“Once upon a time.” I clip and stare him down.
“You were in the military?” She asks next, and the table goes still.
“Yeah. Medical,” I say.
“So like Silas?” She asks, she’s so polite, and every question is pointed without her even knowing. I keep my eyes locked on Silas, ignoring how hot I feel inside and how little room I start to feel.
“A little more dangerous.” I offer her a tight smile.
“I’d say so,” Clementine hums.
“Auggie,” Rhea calls out to the other end of the table, and he looks up from his food to her, “tell them what you’re doing for your art project.”
He starts to explain begrudgingly after being put on the spot, but I’m grateful to Rhea for ending the conversation about me. I was starting to run out of air. Daisy looks over at me, and for a second, her grateful smile calms me down, but I can feel Riona’s glare, and I can hear every single piece of criticism that will come down on my head later for being rude to Drew.
“We should do more of those rugby games,” Cael suggests to Kaia, who's picking the olives off Boone’s plate as he talks to Silas.
“The Hogs are cowards, you’ll never get them to do that again,” Kaia groans, and Sunday laughs at the scowl on my face.
“Aw, come on,” Daisy chimes in, “I wasn’t invited last time!”
“Yeah, me either,” Clementine adds.
“It was too late for you to come,” I say to Daisy.
“Yeah, but I want to watch Auntie K, kick Uncle B’s ass,” Daisy swears, and Riona chokes on her wine.
“Daze!” Boone makes a motion for her to stop, an amused smile on his face.
“It was pretty entertaining, and the Hillcat burger sells more than the Boone Burger ever did.” Kaia hums.
“You have a burger named after you?” Ryan questions gruffly.
“Hedid,” Kaia snorts. “Past tense.”
The conversation seems to be flowing back to a more comfortable place, and I think I’m doing okay until Sunday accidentally drops her fork, and Riona shoves her chair back to reach for it. The two sharp sounds hit at once, pulsing through me like electricity. I push from the table and excuse myself to wander out to the back parking lot for a moment of air that I wasn’t going to get sitting at that table.Enemies. Those people are there to mock you.
"What are you doing?" Riona's voice is a gunshot. I flinch at the sound, refusing to turn my head to look at her.
"Behaving." I repeat back Sunday's word.
"By storming off?" She questions. "Mature."
"It's better than strangling Silas at the dinner table," I say, my lip curling up in amusement when a soft chuckle falls from her.
"You'll traumatize the new wife," Riona teases.
"What you don't get along?" I ask.
"She's a mouse." The insult almost makes me laugh.
"Not everyone can be a predator, Ri." I finally look at her and she's staring up at the night sky, no doubt looking for the stars but the lights are too bright. "She'd love this."
"She would not," Riona's voice is strangled but the laughter that pours from her is warm and bright.
"She loved the chaos more than anyone, it's where that little fucker gets it from." I sigh. Cael's mother, Daisy's aunt Lorraine was special. Isquare my shoulders to keep myself together as Riona wraps her arms around herself in thought.
"You don't have to feel guilty anymore, you know?" She says, her body turning back into the Hollow.
