Page 93 of Fallen Flame

He frowned. “How the hell else am I supposed to eat ice cream?”

Ever blinked. “Doesn’t your brain freeze?”

Lark twisted around enough to look at him. “God damn. I mean...” She pointed at the cone. “You just raw dogged half that thing in one bite.”

Mom immediately sputtered into her shake.

Alice lost it and she doubled over laughing. “Raw dogging!” she wheezed.

“Oh my God,” Wrecker grunted.

Dad looked around the table. “What?”

He circled one finger impatiently. “We’re talking about the Northbound Reapers.” He took another giant bite. “Not how I eat ice cream.”

Even I cringed watching him. That looked painful.

“Because if we keep talking about how I eat ice cream...” His eyes landed on me. “...then I’m going to start talking about how Lark’s sitting on your lap and nobody’s making a big deal out of it.”

Mom reached across the table and smacked his shoulder. “Would you stop? We talked about this.”

Alice leaned forward immediately. “What did you talk about?”

Nikki rolled her eyes. “We talked about how we were never worried about Oliver.”

Dad nodded. “Now Arlo...” He pointed his cone dramatically. “That kid we’re worried about.”

“Concerned,” Mom corrected.

Mom smiled over at me. “You’ve got your dad’s charm.” Her eyes drifted toward the front windows. “Your brother...” She sighed. “...he’s still figuring it out.”

Lark reached up and pressed a kiss against my cheek. “Like father, like son, I guess.”

I cleared my throat and shifted a little in the booth. Every time someone compared me to Dad, a tiny part of me still remembered he wasn’t technically my dad.

I hated that my brain still went there.

He’d spent more years raising me than anyone else ever had.

Loved me.

Protected me.

Never once made me feel different.

Yet every now and then, that little voice still whispered. Not really.

Jude must’ve noticed my expression because he whistled. “Can we get back to the van before this gets emotional?”

The tension disappeared, and Wrecker nodded. “Right. The van’s a dead end. But Drew and Demi gave us good descriptions of the three guys. They remembered a lot.”

“Archie still says nobody checked into the motel?” I asked.

“Nope.”

Dad shook his head. “They parked the van and then disappeared.”

“So they had another vehicle?” Jude guessed.