Blue’s expression went flat. “I would never lie to someone about their dead child.”
“Sorry. Didn’t mean to suggest you would. Hey, why don’t we grab some barbecue?”
“Maybe we should just go home.”
“I know for a fact you loved that place we went to with my dad that time.”
“Oh, that place? Hmm.”
I waved at Christian, who was listening from inside the truck. “I still need to meet with Ren and talk to him about all this. He won’t want to do it on the phone, so I’ll invite him out for lunch.”
“Are you going to tell him about Graham?”
I shook my head. “I’m a good liar, but Ren’s also a really smart wolf. I need to dance around the truth, but maybe if he gets a few beers in him, he won’t notice I’m dancing.”
She smiled and headed toward the driver’s door. “Let me call Viktor first and tell him how things went. He’ll be relieved to know the pride took them in. I think he wants to meet with Sambah to personally thank him and check on the kids.”
“Okay then. We’ll meet you there.”
Blue looked over her shoulder. “Raven? Do me a favor.”
“Sure. Anything.”
“Don’t order any hot dogs.”
Chapter 31
We met up at Skulls, my father’s favorite barbecue smokehouse. Despite being a workaholic, Crush usually took Sundays off, so I invited him to join us. Crush never turned down barbecue. I figured with him there, it would break any tension I might inadvertently create with Ren.
Instead of sitting inside the crowded restaurant, we lounged on the back patio beneath a wooden pergola. Christian and I ordered beers and a large tin of ribs, which he wasn’t keen on eating.
“You know you can’t leave here without eating,” I reminded him. “They have spies. Didn’t you learn your lesson from last time?”
“I can’t say I’m hungry.”
Ren threw him a frosty gaze. “You can’t trust a man who doesn’t eat.”
Christian turned toward him, straddling the bench to my right. “Is that so? Does that mean you don’t trust a man who doesn’t take a shite? In that case, pass me the potato salad, because I’ll have none of that coming out of my arse,” he said, gesturing toward the tin of meat.
I spit out my lemonade when Ren dropped the entire tin of potato salad in front of Christian, some of it spattering onto his shirt.
“I’m glad you came,” I said to Tank, who bumped shoulders with me.
“Wouldn’t miss it.”
My father’s friends were the closest I had to family. Now that I knew they were Shifters, it cast a new light on them. Some of their rituals made sense, as did their protectiveness and loyalty. Had I never become immortal, they couldn’t have kept their secret for long. Not without giving me their anti-aging cream. Even though I’d only invited Ren, when barbecue was involved, it became a family affair. Familiar faces filled the patio space, and kids raced around in a game of tag.
Ren licked sauce off his fingers. “Where’s your old man? I thought he was coming.”
“He said he’d be here, but there was something he had to do first.” I looked across the table at the orange soda and empty plate, suddenly worried. What if something had happened to him?
“I’m in love with this place,” Blue said around a mouthful of dinner roll. “We should do this every single week.”
“My kind of girl,” Ren said. “Raven knows how to pick good friends. Well, mostly.” He met eyes with Christian before returning to another conversation.
“Little gobshite,” Christian muttered.
I touched my chin against my shoulder and lowered my voice. “Don’t start shit with these people. You’re out of your league.”
“Is that so? I’ll have you know I can bend steel.”
“And I’ll have you know that half of them carry impalement wood and have no problems tossing a fanghole into one of the firepits.”
“You come from a twisted family, Miss Black. What do they have against me other than my Breed? Don’t they know you’re my sweetheart?”
“Yep. But they don’t think we’ll last.”
Without warning, Christian rose to his feet and slowly peeled off his shirt. He stood there in nothing but his black jeans, black boots, and black raven tattoo.
It got quiet.
Real quiet.
Christian sat back down. “That settles that.”
Blue snickered from the bench across from him. She seemed different today, and I wasn’t sure if it was Christian’s blood, the alcohol, or getting a second chance at life. In any case, she was drinking in more than the alcohol.
“Boy, you should have heard what Sambah said to me,” she said, eyebrows arched high.
I lurched over the table and lowered my voice. “What? I thought you left right after us.”
“I did.” Blue reached for a container of baked beans and dipped her spoon in. “But while I was on the phone with Viktor, Sambah came out, thinking something was wrong. We got to talking, and I asked about you-know-who.”
She meant Graham, but we weren’t going to mention him by name in present company.
I glanced around to make sure no one was listening. “What did he say?”
She finished eating a spoonful of beans, a half grin lingering. “He didn’t tell me what they did to him or how he died. All I know is that they buried him on the property.”
“That’s surprising because?”
“They made his grave a permanent outdoor urinal.”
Christian choked on his potato salad.
“I think they put flowers or a bush or something on his grave,” she went on, barely bottling her laughter. “So the only way they’re allowed to water the flowers is to piss on him.”
I had to credit Sambah for his creativity. I sat back in my seat and nibbled the last good meat off the bone before pushing my plate away.
“Are you going to waste that?” Christian asked. “There are starving children in the world, and there’s still meat on those bones.”
“I don’t like fat and gristle.”
Ren reached over, took my plate, and stripped the meat clean off the bone, making me grimace.
“Jaysus, Mary, and Joseph. Is that your da?”
I turned toward the sound of a motorcycle rumbling on the street to my right. Crush was facing us at the stop sign, and I actually stood to get a better look over the rosebushes. “Holy shit. You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What?” Ren launched to his feet to see what had grabbed everyone’s attention. “That motherfucker actually did it. Sorry, Raven. I can’t promise what my boys will do to him.”
My dad sat on his big Harley, a black bandana tied over his head like a cap and his black shades on. He looked proud as hell, which wasn’t unusual whenever he rode his bike around. But what was unusual was the sidecar with the dog inside.
Blue sputtered with laughter. “Oh fates. Is that dog wearing goggles? What do they call those? Doggles?” She reached for her beer, still laughing.
Crush spotted us and waved as he turned the corner to park out front.