Page 87 of Cru's Crush

Beau stood. “All I’m asking you to do is listen.”

“Go on.”

“Have a seat.”

I thought to remind him that he’d just said all I had to do was listen, which didn’t require I be seated, but figured that would just prolong whatever was happening.

When I sat in a chair by the window, he pulled one of the others beside it and sat next to me.

I covered my face with my hands, wishing I could stop myself from asking, but I had to. “Beau, before you get started, is Cru here?”

“Sorry, Daph. He’s not.”

I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. “Let’s get on with it. The sooner you’re finished, the sooner you can be on your way.”

“You’re not very nice.”

“I learned it from you,” I snapped.

He raised a brow and nodded. “That’s probably true.”

“How’s it going?” my mum asked from behind us.

“I haven’t gotten started yet,” Beau told her.

“I see. Well, I’ve brought water, lemonade, wine, and bourbon. Let me know if there’s anything you’d fancy instead.”

“Thank you,” said Beau.

It wasn’t fair of me to take my frustration with him out on my mother. “Yes, thanks, Mum,” I said over my shoulder, wondering why she felt it necessary to include bourbon at this hour.

“I told you that Press and I flew the Viejos here,” Beau began.

I nodded.

“Do you know who I was referring to?”

I spoke fluent Spanish, so I knew what the word meant. “Old people?”

He chuckled. “They might take exception to the translation, but they chose the name; I didn’t.”

“Get. On. With. It.”

“Okay, okay.”

I listened as Beau spun a tale about a secret society that had been founded centuries ago in Spain. They called themselves Los Caballeros, and at one time, they’d been more marauders than what they were now.

“I wouldn’t say the present-day organization is akin to Robin Hood. However, we are best described as good-guy vigilantes.”

“We?”

Beau nodded. “I’m a member, as is Press. So are Brix, Ridge, Zin, Bones, Snapper, Kick, and Cru. And, as of last month, Bit.”

“And the Viejos?”

“Your father is one, as is mine.”

I shook my head. “You’re saying my father has been a member of a secret society that neither my mum nor I knew anything about?”