Page 74 of Scars Run Deep

More stunned looks were exchanged between Killian and Jonah.

I knew why.

Asher didn’t ask.

He ordered, commanded, demanded.

It had me smiling. “Okay.”

“Just like that?” he asked, knowing by now my penchant for not backing down.

I stroked the pad of my thumb over the back of his hand. “Yeah, you’re right. With everything going on, I need to prioritize. I’ll hand in my notice.” I drew my hand away and stabbed my fork into one of my cheesy fries. “Besides, I only took that job to gather intel on the three of you.”

The corner of his mouth turned up. “Nicely done.”

“I thought so,” I said, shoving the fry into my mouth and savoring my decision to add extra cheese. I finished chewing, then told him, “After what we had to do, that show we put on, working there has become… challenging, anyway.”

Jonah winced.

“It’s not your fault,” I told him.

“Debatable.”

“It’s the past now. Let’s just focus on the here and now.” I gestured at the table. “You were instrumental with this. Thank you.”

“Nah, in the end, all I did were the steaks. After I set you on the right path with things, you went with it, kicking ass all over the place. A little messily, sure, but you just have your own style and way of doing things.” He grasped the vodka bottle. “Appreciate this, big time.”

“You’re most welcome.”

The four of us sank into the meal then, into each other’s company, enjoying the food and making some casual small talk. Jonah told us about the engineering project he was working on at the moment and him putting in too much charge or something that had resulted in a small fire sparking in the workshop the other night. Killian recalled how he’d been in the kitchen getting snacks for him and me to fuel our studying when Jonah had rushed on by in a blur and snatched up the fire extinguisher. Apparently, the one in his workshop had been empty, with one too many incidents like that having occurred in the past.

“Hey, I found that comic I was telling you about,” Jonah told me as he started to dig into his risotto. “It fell down the back of my shelving unit. Had to pull the whole thing out to get at it. You up for reading it?”

“The Killing Joke?”

“Yeah.”

“Isn’t that the really grisly and psychologically disturbing one?” Killian asked him.

“It’s got all that, yeah, but it really shows why Joker is Batman’s best fucking villain, way above all the rest.”

Killian rubbed my arm. “You sure you want to take that on right now?”

He and Asher exchanged a brief look.

What was going on?

I rolled my eyes at whatever it was, telling them, “I’m sure I can handle it.” I wagged my finger at Jonah. “As long as you keep up your end of the deal.”

He nodded. “I’ll read Freefall all about your beloved Nightwing. Even if I don’t like it, there’s that sweet ass of his to get me through.”

“Sweet ass,” Killian grumbled.

“Aww, don’t worry, I’m more about the hair,” I said, shifting on my chair and sinking my fingers into his soft brown hair. “That sexy, floppy style. Just like this.”

“Hmm, there is a resemblance,” Asher commented. He chuckled to himself, then took another bite of his burger.

Killian moaned as I played with his hair, while picking at my fries with my free hand. He sank back against his chair contentedly as he enjoyed the ice-cream.

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