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Though, I wouldn’t argue with Harleigh about that, because she’d probably want to know why I felt like that.
And really, only a killer recognized another killer.
“There’re only two seats left in the entire group,” she muttered. “Right in the freakin’ middle.”
“Your brother looks like he’s moving people over,” I argued. “At least one chair for you, anyway.”
And he had. By the time we arrived to the large group, Dax had acquired a chair directly next to him, and he was already pointing at it.
However, before Harleigh could sit down, Payton was up and throwing herself at her child.
“Oh, boy,” she whispered as she hugged her daughter fiercely. “You’re going to have a beautiful shiner in the morning.”
Harleigh lifted her hand to touch the bruise, which caused me to study it.
Payton was right. That bruise was going to be gnarly.
She’d be lucky if she could even see out of the eye at this point tomorrow.
I frowned and turned around, abandoning her to her fate.
Stopping the first person I saw, I asked for a baggie of ice and a towel.
The woman’s eyes went wide, and that was when I realized she’d recognized me.
Not that it was really hard not to, but still.
“Yes, s-sir,” she stammered.
I rolled my eyes heavenward.
Dear God.
“Thank you,” I tried for sweet.
It didn’t come out as sweet.
It came out as rather short and abrupt.
Which was what I was feeling.
I’d gone from everyone loving me because who I was and what I did, to everybody staring at me like I was going to haul off and kick their asses at any second.
Not that some of them didn’t deserve it, but shit. I would never do that. Plus, we were in a public place. Even if the thought had crossed my mind, I’d be caught in a nanosecond.
She practically ran toward the kitchen, narrowly missing getting her face bashed in by the swinging kitchen door.
When she disappeared around the corner, I moved farther up into the mouth of the kitchen and waited patiently.
When she came back two minutes later, ice in one hand and a towel in the other, shaking like a leaf, I barely restrained the urge to snap at her.
“Thank you,” I murmured, trying to keep my voice low.
She backed away like I was going to jump at her any second, and I turned with a curse, heading straight for the woman of the hour.
Or at least, my woman of the hour.
My woman?
What the fuck kind of thought was that?
Though, technically, I’d been having these thoughts for quite some time. It was only after learning that she wasn’t married last night that they’d gone from ‘can’t have’ to ‘shouldn’t have.’
Making my way back through the too-close-together tables, I stopped at where Harleigh was sitting and handed the ice over.
“Here,” I said as I dropped my hand in front of her face. “Put this on your face.”
She’d had ice on and off her face for the last couple of hours, but we’d left her bag melting on the desk next to where she was sitting as we filled out our statements.
Knowing better than anyone seeing as my early home life had been quite filled with bruised faces, I urged her to put it back on her face.
Ice was best.
Ice was always best.
Ice made the difference between being able to see in the morning, and not.
“Thank you,” she smiled up at me.
“Slate!”
I turned to find Hoax, who was a few spots down and across the table from Harleigh, gesturing me over with a tilt of his chin.
“Come sit down and eat, man,” he ordered.
I gritted my teeth and left Harleigh, making my way around the table and into the corner of the room.
The spot was both bad and good.
It was bad because I was pinned in and wouldn’t be able to move if I absolutely needed to—at least not quickly anyway.
It was good because my back was to the wall, and nobody would be sneaking up behind me to do things that I didn’t want them to do.
Though, I had to keep telling myself that I was no longer in prison, the instincts to always protect myself and watch my back were there. They were never leaving, either.
“Thanks,” I muttered to Hoax. “This your girl?”
His girl was beautiful, blonde, and she had two twin babies sitting in her lap.
They were cute and chunky.
They were also spilling beans all down their clothes and onto their mother’s pants.
“Yeah,” Hoax said as I sat. “This is Pru. The baby closest to you is Sam. The one closest to me is Dean.”
I nodded at Pru. “Nice to meet you.”
She winked at me. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I remained silent.
“He didn’t laugh,” the woman across the table from me said. “I’m surprised.”
I looked at her more closely and saw the family resemblance rather quickly. She and Pru were definitely sisters.
