Ethan opened his mouth, but Gene elbowed him, knowing what he was going to say.
Nothing good was coming out of his man’s mouth at that point, and someone had to wrangle that temper. He might get prickly with him for doing it, but he’d not hold that grudge long.
He hoped.
The action made Callen laugh.
“Someone tamed the savage Ethan. Go figure. I never saw that coming.”
To prove he wasn’t all that tame, Ethan scratched his eye.
With his middle finger.
Well, that was the most brotherly way to be flipped off, and only three minutes into the meeting.
Yeah, Ethan hadn’t changed all that much, minus his grudge and temper. So far, neither were pointed at him.
Then again, he wished they were so Ethan would stop coming here to this hellscape.
“Boys, not in front of company,” Timothy warned. “We’re eating in a few minutes. I hope you’re hungry.”
Gene played mediator.
“Yes, we are, Mr. Blackhawk.”
Timothy sipped his non-alcoholic drink. He didn’t often imbue in booze—not with the alcoholism gene in their family. None of the Blackhawk men were good around the hard stuff.
Ever.
He corrected Gene.
“Please. It’s Timothy, or as my sons non-affectionately call me, The Shaman.”
Ethan rolled his eyes.
And Timothy didn’t miss it.
Oh, someone was ever-so spicy tonight. Apparently, the tides had changed, and the melancholy was not making an appearance this evening.
“So, Gene, how did you hurt yourself?” Timothy asked, making small talk even though he was well aware of what had gone down.
The smoke revealed all.
Gene sipped his beer.
“It was a parting gift from a serial killer. I made a stupid mistake by letting down my guard. I wanted to live, and he wanted me to die by a metal pipe thingy that didn’t feel really good on the bones.”
Timothy wanted to help.
“I have some herbs…,” he began, pretending they hadn’t already had a moment earlier today with some acetaminophen.
Without an iota of hesitation, Ethan pointed the beer bottle at his grandfather the second those words were out of his mouth.
Yeah, hell, no.
That wasn’t going down.
“Absolutely not. Most of the herbs you have are going to show up in a piss test, and he’s already on desk duty. Gabe is anasshole. He’ll drug test him for shits and giggles once he finds out he was on this reservation with my family.”
