Page 193 of Scatter the Bones

“Dang.” She twists around, catches Rooster’s eye, and he nods back at her.

After what seems like hours later, Griff’s finally up on the small stage, squinting into the lights, keeping his cool while reporters lob stupid questions at him.

The rest of our crew filled out the seats around me. Somehow Remy ended up next to me. Shelby moved to sit with Molly.

“Griffin, over here. Brett from Tridant True Media.”

Next to me, Remy groans. “This guy’s a clown. You ever listen to his podcast?”

“Fuck no. I try to avoid any and all dudebro content,” I answer.

Remy snorts.

Griff turns his head, his eyes scanning the crowd until they land on the reporter. He picks up his microphone and nods for him to ask his question.

“You were the underdog in this fight,” Brett says. “This was a stunning victory??—”

“I wasn’t stunned.” Griff cuts him off.

The room erupts in laughter.Good one, kid.

Griff lazily points in our direction. “None of my crew was surprised that I won, either.”

“Fuck yeah!” I jump out of my chair and throw my fists up, daring the reporter to say something else stupid.

Other reporters stare at us wide-eyed and give us more room.

Remy’s silently laughing when I sit back down.

Griff grins at the reporter and lifts his eyebrows. “Anything else?”

Not smart enough to keep his mouth shut the guy asks, “Well, actually yes. Since you won, will you be proposing to your girlfriend this weekend?”

Remy groans. “What the fuck is wrong with these people? Some asshole asked her that in the cage too.”

“Fucking creeps,” I growl, clocking this dude for later. Maybe a four a.m. blanket party in the parking lot will cheer me up.

Griff blows off the question. “My personal life is personal. Let’s keep the questions fight-related.”

Since I can’t punch any of the reporters right now, needling Remy seems like my next best option. I lean over and whisper, “You’re not worried they’re going to get hitched once your plane takes off?”

He snorts a laugh. “No. Molly wantsmeto walk her down the aisle.” A more serious expression falls over his face. “Griff wouldn’t do that to me.”

“You’re good with them together now?” Because he sure seemed to have a problem with it last year.

He cocks his head and stares at me for a moment. “Yeah. Royal will turn himself inside out to make my sister happy. That’s all I care about.” He shrugs, then laughs. “Not that my opinion matters. They’re going to be together whether I approve or not. I’d rather beintheir lives than…” He trails off and shrugs again. “Whatever the alternative is.”

That’s a more mature answer than I expected from Remy.

Not that I have room to judge.

I’ve got my own little sister problems.

Jezzie’s gonna breathe hellfire in my face when she finds out Cain’s been living near me all this time and I haven’t told her yet.

Will she understand I just wanted to make sure she’d be safe?

That I needed time to figure it all out?

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