Page 177 of Nothing More

“No!” Cass cut him off again, hands thrown up in agitation. “Stop – just…stop.” She sniffed, and Raven realized she was on the verge of crying. “We were all really scared!”

“Well, I wasn’t–” Tenny started, and Cass raised her voice to talk over him, wiping at her eyes with her hoodie sleeve. “Things have really sucked lately! We keep moving around, and Raven’s gettingfingersin the mail! Oh, come on, I heard you guys,” she said, tossing them a dark, tear-glossed look when Raven started to ask how she knew about that. “We have guards with us all the time, and I can’t go to school, and everyone’s afraid that somebody’s gonna shoot us, or kidnap me, or – or – I don’t even know what! Someone was in our flat, Dad. And here we are, hiding out, and you pull in and sneak up and try to give us all heart attacks! It’s not funny! And neither is you sitting there and pretending you’re so smart. Raven wants to know why you’re here, and so do I!” She drew herself up to her full height, tossed her hair back, and jutted her chin out, tears glittering on her lashes. “So, yeah. What do you want,old man?”

“Welldone,” Tenny murmured.

Raven stepped up behind Cass and squeezed both her shoulders, silent support.Good job, she thought, pride fast out-swelling anger.

“Dad,” she said, her temper firmly in check this time. “Please. Let’s dispense with the theatrics. I just spoke with King, and I know he and Charlie didn’t send you.”

He sipped at his drink again, and she had the sense she was seeing a rare glimpse of the real Devin – or whatever his real name was; it was probably a number, like Tenny’s name had been. Gone was the smile, and the smirk, and the fake affront. He gazed at her steadily, expression placid, eyes glittering, faintly. A resting lion in the long grass. Waiting. The embodiment of all those silly Chuck Norris jokes. He played so much that when he finally dropped the façade, he presented a startling portrait of calculation and quiet.

Another sip, and he set his glass aside on the end table. Folded his hands together over his still-lean stomach. “I’m here because my girls are in trouble, and neither of those two wastrels in Tennessee were going to haul their arses up here.”

“King has other responsibilities, and Fox is about to become a father.”

Devin snorted. “He’s got a few months yet. And what’s he going to do: sit around all day changing nappies? Hold her hand while they ultrasound her for the hundredth time?”

Raven frowned. “He’s trying to step up for Eden. And the baby.” Theunlike youdidn’t need to be spoken. It filled the room all on its own, a whisper in the high corners.

“Eden can go to the bloody doctor on her own,” he said, dismissively. “He should be here, with you.”

“I’m not his wife, nor his keeper,” she shot back. “I have a whole chapter here at my disposal. Plenty of resources. I don’t need Charlie, too.”Or you. “Clearly, he trusts Maverick’s boys to provide the necessary security.”

“Yeah? That why he sent his cubs up here?” He tipped his head toward Reese and Tenny.

“Who’re you calling ‘cubs’?” Tenny wanted to know.

Devin floated him a dismissive look. “You’re the fools who took his last name as your own. If you don’t want to be his little errand boys, pick better next time.”

“Technically, I’m a Fox by marriage,” Reese said.

Loudly, Raven said, “Even so,” recapturing everyone’s attention. “You aren’t worried. So your presence here is unnecessary, not to mention you’ve given us all an unnecessary fright.”

“Raven,” Tenny said, quietly, half warning, half chiding.

Devin smiled, close-lipped and grim. “Ah. I see.”

Reese took a half-step forward, and said, “It’s been a long couple of weeks. Raven is stressed–”

“Wait,” Raven said. “Are youdefendinghim?”

Reese turned to her, expression touched with sadness. “I don’t think he means–”

She held up a hand. “Right. Okay. Tennyson, control your man, because I’mnotin the mood. You” – back to Devin – “are incapable of being a normal father, or even a caring one, but you could at least be a little bit honest with us. Whatever your reasons for coming, I say ‘no thank you.’ We’re fine.”

He held her gaze, andhelooked sad, as did Tenny, when she glanced toward him.

“Oh…bugger this.” She turned and stalked out of the room. Slammed the stew pot lid to the counter and stirred the contents with too much vigor; slung drops of viscous brown broth onto the counter that she mopped up with a dish cloth. Back to the pot. More stirring. She took a taste of it, burned her tongue, and shifted to the spice rack for seasonings.

“How is it?” Devin’s voice asked behind her. He’d come into the room without making a sound.

Thankfully, he couldn’t see the way her brows jumped with startlement; she kept her posture steady, and controlled her voice. “Needs salt.”

He moved, and let her hear the clomp of his boots this time, as he walked around the island to stand at the sink. Turned around and leaned back against it, hands loosely gripping the edge of the counter. “I hope you didn’t inherit your mother’s cooking skills,” he said with a chuckle. “All she knows how to make is sparkling water and grilled tofu.”

“How would you know?” She added a generous pinch of salt, and then another for good measure. “You couldn’t possibly have stuck around long enough to sample her cooking.”

“Not true, actually,” he said, unperturbed. “She made me dinner at least a dozen times, while I was – well, getting you on her.”

---