the twin?” Emir asked. “You don’t look that alike.”
“We’re just brothers,” Luke said.
“Yeah, unfortunately,” I said, as Luke wrapped his arm around my neck, putting me in a headlock.
“Unfortunately?” Luke asked.
“Did you forget I was a wrestler?” I said, easily pulling Luke’s arm from his neck.
“Yeah, but I’m bigger, and older than you,” Luke said. “And fitter.”
“Is this what they do in Colorado?” Iver asked.
Tempest rolled her eyes. “Boys, please don’t destroy this place.”
I laughed. “Yeah, okay” I said, letting go of my brother’s arm. I pulled Tempest up against me, slid my hands around her to the small of her back, and kissed the tip of her nose. “Happy?”
“For sure,” she said. “You?”
“Very.” I was. I could have been anywhere with Tempest, anywhere in the world, and I’d have been so stinking happy. There was nothing that could change that.
“Oh my God, with the kissy face all the time,” Luke yelled. “Get a room.”
“Shut up,” Silas said. “You’re just jealous.”
“What’s that about?” I asked, and Silas shrugged.
“He’s all gaga for some girl,” Silas said.
“So you’re giving him shit about it?” I asked. “Are you a total asshole?”
“It’s what we do,” Silas said.
“Where’s the other one?” Emir piped up from across the room. “Isn’t there a twin?”
“He’s in Hollywood,” I said. “He’s dating River Andrews.”
Emir started at me blankly. “Who?”
“She’s an actress,” I said. “Romantic comedies.”
“Oh.” Emir looked down and returned to what he was doing.
“She’s getting an award,” I said. “A big one. Elias went with her to the awards show. It’s going to be on live television.”
“It’s on in about twenty minutes, too,” Luke said as he walked around. “Is there a TV? I told Elias I wanted to see him in a monkey suit.”
“Ahem,” Iver clinked a spoon against the side of his glass. “A toast. If everyone would please pick up a glass of champagne.”