Page 87 of Never Trust the Living (Battle Crows MC 7)

But seriously, the restaurant on the beach really was beautiful. But the sunset went from a bright yellow to a deep orange, and now to shades of purple and almost brown. It was seriously breathtaking.

Wake snorted. “I think you need to expand your vocabulary.”

I flipped him off, causing him to laugh.

When I shifted my gaze to Shine, I saw that he was staring at me with confusion on his face.

“What?” I asked.

He gestured to me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you flip anyone off before. Or say ‘fuck.’”

“I curse.” I snorted. “I just usually don’t do it around anyone, because it draws attention to me, and that’s not something I generally want.”

Shine looked like he’d been hit.

Iris patted his chest and leaned into him as she reached for another slice of bread.

She ate half of it before offering the rest to Shine.

I eyed the bread and really wished I could have some.

I’d gotten a lot better about eating lately, but some things, like shared food in the middle of the table, were a hard no for me still.

Bram flagged the waitress down and said, “Do you think you could bring us another basket of bread?”

The waitress snagged one quickly and brought it back, and before she could put it in the middle of the table, Bram caught it and placed it directly in front of him.

That’s when my chest warmed.

“Thanks, baby,” I whispered quietly.

“Damn, I forgot that you couldn’t deal with people touching your food.” Shine looked down at the roll in his hand. “I’m an ass. I’m sorry.”

I felt something warm and sweet start flittering through my chest.

Another crack in the wall of my heart repaired itself at Bram’s brother’s words.

“I’m getting better.” I shrugged, looking at Shine. “Six months ago, I wouldn’t have even considered eating here, let alone eating a piece of bread.”

Shine’s head tilted. “Explain to me what we can do to make things easier when we have family get-togethers. I’d like to make sure we make things better. So that you’ll come and actually enjoy yourself.”

So that was how we spent our next thirty minutes as we ate our dinner. I explained things about myself to someone besides Bram. And Shine listened as if his life depended on it.

And I knew that he actually cared.

In the end, after my explanation, I knew that from now on, Shine would be different with me.

Once he knew what’d happened, because I’d all but blurted it out to him and Iris, he’d become sympathetic to my plight. And horrified that I had a brother that was disgusting.

“Let’s talk about other things,” Bram suggested. “Like how we’re going to find the dude that’s fucking with my wife.”

“I can get down with that.” Wake dropped into a seat at the end of the table, fitting right in with the two Crow boys.

And so we did.

Over dinner, we discussed how we were going to find him. What we would do differently, how the new security system would work for our house, and other things that pertained to the person we knew nothing about.

In the end, it was a hurry up and wait scenario. Until the man struck again, we wouldn’t be able to do a thing.

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