Page 63 of The Butcher

The waiter returned when he noticed the guests and took their orders. It did nothing to break the tension at all. Even when he returned with the coffees, the discomfort was taut like a tight rope.

“Look,” Luca said gently. “You didn’t hear this from me…”

Gabriel released a sigh, as if Luca had just lit a firework.

“But some think you can’t find Godric because…you don’t want to.”

Bastien released a laugh, but it wasn’t a cute, playful laugh. It was dark and threatening, clipped and angry. “Like I would ever protect someone I hate so venomously.”

“They say blood is thicker than water,” Luca said.

“Put some red dye in water, and it looks the fucking same,” Bastien said. “You can tell whatever asshole company you keep that I’m not protecting him. And you better not tell me who said that, because I’ll fucking kill them.”

I knew it wasn’t an idle threat, not the way normal people teased each other with that phrase. This was completely real.

Luca stared at him for a moment. “President Martin.”

The table fell into another bout of silence, but this one was heavier than all the others. A standoff happened between Bastien and Luca, both of them staring at each other and having a silent conversation.

The waiter arrived a moment later and placed the enormous platters of food in front of us, pancakes, eggs, bacon, and a scoop of baked beans. The hash browns were compacted into a ball rather than rolled flat, but they still looked good.

“Enough shop talk,” Bastien said. “Let’s fucking eat.”

“You guys met at Silencio?” Luca asked, his attention on me.

“I’m a bartender there,” I said. “Well, I was.” On Monday, I would report for my new job at nine in the morning. It’d been a long time since I’d been up that early. I needed clothes for it, but I really didn’t want to interact with Adrien at all.

“Where do you work now?” Luca’s plate was completely empty because he ate every little piece, every damn crumb. They both ate like Bastien, like they were starving at every meal.

“Some investment company,” I said, not wanting to admit that Bastien had hooked me up with the job.

“Some investment company?” Gabriel said with a laugh. “You don’t know what it’s called?”

“I gave her a job at the office,” Bastien said. “You fucking pricks.”

“Just trying to get to know your girlfriend a little better,” Luca said.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Bastien said.

I was both relieved by that interjection and simultaneously disappointed. I walked that line every moment I was in Bastien’s presence. I’d never wanted a man more in my life, but that also marked him as the single most dangerous person in the world. The man who could burn down what little foundation I had left.

“Pussies have girlfriends. Men have women—and she’s my woman.”

He claimed me in no uncertain terms right in front of his boys. It was a turn-on, made me want to jump his bones right there in the booth, but I kept my eyes on the table and tried to be invisible. The warmth in my belly was quickly replaced by ice-cold fear.

Luca stared at Bastien for a long time, and a silent conversation passed between them.

What I wouldn’t give to know the details.

The tab came, and all three men threw a hundred-euro-bill into the pile, even though brunch couldn’t have possibly cost that much.

“We’re going out tonight,” Luca said. “You in?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” Bastien said.

Luca scooted out of the booth first. “Nice to meet you, Fleur.”

“You too,” I said quietly.

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