What the hell is happening here?
“I’ve already cooked all the meats, we just need to do salads. Reece has the drinks already, don’t you worry about a thing.”
I glance over at Keely and find her still giving me that same smile. I’m just standing around like a dumbass. “I could’ve… come to you guys. No need to bring everything to me.”
Trink snorts from where she’s raiding my fridge for cheese. “The table is a housewarming present from Mom and Dad, so you get delivery and the pleasure of the lot of us for dinner. Mom’s being nosy, Tomi has been all secretive and she’s getting fucking twitchy about it.”
Keely shoots her a look and says, “I didn’t want you feeling overwhelmed at our place again. Besides, Tomi said he wanted Rue here in the morning to help out with the cladding. I hope you don’t mind, Tomi said it would be okay?”
Now I feel like an asshole so I rush to say, “No, it’s—I mean, thank you. That’s very kind of you and the table is lovely.”
Trink snorts at me and shoos me into the bathroom to clean up for dinner. When I walk back out they’re all ferrying the dishes out to the porch and I find myself in the kitchen with Speck, alive and only a little worse for wear.
I try not to cry.
He grins at me and gives me a look before I dart in close to give him a hug. “Fuck, I’m glad you’re alive.”
He scoffs at me. “I’m harder to kill than that, give me some credit!”
Keely walks in to see us hugging and before I can get too awkward about it she smiles at me like I’ve done something right… so I scurry away to find Tomi, ignoring Speck laughing his ass off at me.
The table is round, thank God, because there's no freaking way I'd be okay with sitting at the head and being the center of attention.
It's bad enough they all keep trying to talk to me.
It takes me three times as long as normal to get my shit together and fill my plate up with food. The roast meats smell freaking amazing, the kind of homestyle I haven't had since my dad died, and there's every type of vegetable you could think of on this table.
"How are your classes going, Angel?" Keely asks, and I try not to choke on my potatoes.
"They're good. I'm in my final year so it's a lot harder, takes a lot longer to study and do the classwork.”
"Doubled her course load too so she should be busy," Tomi says, nudging my leg under the table. I don't know what exactly he's trying to tell me because I'm too busy sweating under his dad's keen gaze. Fuck, his uncles both look like they're trying to look through my skin and into my brain from the other side of the table.
Trink sighs and pokes at her own plate. "You just had to be a fucking genius, didn't ya? Couldn't be a dumbass like Reece and I."
Speck scoffs and flicks a pea at her. "Speak for yourself! I’ve got more fucking brains than you and Rue put together.”
Rue picks up his knife a little threateningly and Keely starts scowling at them all. By some miracle, that settles them all down.
Hawk shuts their shit out and says to me, “What are you gonna do after college?”
I shrug. “Accounting and specializing in taxes. I enjoy a challenge."
Rue chuckles under his breath. "You mean like how you spent one night on The Boulevard's books and managed to fucking save our asses? That didn't seem like it challenged you. Tomi had been trying for fucking weeks and it took you, what, an hour?”
Hawk’s eyebrows draw together. "What happened?"
Keely gets up and starts handing out more beers, kissing cheeks as she passes them out and when she gets to me she does the same. Just throws me for a loop by including me in her little family.
“Mav was doing a shitty job with the books. Skimming from the top," Rue says, taking his beer from Keely and lifting his chin for the cheek kiss obediently. Even he accepts her fussing.
It's kind of adorable.
Hawk shoots me a look and I rush to clarify, "I'm not sure it was skimming on purpose or if he's just really bad at bookkeeping but yeah... if you got audited you'd have been in trouble. Tax evasion levels of trouble and my professors have all been talking about how cash industries are being targeted this year so it's only a matter of time. Very messy."
Hawk's eyes finally shift away from me and I take a breath. Jesus, his scrutiny is terrifying. "Guess we have a new accountant then."
Uh.
What?
"I'm not certified yet. I can't do it until I'm finished."
King shrugs. "That's only six months away, right? Perfect timing, ready for you to lodge our taxes. You can keep the books until then."
I swallow roughly, ready to try to talk my way out of it but Tomi jumps in for me. "She has classes, she's focusing on that. If she has time she can do them but class first."
That's not quite what I was hoping for in my rescue but I'll take it. Rue groans and says, "The garage needs the books looked at too. Diesel can barely fucking read, let alone sort taxes. We were using Vic but he's... not available anymore."
Everyone shares a look and I decide not to ask about him.
"Not available on account of a bullet in the brain," Trink whispers at me, and Tomi reaches behind me to smack the back of her head.
"Shut your fucking mouth, dumbass. Who's been telling you shit, anyway?"
Right.
She was just trying to scare me then. I get back to my plate and keep my mouth shut. I'm still feeling all sorts of... off. They're all treating me too well. I'm sitting here and waiting for there to be some change in them, something to happen and suddenly it's a bullet in my brain.
"Diego was yakking it up about the whole thing. Talking about how the club is losing credibility over killing our own members. I told him he was a fucking dumbass and then Law had to take a swing at him. I fucking hate the asshole."
Law.
Why aren't the twins here? Tomi nudges my beer at me and says, "Harbin's in town still. They're deciding if they're staying in Coldstone or going home to Mounts Bay."
Right. I keep my face blank. Like, super fucking blank because Rue starts eyeballing me like I'm the most fucking interesting thing on the planet. Joke’s on him though.
The Devil is terrifying and I'm certain he'd know if I gave anything away.
"Did you meet Poe's sister?" King asks, and I mentally cuss him out. Of course he'd ask.
"I did. She's nice."
He stares at me. "Nice? Thorn acts like she's a fucking nightmare waiting to swoop in and lay siege on my club."
I take a sip of my beer and try not to freak out. "She was very nice to me. She loves her sister, would do anything for her. Everyone was nice."
Tomi's arm turns to stone where it's draped over the back of my chair. "Who the fuck else did you meet?"
Fuck. "Her sister and the boyfriend."
Trink makes this little squealing noise. "Holy shit, you met Morrison too, didn’t you? Poe said her sister knows him too."
I giggle. "Yeah, I did. He was really nice too."
Speck cackles and I look over to find Tomi looking pissed.
"He was nice! I mean… all of them were nice.”