Page 80 of Sin

I met his gaze, hesitating. “You okay?” I mouthed.

Subtly, he nodded. I sent him a little smile as I continued toward one of the chairs at the table, choosing a seat next to Eva. Eva and Mare were already sitting, Eva talking about her boss working her ragged and Mare suggesting she could pay Eva’s boss a visit.

Before long, London and his sisters came to sit down. London sat beside me while his sisters chose the free seats beside Mare.

Amanda leaned forward, getting much too close to Mare for my comfort. “Did you file them or did you go to, like, a dentist or something?”

Mare flinched away, obviously taken off guard by Amanda’s complete lack of personal space. I doubted many people dared get so close to her. “A dentist.”

“Did it hurt?”

“Uh, no.”

Abigail abruptly reached across Amanda and grabbed one of Mare’s hands, and I spewed my drink all over the table.

She didn’t even seem to realize the dangerous situation she’d put herself in as eyed Mare’s nails in fascination. “Holy shit! Look at your nails!” Abigail pulled Mare’s finger’s closer to her face, and I winced. “Girl, how did you even manage to get them so pointy?”

I opened my mouth to tell Abigail to let the fuck go, but Mare did something that had me hesitating. She blushed, looking embarrassed. “I have a nail girl downtown who’s really talented. She’s a metal bender and is able to form the metal to fit my nails.”

“Ooh, we should totally have a nail day,” Amanda suggested, eyes alight with excitement.

“What do you want to bet Mare’s on the verge of a heart attack?” London whispered in my ear, making goose bumps form over my skin. It distracted me of thinking about all the times Eva and I used to get our nails done together. She always matched her nails with whatever color she’d dyed her hair that month. I always stuck with my signature black.

I huffed, glancing away from my sad, bare nails. “Ugh, I hope not. I don’t have any more of Mend’s blood to save her.”

He froze, blinking at me. “What? What the hell happened to the vial he gave you earlier?”

I waved a hand dismissively. “I used it on that old man I almost killed. Pretty sure he thought I’d given him the elixir of life or something.”

“You did what?” London sounded almost shrill.

“Who’s hungry?” Angela called, coming into the room and successfully helping me avoid responding to London. She carried a couple of platters of food to the table, and Sarah followed after her, doing the same. “Rob! Do you mind getting the turkey, hon?”

“Sure, dear,” he said, leaving his chair to do as she’d asked.

Since there weren’t enough matching dining chairs for all of us, Nick scavenged several extra camping chairs and brought them into the room for him, Charlie, and Bennett to sit on. Allie had also chosen to sit on a camping chair, talking animatedly to the trio about something at her school.

When Rob came over carrying a massive tray with the biggest turkey I’d ever seen, I gaped.

London tapped my elbow, getting my attention. “Hm?”

“Don’t eat the food,” he said under his breath, too quiet for anyone else to hear.

“Excuse me?”

He met my eyes. “Trust me. Don’t eat it.”

“Seriously?” I frowned at him. “What do you expect me to do then? Feed it to the dogs?”

Shrugging, he turned to watch Rob carve the turkey. “I don’t care how you do it. Just do it.”

Okay… I eyed the turkey curiously, wondering why he seemed so concerned.

Then Rob struggled to slice through the bird. After a lot of effort, he finally managed it, but it was apparent why it had been so hard.

The inside was still frozen.

And so continued the strangest dinner of my life.

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