Page 302 of The Black Trilogy

Last time Bradley put pineapple on my pizza, I’d taken it out the back and fired ten rounds dead through the centre of it. Good to see he’d got the message.

“So what’s in the truck?”

“I just brought a few extra bits and pieces. Party poppers, balloons, a cake. And games. We can’t have a party without party games.”

“Yes, we can. I’m not playing strip poker again.”

“Oh, don’t be so boring. We can just play beer pong and Twister. Now will you help me carry some of this stuff?”

Twister. Great. My temples throbbed again, the steady pulse of a Bradley-induced headache. I picked up a grocery sack containing nothing healthy at all and carted it into the kitchen then went back for another. How much had he bought? There couldn’t be more than ten people coming, surely?

At least I got a reprieve from carrying duty when my phone rang. Saved by the bell. It was Tia checking I’d received her present.

“Sure did. Thanks, honey.”

“You’re so welcome! I can’t believe I’m missing out on a party. Exams suck.”

“How about I fly you out when they’re finished?”

Luke seemed to be in Virginia for the foreseeable future, so I didn’t see how he could object.

“That would be awesome!”

“You’ve got to study first, though.”

“I’m already gone.”

Tia went back to her books, and by seven thirty, my movie screening room had been turned into a riot of confetti and streamers. People began to arrive, starting with Nate and Carmen. No surprises there. Nate was never late for anything. He had one of those radio-controlled watches, and he lived by it. Of course, since he’d designed the thing himself, it also contained a GPS transmitter and a miniature radio, and if you set the alarm for 11:06, you had fifteen seconds to get out of the way before it blew a really big hole in something. He gave me a slightly awkward hug, and Carmen squashed the breath out of me.

The others trickled in over the next half hour. Mack and Luke, Nick, Dan, Alex, and Jed, plus Logan and three others from Blackwood—Evan, Jack, and Malachi.

Bradley had ordered enough pizza to feed a battalion, plus fries, onion rings, wings, and dips. It was a good thing Toby had left two days ago to visit his sister in Idaho because he’d have had a heart attack at the sight of that lot.

“How many people did you invite?” I asked my darling assistant.

“Just the people here, plus Gage, but he got held up in the office.”

“We’ve got two pizzas each.”

“People get hungry.”

Food and drink covered every surface, and we barely made a dent in it. I took a couple of deep dish pepperonis and a plate full of other snacks out to Seth and Mick in the guardhouse—at least that was a bit more of it gone.

Nate stretched his arms above his head, leaning back on one of the sofas. “Time for a movie? I can’t eat another mouthful.”

“No!” Bradley said. “We haven’t even started the cake.”

“But—”

Too late; he’d gone.

To give him his credit, the cake he wheeled in five minutes later was a work of art. Three enormous layers covered in waves of milk, dark, and white chocolate topped off with glitter. Almost too pretty to eat. The top tier held thirty-three candles, and Nick handed me a fire extinguisher.

Oh, very funny.

“Make a wish,” Bradley cried.

I did. A crazy wish for the only thing I wanted, which was also the one thing I could never have. Black.

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