“Hi, Savannah. Glad you made it before the shit hit the fan.”
Josh gaped at his brother. “Beforethe shit hit?”
Bruce nodded. “Mother’s called a prayer meeting. They’re headed over now.”
“Oh God,” Savannah breathed.
“To pray away my gayness?”
“To pray for you.”
Yeah. It was to pray away his gayness. “What about Dad?”
“He wasn’t going to make your doggie hoodies….” He looked at Josh. “This is some lame practical joke or something, right?”
“Sorry, it’s real. Unless the joke’s on me.”
“Well, that guy Nero made it clear that the money’s real, but only if the coats get made today. He offered Dad a shit-ton of money. And you know Dad’s greedy. And given that the other choice is a prayer vigil instead of EPSN—”
Josh straightened off the car. “Dad’s actually going to give us the Volcax? Are we headed to the factory, then?”
“Nero and Dad are,” Bruce said. “But maybe you and I could go somewhere else. Maybe have a beer.”
Josh frowned. Years of being duped by his older brother reared up in his mind. “You’ve never wanted to hang out before.”
Bruce shrugged. “We’ve never been adults before. And you’ve never disappeared, come back gay, and mouthed off to Dad before.” He grinned. “And for the record, I knew what ABD means. You’ve had it after your name forever.”
Was that a dig? If so, it was true. Hadn’t he been saying that same thing to Savannah? He opened his mouth to agree. There was no reason he couldn’t try to mend some fences with his brother before disappearing into Wulf, Inc. forever. But just as the words were forming, Nero burst out of the house, flashing his phone.
“Josh, we’ve got to get to the factory. The fairy says it’s now or never!”
It took a moment for Josh to reorient himself from family to weirdness, but he got there. Some fairy had probably located the demon, and Nero was hell-bent on taking the asshole down. Meanwhile, Savannah and Bruce were having trouble following their conversation.
“Is that a slur?” Bruce asked, understandably confused.
“Or a codename?” Savannah asked.
Given Nero’s attitude toward the fae, it was both, but he couldn’t say that. Instead he shrugged. “Classified.”
Meanwhile, Nero gestured to the car. “Get in. Your dad’s going to cut the fabric and then I’ll go—”
“Test it in a lab,” Josh interrupted. “It needs to betested.”
“No time. Fit it on me and—”
“Make time,” Josh said as he squared off with Nero. “I’m the geek here. I’ll tell you when it’s ready for use in the field.”
“And I’m the boss. I’ll tell you where—”
“You ready to commit suicide? Because that’s what will happen—”
“—we test.In the field.It’s the only test that counts.”
“No way—”
“Damn it, Josh!”
His father’s voice cut through their argument. “You want this fool thing or not?”
