She glanced over once quickly and then again. Her eyes narrowed, the skin beneath them darker and baggier than I remembered. "Knox, I—"
"Who the fuck is this?" the man snarled, looking Knox up and down like he actually stood a chance if things got physical.
"Friends," Knox snarled. "Who the fuck are you?"
"Her husband."
"Ex!" Hallie shouted—that didn't sound like the first time she'd declared as much.
Hallie didn't look at any of the men; instead she searched the parking lot behind them. She spotted me, her expression tightening. "I told you I had a date with friends," she said to her ex. "This is them. So go away."
Any normal, sane person would've realized that this wasn't the time for their anger. Not her ex. His mouth twisted, reminding me of a wrinkly cat butthole. "You don't have friends in this town."
I growled.
A real growl.
I didn't get any super hearing or super smell, but I could growl in a way that actually sounded scary.
Angus cooed and wiggled into me. He liked my growls.
Hallie's ex turned his head, noticing me for the first time. "Who's that fucking idiot?"
I winced, but not because his question hurt me. This guy's opinion of me mattered as much as space mattered to an elephant. While I didn't love comparing myself to an elephant, Hallie's ex wouldn't love what would—
He dropped without ever seeing the punch. It came from straight in front of him, but Knox moved like he'd set his remote to fast forward. Faust yanked off his shoe—on a rare day when he wasn't wearing combat boots—and tossed it directly under the spot Hallie's ex's head would hit the pavement. Falling so hard against Faust's shoe couldn't have felt great either.
The man moaned, rolling pitifully on the asphalt with his eyes squeezed shut.
"Great, Knox, now he's going to call the cops. You'll go to jail," Faust said drolly. He leaned against the brick building, his arms crossed over his chest while his right foot propped vertically against the wall.
Without missing a beat, Knox deadpanned, "Then I guess I'll just have to kill him."
Whether or not Hallie had caught on to their little play, I didn't know, but she stepped forward. "He isn't worth it, and he won't call shit. Probably has a warrant already." Her voice was as strong as I'd heard it since I got out of the car, and I hated how that implied there was something that existed in this world that she cowed to. Especially when that something was such a clear pile of shit.
I breathed deeply. If Angus noticed when I growled, he'd notice if my heart pounded with furious rage. Faust helped Hallie walk around her ex. He'd nearly pulled himself into a sitting position, so he was probably fine—but if he wasn't, I didn't know how much I'd care.
"Are you okay?" I looked her up and down, and while she didn't have bruises, there were bags under her eyes, and her skin was pale.
"Okay? Yeah, of course. There's a reason why they're exes, am I right?" She laughed, the sound forced like a foghorn.
I couldn't laugh, not even to help her save face. This was the woman who had accosted me with her kindness. She'd worried more about me than herself and had stood up to Knox—something not many did. "Hallie, are you okay?"
She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth. "I haven't had the best time lately. Roy was staying with friends, but they kicked him out, and he's been trying to come back. It's… tiring."
"Come on back to the hotel," I suggested. "I'll introduce you to Angus in the car, and then we can have lunch or something. Think of it as a final exam for all those cooking lessons you gave me."
"I gave you like two," she grumbled.
"Then I won't make it a very good lunch."
We gathered in the meeting room next to the kitchen. Hallie held Angus, cooing and making baby talk as Knox watched on. Other than Dr. Tiff, Hallie was the first non-pack member to hold Angus, and Knox was finding the moment difficult. I hoped Hallie wouldn't be too offended. Knox wouldn't have let her come back to the hotel if he hadn't trusted her. This sort of stuff was just more difficult for him.
True to my word, I made a so-so tray of cold cut sandwiches and piled enough grapes and carrots on the side to make up for the sandwiches if they turned out less than edible.
Hallie and Knox both thanked me before reaching for a sandwich. Knox took a bite and froze, and Hallie, who had been lifting her sandwich to her mouth, paused to stare.
Knox brought the sandwich away from his face. He grabbed something from the middle and pulled. "Just a wrapper."
"I'm sorry!" The only horrible thing I'd ever found out about Knox was that he preferred American processed cheese to real cheddar. It probably looked like I'd left the wrapper on as a passive-aggressive jab, but really I just forgot.
"It's okay, baby. It's…interactive." He was such a good man.
Hallie snorted as she watched Knox unpeel his cheese and place it back inside his sandwich.
"Yours is fine," I told her. "It's real cheese."
"American is real—never mind." Knox wisely shoved food in his mouth instead of arguing.
Faust plopped down next to Knox, plucking a sandwich and pulling out the cheese before taking a bite. I figured the others were also listening in from wherever they were.
I offered to take Angus so Hallie could eat, but weirdly, she didn't seem that hungry. The food was just a trick anyway. I'd hoped eating would relax her enough to tell me what the hell had happened back in town.
She rocked in her chair, soothing herself and the baby.
I picked up a sandwich, decided against it, and grabbed handfuls of grapes and carrots instead.
When it became clear she wouldn't start it, I cleared my throat. "So…Roy."
She didn't stop rocking or look up from the baby when she answered, her voice sad and soft like she spoke from far away. "It wasn't always bad. We married in high school and not because I was pregnant. That didn't happen until much later, after I'd turned away from all my friends, my family, and had made my life about him." She leaned in, kissing Angus on the forehead. "We lost her, and it was horrible, but he was there at the hospital. We were going to get through it, but those false promises hadn't even lasted until we got home. I'd always known he could be mean, one of those that wouldn't bat an eye crossing a line if it got him what he wanted. But he'd never turned that meanness on me. I'd been stupid enough to think that elevated me somehow. Like I was special. From that day on, I couldn't do anything right. He sniped about my cooking, how I dressed, the way I did my hair." She handed Angus over and I settled him against my chest.
"But he was still the guy everyone in Rockshell wanted at their parties. The nicest asshole you'll ever meet. Women used to tell me how je-jealous they were. I wanted to ask them—jealous of what? Being ridiculed?
"But not all the time. Never when someone would see. Living with Roy was like being sentenced to death by a thousand cuts without anyone ever noticing a thing. They think I'm the bitch. That I ruined our perfect marriage. The man is a mean drunk, has so many DUIs there's a warrant out for him, and they still—" She angrily sucked in a breath like she blamed the air and being inhaled was its punishment. "He wasn't lying earlier. I don't have friends here. But I don't have friends anywhere. And I know here." She scoffed, the sound full of so much self-loathing it physically hurt to hear. "That sounds stupid, doesn't it? I sound stupid."