Page 7 of Haunted By the Shadow of Death

Bri’s eyes flared, but only for a millisecond.

“It’s nice to meet you, Piper,” she said. “I guess congratulations are in order.”

She held out her hand and smiled as if it were genuine. I waited for a swell of anger to rise, but it didn’t come. There didn’t seem to be any signs that she’d be trying to stab me later on tonight.

“Thank you,” I said, trying to appear as collected as she had, but instead sounding like I’d just choked on a fly.

“I appreciate your hospitality,” Kicks said.

I interpreted that closer to, Thanks for being nice to my new girlfriend now that I’ve dumped you in the most awkward of ways.

“You know you’ll always be welcome here. Never doubt that.”

I translated that to, The door is always open if you want to come back.

Even still, she’d taken the one-eighty and hadn’t even gotten a crick in her neck. This chick was good, and seemed almost as smooth as Kicks. The connection was making a little too much sense. They were like two sides of the same coin.

She looked behind us, as if doing a head count. “Let me get you all settled, but then afterward, I’d like to touch base on how things went at Groza’s.” She looked to me and back to Kicks, adding, “Unless you’re too tired, and then we can catch up tomorrow.”

“No, that’s fine. Let me go wash up and I’ll come find you,” he said, not taking the out she’d provided him.

He had to wash up to talk to her? He couldn’t do it as he was? Maybe that was why she wasn’t salty. Perhaps what had just been said had been for my benefit.

It didn’t matter. It didn’t.

We’d established we weren’t anything more than a business arrangement. I shouldn’t be jealous. I had no right to be jealous.

“I won’t keep him long,” she said, smiling.

I smiled back. She wouldn’t keep him long? In other words, did she think she could if she wanted to? Of course she did. She actually had a relationship with him, as opposed to me, a business partner.

“The east cottage is open. Why don’t you and Piper take that? The rest of your people can spread out in the front guesthouses and overflow into the community bunkhouse.”

“That’ll work well.”

“I can’t wait to hear what went down with Grossa,” Bri said, laughing. “I told you that would never work.”

“I tried to go in with an open mind,” Kicks said, shrugging.

“No, you didn’t. You went in with your own plan and to see what they were up to,” she said, still speaking through a smile.

Kicks smiled back at her, looking way too cozy.

“I’m going to go grab Charlie,” I said, edging away from them as if I was distracted and not trying to escape their too-friendly banter.

It was a natural enough excuse to get away because it was what I’d do anyway. It just gave me the benefit of not having to stand there with them a second longer. Kicks might’ve introduced me as his mate, but I was the third wheel with a duo who clearly had a long history, and a good one.

Charlie was rubbing the sleep from his eyes, sitting on Buddie’s shoulders not far away.

“We’re going to bunk with the guys in the guardhouse,” Charlie proclaimed loudly, and then yawned.

“You sure? Maybe he should come with me,” I said, shifting my attention to Buddie. I wanted to grab Charlie off Buddie’s shoulders and drag him with me, and not for his benefit. The little guy came in handy as a buffer at times.

“He’s fine. We’re having a guys’ night,” Rastin said as he walked over, smiling at me like he knew exactly why I wanted Charlie with me.

“Yeah, a guys’ night,” Charlie proclaimed, smiling wide.

His mood was so much better than this morning that I smiled and nodded. It wasn’t like he wouldn’t be safe with the two of them. It wasn’t fair to make him come stay at the cottage only to put space in between Kicks and me. I might not need space. How did I know he’d even spend the night there with me?

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