CHAPTERSIXTEEN
The previous manager was dead. This was a new guy. I knew him too.
“Megan!” Kenny opened his arms wide for me. “It’s great to see you again.”
My knees wobbled as I hugged the killer. He killed merely for sport—kids and old people since they were easy prey. I quickly stepped back under Rune’s waiting arm. Not kidding, I muttered, “There won’t be anything special in the red sauce, right?”
The last thing I wanted to do was eat someone else’s blood just because Kenny thought it would be funny. He was ever so caring like that. Even when I’d been five years old. The younger, the better for him.
Kenny snorted, his long silver hair swaying out behind him. “Don’t tell me you’re still sore about the pig’s head?”
“No. Of course not. Waking up to a pig’s head on my pillow was super fun.” I ground my teeth together, my jaw muscles flexing. “But I’m still pissed about waking up next to my dead grandmother.”
Rune’s fingers rubbed against my bicep. “I’m sure he didn’t do that, beautiful. You were probably dreaming.”
“Nightmares,” my father explained, his tone hushed. He watched Kenny’s back as he walked away into the backroom. “She had a lot of nightmares as a kid. She slept light, and the barest creak on a stair would wake her up. I had to rush into her room to calm her down every other night.”
“Her mother didn’t help?”
“Oh, no. She abandoned us shortly after Megan was born and fled to somewhere in the King Western Province.” His blue eyes found mine, full of perfectly played sympathy. “I told her many times it wasn’t her fault. That her mother was merely a coward, but I don’t think my daughter ever believed me.”
That was because my mother was dead. She hung herself right after I was born.
My father had dumped her body somewhere in the King Western Province.
It amazed me that he still didn’t think I knew that. All it took was a little cash from his safe, and I had plucked the details from one of his men. They weren’t all loyal to him—the only way I was able to run away so often.
I cleared my throat. “Which table do you want to sit at?”
“Why don’t you decide, hon.” His eyes pinched at the corners in anticipation.
I swallowed and started evaluating each table. Nothing appeared wrong with them. But he was too happy right now for there not to be. I pointed at the booth Rune and I had sat at before. “That one?”
My father nodded. “Good choice. I love curved booths. It’s very intimate.”
“Perfect.” My nostrils flared. I’d walked right into that one. All of the booths were curved. There had been no wrong answer there. They were all to his demented liking. I questioned bluntly, “Are you paying for this meal or am I?”
My father walked in front of us, shaking his head. “I invited you out. I’ll pay.”
That was a first.
I reached down to my right leg, my hand on the hilt of my knife.
His back was to me. It would be so damn easy to slit his throat.
But Rune grabbed my hand and held it tightly, intertwining our fingers together. He spoke to the back of my father’s head, “Will, tell me a little about yourself.”
Father turned and slid into the booth, fluid for a middle-aged man. “I’m fairly boring, really. I have a few businesses on the outskirts of New City—the rent’s cheap there—and I live a bachelor’s life. I like my work. It’s stimulating, but I’m an adrenaline junky. I love to skydive in my free time.”
I sat first, and then Rune slid in after me. Both of us across from my father.
One side of Rune’s mouth quirked. “My hobby is boxing.” His fists lifted, and he jabbed a few times in front of himself. “I work a shit ton and deal with fucking idiots most of the time. It helps me take out my aggression.”
Father lifted one brow. “Really? I own a few boxing rings. It’s nothing fancy like in the center of New City, but they draw a crowd.” He leaned forward and rolled his eyes. “Don’t tell the Corporate Army, but a few friendly bets happen from time to time.”
Rune’s head tipped back as he laughed, his golden eyes glimmering. “My friends and I make a fewfriendlybets occasionally too. My lips are sealed.”
The devious man chuckled. “You should come down sometime. I’d make room for any friend of Megan’s.” He leaned across the table and punched my shoulder lightly, his eyes on mine. “Hell, you’d probably enjoy watching this fit young man throw around a few punches.”
