Page 16 of Taking a King

I smile and take another sip from the glass. “Thanks, Van.” Something else occurs to me. “Does that mean you apologize for going along with his arrest of Garrett?”

Van grins, reminding me of Wyatt’s playfulness.

“That shit was funny,” he says with a laugh.

I give his arm a playful smack. “It was not!”

“Sure it was,” Van insists. “I bet Garrett even laughed about it later.”

I roll my eyes when I remember that he’d done just that last night. I feel my mouth twitch into a small smile. “Fine,” I say. “It was a little funny.” I take a breath and give Van a more serious look. “Are we good?” I ask, my voice small.

His expression sobers and he puts a hand on mine. “If you’re happy and he’s good to you, I’m happy. We’re good, Claire Bear.”

I smile at the silly nickname from my childhood. Van knocks back the rest of his drink.

“Besides,” he says nodding at something behind me. “I’m not the one you need to win over.”

I turn to see Ronan and Quinn walk through the front door. Quinn gives me a smile of encouragement, but Ronan’s face is expressionless. He barely glances my way before continuing on to the table Van has set up in the center of the dining room.

Ouch.That hurts. He’s clearly still upset with me. Quinn shoots me a look of sympathy. I try to reassure her with a smile, but I’m starting to doubt my grand plans to bring Ronan around to the idea of me and Garrett. The door swings open and a big ball of energy with Hannah’s honey-blonde hair shoots toward me.

“Aunt Claire!”

I catch Liam and squeeze him against me in a hug, lifting him off his feet. He laughs as I spin him around in a circle.

“Liam, buddy,” I say as I lower him back to his feet. “I missed you.”

He laughs. “It’s only been a week, Aunt Claire.”

I shrug and ruffle his hair. “Too long, kiddo.”

He grabs my hand and pulls me toward the table where Finn and Hannah are already seated with Quinn and Ronan. Van follows behind us, keeping up with Liam’s endless chatter. Wyatt and Hope walk in just as we’re sitting down and take the remaining 2 seats. As soon as we’re all seated, an unnatural silence falls over our usually loud, boisterous group. Even Liam has quieted down, as if even he understands that something is wrong. I know my brothers are all waiting for me to address the elephant in the room. But I don’t give them the satisfaction.

“I’m starving,” I say, keeping my voice bright. “What’s on the menu tonight, Van?”

I look at him as if nothing is wrong. His lip twitches in amusement, but he manages not to smile fully.

“Seafood stew,” he says after a moment.

“Yum,” I say, leaning toward Liam with a grin. “I bet I can eat more than you.”

“I bet you can’t,” Liam says, immediately game for a challenge.

“Why not?”

“Cause you’re a girl,” he says as if the fact should be obvious. “And I’m a growing boy. Mom says I’m getting taller every day and that I eat more than her and Finn put together.”

I pretend to study him for a moment. “Is that so? Well, maybe you are a little taller than you were last week. But this is seafood stew. I don’t mess around with seafood stew. Once, I ate the whole pot and my brothers didn’t get any. They all had to eat broccoli.”

Liam giggles. “No way.”

I shrug. “Guess we’ll see who wins.” I look over at Van. “Do we have any broccoli for Liam when I eat all the stew?”

He shakes his head. “Afraid not. Just Brussels sprouts.”

“Ew!” Liam makes a disgusted face. “I’m not eating that!”

“Then you better be quick with your stew, huh?” I say, picking up my spoon and pointing it at him.

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