Everyone greeted each other properly, and while they were doing so, Gray made his way to my side. I noted that Onyx’s eyes followed every step, and I almost wanted to tell Gray to move away, but I was selfish, and I wanted him beside me.
When we were all seated and served roast beef, I watched with quiet amusement as Ava tried to keep up with all the questions Jett’s parents were bombarding her with. When they skirtedaround the topic of her drink being spiked, she handled it well and assured Sable she didn’t need the therapy they had offered to send her to.
“Quinn, dear, Jett tells me your assignment for class is to work out food plans,” Sable asked me and carried on with no hesitation. “I told Cook to write down everything, everything’s been weighed and proportioned. Do you need anything else?”
“No, thank you, I’m sure what Maureen has done is more than enough,” I replied.
“You know we’re not getting chocolate fudge cake because of you?” Ash grumbled as he ate his lunch.
“I didn’t do anything,” I reminded him with a laugh. “It was your cousin who blabbed.” I pointed at Jett, who winced at Ash’s glare.
“I wasn’t thinking about dessert,” he admitted as he scratched his jaw. “Sorry, man.”
“I’ll eat yours,” Gray told Jett with a grin as he held his hand up. “It won’t hurt me.”
“Tell me again how you broke your hand?” Kerr asked Gray, and I saw all three of them sit straighter. If I saw it, so did their dads. “What did you do?” Kerr asked with a heavy sigh.
“I had an accident with my car.” Gray didn’t flinch under his dad’s stare, and I saw his Uncle Kage look between the three of them. Onyx snorted, and both Kerr and Kage turned as one to look at the oldest.
“What did you do?” Kerr asked with a groan.
“I took a baseball bat to his car.”
“Why?” Charlotte, Ash’s mom, asked in alarm.
“He broke his hand on my face.”
“Gray!” Sable turned to Gray with a question.
“He shouldn’t speak shit he knows nothing about,” Gray said simply with a casual shrug, even as his mom chided him for his language.
“It’s all Quinn’s fault,” Tilly grumbled from the middle of the table, and I looked at her in surprise, but she turned her head away from me.
“Tilly? Why would you say that?” I asked her curiously.
“Because you kill babies.”
Chapter 22: Gray
The shocked silence was deafening, and I saw her freeze in her chair before the rumble of my brother’s laughter broke the stunned stupor.
“You bastard,” Quinn seethed. Pushing her chair back, she stood in one smooth motion. “Are you happy now?” she asked him as she looked at him, and as if in a daze, I turned to look at Onyx.
“Makes no difference to me.” He lifted his fork and resumed eating.
“Quinn?” Her dad, George, was sitting rigid, his back ramrod straight.
“I’m going home,” Quinn said to the room. She looked at Ash, who was white with shock, and then she looked at Jett. “I can’t . . .”
Jett was on his feet and moving around the table as I sat there, frozen. When I saw his hand land on her arm, I was on my feet, pulling her to me.
“I’ll take you.” My voice sounded far away, and I heard a clamor of voices as Quinn shook beside me.
“Sit down,” George commanded. His voice was hard and authoritative, and I felt Quinn wince at the tone. “Now.”
On autopilot, she sat, her hands clasped together in her lap as I hovered beside her.
“Gray, I suggest you sit,” he directed me, and my brain registered that this was still my house, even as I sat.
