Page 108 of Killer Confections

Thalia hands me a beer before pulling a chair up in front of her. She taps the seat, signaling for me to sit as she plops back down in hers.

“Loxley!” Connor muses, like he’s known me his whole life. His smile lights up his boyishly handsome features as he wraps an arm around Alana’s waist. “How ya been?”

The last few hours silently play in my head like a freak nasty porno as I answer, “I’ve been great.”

“No more run-ins with the South hicks, I hope?” he jokes, but his girlfriend swats at him.

“That’s not funny,” Alana scolds. “And Bailey isn’t a hick. She’s the only good thing about that branch.”

“Amen.” Thalia raises her beer before taking a swig, and I catch something white around her neck. When she lowers her arm, my eyes widen at thetooth necklacethere. She notices before laughing and using a thumb to hold it up. She makes it wiggle. “Kai’s old lady says hello.”

My stomach bottoms out as Connor leans over and punches Thalia’s shoulder hard.

“Knock it off,” Atlas’s stern voice makes me jump as he walks up behind me. “Thalia, take the fucking necklace off.There are non-members around.”

“You used to be fun,” she mutters before pulling it off and shoving it into her pocket.

Atlas taps my shoulder before leaning down. “Stand up, beautiful.”

I rise from my seat, letting him plop down before he drags me after him and I’m perched on his lap. His arms wrap around me. “Are you okay? I’m sorry. Thalia can be a fucking menace.”

I nod. “I’m fine. It was just very…unexpected.”

“It won’t happen again,” he promises before kissing my shoulder and sitting back. He plays with my hair, nearly making my eyes roll back as Alana gives me a small smile.

“They don’t get any better,” she says sympathetically. “Connor, and I have been together for five years and I don’t think my ass has sat in a chair alone those five years.”

I laugh, but her boyfriend looks offended as his mouth falls open. “I’ll have you know you like sitting in my lap. It’s the second-best seat in the house. First is my face—”

She slaps a hand over his mouth, hissing at him. “Myparentsare here! Control yourself.”

His eyes crease as he smiles smugly at her. I can really see the tension between the two of them and I feel like I’m watching something intimate that isn’t meant for my eyes.

“You all make me want to vomit,” Thalia throws out reassuringly. “Where’s Dom when I need someone to bother?”

“He should be here soon,” Atlas says as he digs his fingers into my scalp and massages. “I texted him that Gotham could wait.”

As if on cue, the brown-haired assassin strolls onto the patio, his hands tucked into dark jeans and a black T-shirt pulled tightly over his thick chest.

“Dom!” a few call out.

“How are you?”

“Oh, you look more and more like your father every day!”

That last one makes him tense, but he gives a few cordialreplies before walking over to us. He grabs a beer and chair before setting it down beside Atlas and I. When he looks up and sees Thalia smiling expectantly at him, he grunts a, ‘nope’, before switching sides and plopping down on my right.

“There he is,” Connor smirks. “The Caped Crusader.”

Dom rolls his eyes. “Har har. That stopped being funny after the first twenty times you said it.”

“No, no,” Atlas chimes in. “It’s still funny.”

Dom looks at me. “If your boyfriend—”

“Husband,” I correct politely.

Connor chokes on his drink as Dom deadpans. “Whateverhe is to you doesn’t stop being a pain in my ass, I’m mowing him down on my bike.”