Asch, Blaze, and I decided we’d have additional protection on her, just in case, but so far, she’s not anyone’s top priority.
They’re much more concerned with all the other things we’ve been doing, including shutting down the larger operations.
We’ve already had to murder one particularly unhappy underling. I think he’d screamed loudest when I was carving up his cock.
See? I’m still me, despite everything.
Asch slides his phone back into his pocket, focusing his attention on the three of us. “Are we still on for dinner with your mom?” he asks Blaze.
“Yeah. She made the reservation. It’s that fancy all-vegetarian place that opened up by the boardwalk.” Blaze grins sadly. “We never could have gone there with my dad. He would have refused.”
I know Blaze is weirdly sad about his dad’s death, but so far, I haven’t learned anything about the man that didn’t make him sound like a total douchebag.
I do know better than to say that, though. Impulse control. Yaaaay.
“I think it sounds good. The menu is really fancy.” I drag my footalong Blaze’s calf under the table. “I’m willing to concede that New Valence might havesomegood restaurants. A few. Not as good as New Bristol, but it’s passable.”
River starts to take the hot dogs off the grill, piling them onto a platter. “Well, we’ll see ifthisfood is good. I’ve never tried this brand before. Why did I not get something non-vegetarian for myself?” he asks.
“Because you didn’t want to be left out,” Asch suggests.
River scoffs.
Like Blaze and I would have bought the non-fancy kind of vegetarian food. There’s no reason to suffer for Blaze’s morals.
I still think it’s hilarious that he’s perfectly fine goring a man open, but he draws the line at eating an animal.
“The cow never did anything to deserve it,” Blaze had muttered when I asked.
Asch told me they’d visited an abattoir once, and Blaze had become vegetarian after that. If that’s true, why isn’t Asch a vegetarian as well?
“So, while we eat in our nice outdoor space, with the fan going loudly, anyone want to fill me in on how we’re doing on wrangling the Bouchard losers?” I put a burger together with both a fake meat patty and one of the portobello mushrooms. “I know what’s-his-face said he was loyal to the Bouchard name, but how much do we trust that?”
“You’ll have to be more specific,” River says, then makes a face. “When did I turn into your Daddy? I sound just like him.”
Asch arches a brow.
“Pandora comes by that honestly,” River explains. “Her Papa can’t ever be bothered to remember anyone’s names.”
“Oh, he knows everyone’s name.” I bite into my burger. It’s pretty good, just like I thought it would be. “He thinks it’s funny not to specify. Anyway, you know who I’m talking about. Toupee guy? Sneered at Asch before he figuredout Asch was important?”
“Bobbi’s looking into him,” Asch replies. “Because no, we don’t trust him at all.”
I nod. Bobbi’s been pretty solid ever since she got her sister back. First she’d told us she never wanted to see any of us again,thensomehow she changed her mind and she wanted to help with the whole ‘dismantle the old system’ thing.
Personally, I think she needed a paying job that was more reliable than occasional assassination contracts.
The gig economy is so volatile these days.
“There are a lot of people we don’t trust,” River remarks, putting two hot dog into buns and coating them with ketchup and mustard. “But we’re also picking up new people that I think wecantrust.”
Blaze has been quietly eating. He’s quieter now than before the injury, more likely to let other people take the lead in the conversation.
When he lets loose, it’s still as glorious as ever, though.
“It’s been about five hours,” Blaze says. “Ourotherproblem has probably stewed enough by now.”
Ah, yeah.
