Page 42 of Bleed the Shadows

Nolan looked at the bandage around Bram’s arm, a product of the bullet that had grazed him when he, Poe, and Remy had gone after the Ghosts. “What happened to you?”

“Work injury,” Bram said.

Nolan nodded like it was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

“Can I get you something?” Jude asked. “Coffee? Beer?”

“I’ll take a beer,” Poe said.

Remy nodded. “Beer sounds good.”

“I’m good.” Bram looked like he was expecting a sneak attack at any minute.

Then again, Bram always looked that way: on guard, like he couldn’t let his defenses down for even a second.

I had a flash of him in the kitchen the night before I’d left. In my memory, his expression had been softer, more open, but that was probably wishful thinking.

“Maeve?”

I realized Jude was talking to me.

“I’m good.”

He went to the kitchen to get the beers and was on his way back when another man stepped into the room. He was big and muscular, with dark hair and gray eyes that seemed to clock everything in the room all at once.

This must be Rafe.

“What’s up?” He nodded at the Butchers, then headed straight for Lilah, bending to kiss her on the lips before turning to look at us again. “Sit.”

He didn’t ask who I was, but I wasn’t offended. It didn’t really matter. For better or worse, I was with the Butchers, and apparently they were the only membership card I needed in order to be here.

Rafe sat in one of the chairs by the fire and Lilah perched on the arm while the rest of us sat on the couch. There was just enough seating for us all, and I gathered Rafe and his friends didn’t do much entertaining.

I’d only just met them and already it made sense: the expensive, isolated house, their military expertise.

I read them as an army of three — four if you counted Lilah — and from the way Rafe looked at her, his arm curled possessively around her waist, I thought you had to count Lilah.

My curiosity was officially piqued. Was Lilah with Rafe? Or was she with all three of them?

“What can we do for you?” Rafe asked.

“We need a drone,” Bram said. “And someone to operate it.”

“Where?” Jude asked. “When?”

“Compound farther down the mountain,” Poe said. “As soon as possible.”

“We’ll pay your usual rate,” Bram added.

This was the only way Poe and Remy had been able to get Bram to agree to ask for help with the drone: Bram wouldn’t owe anyone any favors.

He would pay.

“This going to get us in trouble?” Nolan asked.

Remy stretched his arms across the back of the couch like he owned the place. “Does it matter?”

It was a fair question. I got the feeling trouble wasn’t something Rafe and his friends avoided.