Page 176 of Nothing More

“Nothing, far as I know. But Eden has all these doctor’s appointments coming up. He should be there for those.”

“Yes.” Her turn to sigh. “He should.”

“Poor little bastard’s already drawn the short straw, with him as a dad.”

“Kingston, if you ever call that child a bastard within my hearing–”

“Who do you take me for? Him?”

“You sound bloody like him now.” She’d shaken her head. They’d gotten off topic. “Alright, fine, so. Fox couldn’t come. He didn’t need to. And he certainly didn’t need to send Devin.”

“He didn’t. Devin volunteered, we told him no, and he went anyway.”

And there he sat, now, one leg kicked over the other, pressed back in the chair with the air of a shabbily-dressed king. Waiting for the drink Reese took him while the rest of them stared daggers at him.

“Ah, thank you, lad.” He grinned up at Reese, all his teeth showing. “My favorite, well-mannered son-in-law.”

Reese stepped back without comment.

Tenny, his own drink in-hand, sneered without his usual nastiness; he was nearly smiling. “He’s your only son-in-law.”

Devin looked pointedly at Raven, still smiling. “For now. But even if I acquire another one soon, I still think Reese will be my favorite.” His gaze shifted to the side, toward Toly.

“No. Oh no.” Raven thumped her drink down on the nearest table and walked around the sofa so she stood in front of her degenerate father. Propped her hands on her hips and stared down his infuriating smirk. The fact that he’d gotten any sort of reaction out of one of them was a victory for him; she knew she shouldn’t rise to the bait, but she was still rattled – abouta lot. “It’s bad enough you’re here in the first place, but we are not playing your manipulative games, old man!” By the end, she was jabbing her finger through the air at him, and snatched it back – but not before he could chuckle.

“The boys were right: you’re in astate.”

The breath she sucked in was so involuntarily big that she felt something in her back twinge. “Astate? I’m in astate? You–”

A hand closed around her elbow and drew her back, none-too-gently. Tenny. He stepped in to take her place, half-pushing her behind him. It was so unexpected, so protective, really, that she couldn’t find the words to berate him for manhandling and interrupting her.

He squared off from Devin, and though his voice was firm, it didn’t drip scorn the way it could have. “What do you want, old man?”

It was something she’d noticed, first with Fox, and now with Ten: some of their ire toward Devin had eased. At least a fraction.

She knew what had happened in the Beaumont building, up on the top floor, in the empty office space where Reese had been kept hostage byhisdegenerate father. Knew that Devin had offered himself as a kind of sacrifice, a tribute, an alternate opponent, so that Tenny could get Reese away. And that he’d taken a bullet for his efforts, the raw, animal strength of Mercy Lécuyer all that had pulled him back through a window.

Those were the facts, but something had passed between the three of them. An acceptance of sorts. Now, his two wildest, most reckless boys hated him less.

Devin sighed, and sipped at his drink, false grin falling away. “I’m hurt, you know. Genuinely hurt, Tennyson. I come up here to help my beloved children–”

To seemingly everyone’s shock, it was Cassandra who broke in. “Dad. Cut theshit.”

Silence.

Shep coughed out a laugh, and Tenny twisted around to say, “What the fuck are you still doing here? This is family shit.”

“Toly’s still here.”

“Toly’s–” Tenny cut himself off, frowning. “Just go.”

“Alright, I’ll go.” Shep shrugged, holstered his gun, and turned to leave. “But one of these days,” he said in parting, “you’re gonna get your snippy little ass kicked, and I’m gonna laugh my goddamn head off. Tell me to go then, why don’t you?”

“Asshole,” Toly muttered, as the back door shut, loudly.

Raven turned back to find that Devin was gazing on his youngest with genuine shock.

“Cassie,” he said, tone reprimanding, “I can’t believe you–”