The shock rattling through Bonnie was echoed in the faces of everyone around her, but it was Trevor who spoke up. “Something wrong?”
“Two men attacked her last night,” Roman said. “Her brother and father were taken on Monday and cannot be found. Until we find them and are certain she is no longer a target, she will not be left unguarded.”
“Well, that’s not a problem.” Evie’s voice was as innocent as could be, but there was an unmistakable mischief in her eyes. “A few of the guys could go with her. It doesn’t have to be you.”
Roman’s hand on her shoulder tightened.
Jace noted the subtle action, as did Trevor, but it was Danny who spoke. “No, man. I get it. If it was my woman, I wouldn’t let her out of my sight either. Totally understandable.”
My woman?
As in Roman’s woman?
Seriously?
Evie looked delighted.
Cassie studied her shoes, but she couldn’t have hidden her smile if she’d tried.
Ninette was the one who threw out a much needed lifeline. “Well, if there’s nefarious shit going on, I need a beer ASAP and all the details.” She moved in close to Bonnie’s side, forcing Roman to release her. “Start from the beginning, girlfriend. If it’s got the big guy all riled up, it’s gotta be a doozy.”
And just like that, all the awkward was gone.
The guys somehow talked Olga out of manning the grills. The women settled at the long table centered in the middle of the garden paradise and listened to every detail that brought them to today. Somehow, the course of conversation veered to Natalie’s asshole of an ex and the abuse he’d put her through, and how Vivienne had ended up shot one night in Jace’s club. Combined with the stories she’d already heard of Cassie and Evette, Bonnie decided it was time to downshift the shittastic rating of her own ordeal from a ten to two.
Drinks and dinner were enjoyed at a leisurely pace full of some topics she could follow and others that left her stymied, but not once did she feel like an odd man out. In fact, about the only things that had varied between this cookout and the ones she’d been a part of growing up were breakable plates and the fact that everyone was still sober by the time the meal was done.
“Ahhh...now that’s what I call food.” Ninette reclined back in her chair and rubbed her enviably flat stomach. She nudged Bonnie’s shoulder. “I gotta run to the kitchen for my cigarettes. Keep an old woman company, would ya?”
Old woman her ass. Somewhere along the line of conversation, she’d dropped that she was sixty-two, but Bonnie was having a hard time buying it. “Sure. Why not.”
The second she pushed her chair back from the table, Roman’s head snapped up and his eyes locked on her.
“Easy, champ.” Ninette waved him off and steered Bonnie toward the back door. “She’s just keepin’ me company for a quick smoke. You know I don’t like bein’ anywhere near the kiddo for that.”
He considered the two of them for a moment, then went back to whatever the guys were talking about.
Oddly, Jace and Vivienne both eyed Ninette with knowing smirks. “Funny,” Jace said. “Thought you’d sworn off cigarettes.”
“Mind your business, boy. I changed my mind.”
He chuckled and shook his head, but it was an act full of love and complete adoration.
Actually, they all seemed to mesh in a way Bonnie hadn’t ever seen before. It wasn’t that they didn’t disagree. Hell, they’d had about ten heated debates—particularly where the men were concerned—before dinner was over. But it was all good-natured. Conversation that didn’t require one side to be wrong or one side to win. If they didn’t work it out, they just agreed to disagree and moved on to whatever came up next.
It was some seriously freaky shit.
Reaching the kitchen door, Ninette motioned to the round table on the raised patio. “Take a load off. I left my purse on the kitchen table. You need anything while I’m in there?”
Bonnie shook her head. “Not unless you see a five-hour energy drink. Between last night and all that food, I might nod off in another thirty minutes.”
Ninette chuckled at that, disappeared inside and showed all of two minutes later with an unopened pack of cigarettes. She sat next to Bonnie, both of them with direct views of the people gathered round the table. “They’re somethin’ else, aren’t they?”
Who she meant by they didn’t need clarification. Even from fifty feet away, it was obvious the people she’d spent the last few hours with were special. Unique not just because of who they were as individuals, but because of how they interacted with and accepted each other. “Yeah. Still tryin’ to figure out how they get along the way they do. Damnedest thing I’ve ever seen.”
Ninette peeled the wrapper off the cigarette box and dropped it in the ashtray on the table. “You know, no one ever said how you stumbled into this ragtag crew. We visit an awful lot, but this is the first time I’ve seen you. You’ve gotta be fairly fresh blood.”
Bonnie lifted her chin toward Cassie. “I worked the reception desk at the television station on the weekends.”
“Past tense?”
An ironic chuckle bubbled up. “Was supposed to be there this morning, but after last night’s debacle, Roman put me on lockdown. Not sure I have a job there anymore.”
Ninette flicked her lighter to life and fired up a cigarette. She huffed out a puff of smoke and smiled. “You don’t sound like you’re too happy about that development.”
It wasn’t an accusing statement. More like a woman who knew all too well what it was like to be around protective men and had long ago decided to pick her battles. She’d bet when Ninette decided to hold the line on something, absolutely no one got across it. Not even someone like Sergei. “Truth? I was pretty pissed this morning. But the more I think about it, it’s the smart thing to do. I mean, shit could go bad not just for me, but for other people around me. And if I’m gut-level honest, I think being pissed is more about not being in control than him being overbearing.”
With her elbow anchored on the armrest and her eyes on the festivities beyond, Ninette dipped her head in agreement. “Sounds like a pretty solid self-assessment.”
Quiet moved between them, an easy silence that should have been impossible with a stranger.
“So...” Ninette leaned forward and tapped her ashes into the ashtray. “How long have you and Roman been a thing?”
Cymbals crashing next to her ear couldn’t have snatched her attention quicker. “Say what?”
“You and Roman. How long have you been together?”