I glared at Ghost over my shoulder. His eyes glistened with mirth. I could practically hear his gloating.I told you he could handle it.
Just because Haz could handle this shit didn’t mean he should have to.
“Yeah, how he found you in a closet and you used grenades to get out and a couple found you and hid you for the night. Then how you separated a few years later. That must have been really lonely. And then how the government found you and sort of forced you to do their dirty work.” He paused before drinking some juice. “The government found you like they did Kieran, right?”
I turned, about to correct him, but Ghost shot me a look, stopping me. Then to Haz, he said, “Mm, yeah something like that.”
I finished making his French toast and added some butter. I slid it in front of him with the entire bottle of maple syrup. If he wanted to eat all of it and go into sugar shock, that wasn’t my business.
“Hooty-hooo!” Ghost hollered and tucked in as if he hadn’t seen anything but a bag of nuts in weeks.
I poured him a cup of coffee only because I didn’t want to have to do the Heimlich if he started to choke.
“My mannnn,” he said by way of thanks.
“What about you, Kieran?” Haz asked, and his brows drew together. “You need to eat too.”
“I’ll make some eggs,” I said, going back to the stove to prepare an omelet. As it cooked, I put a slice of toast into the toaster and halved an avocado to put on top.
“I gotta admit,” Ghost said. “I knew you’d be okay with Kieran’s job, but I wasn’t sure how you’d take being affiliated with the mob.”
Hazard let out a squeak.
I slammed my spatula onto the granite and spun. If looks could kill, Ghost would be an actual ghost.
Ghost grimaced and lifted the mug to his lips.
“What do you mean affiliated with the mob?” Hazard asked.
Ghost glanced at me. “I thought you told him everything.”
“He asks a lot of questions. I got tired.”
“You said you worked for the government. A sanctioned operative,” Haz said, eyes ping-ponging between me and Ghost. “Do you work for the mob too?”
“Hell no. The mob’s even worse than the people we work for,” Ghost supplied.
“So you aren’t affiliated with the mob?”
“They wish,” Ghost said.
I was starting to wish he would choke.
“But you said…” Hazard’s voice trailed off as I watched his mind spin.
I gave Ghost a deadly look, and he frowned.
“Maybe I should come back later.” He moved to stand.
“Don’t even think about it,” Hazard snapped.
Ghost sat.
I stepped forward. “Haz?—”
His eyes shifted to mine. “If you aren’t affiliated with the mob… does that mean I am?” As if his conclusion were too unfathomable to even think, he shook his head. “But I’m not. I don’t have anyone.”
“You have me,” I said, rough.
