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There was the sound of dominoes being put down on the table, and then Cannel sighing. “Finally… oh, you fucker! That was where I was going to go.”
My savior’s brother, Rook—or Tide, since I didn’t know which name to call him—said, “Snooze you lose, twat.”
There was a snort from the man at the end of the table, eating a sandwich.
I turned my eyes to him, seeing him staring at me with curiosity.
I semi-hid myself behind the man that was now standing in the middle of the room with me.
The man I still didn’t know the name of.
Right when that thought hit me in the forehead, someone yelled out, “Price, this stupid game was your idea. Why aren’t you playing it with us?”
The man at my side, obviously named Price, looked over and said, “Probably because you started without me.”
I swallowed hard as I heard them continue. “We started without you because you were missing, and we got worried. So we had to occupy our brains, Trinket.”
“Trinket?” I asked carefully.
The man at my side grumbled something under his breath before saying, “My sister gave all of us nicknames when we were younger. To coincide with a Crow theme since that’s our last name. Trinket was apparently a name she thought was cute. But now it just reminds me of a fairy, and I can’t get rid of it.”
“It fits you well, Price,” Will said. “Come sit down. Eat. You hungry?”
I realized then that his words were directed at me.
Before I could say no, I was physically set into a seat next to what I now realized was a battery-powered lamp, told to stay and then left without so much as another word.
Cannel’s husband, grinned at me. “The Crow family takes some getting used to.”
I imagined they did.
Even worse, I imagined that there were a lot of things about them that required understanding.
Like, holy hell, did they ever talk without yelling?
I winced, causing the man in front of me eating a sandwich to start to laugh.
Luckily, he didn’t have his mouth open.
There were small miracles.
“They’re a loud bunch,” he said as he read my face. “And each one of them has quirks that, quite frankly, drive me mad.”
“Better to be driven mad, than actually be mad.” Shine all but fell into the seat beside me. “Yo, boo. Can you make me a sandwich, too?”
I turned to see who boo was and found myself looking at Price in the kitchen with two slices of turkey in his hands. He was completely ignoring his brother, too.
“You like mustard or mayo?” Price asked when he felt my attention.
I licked my lips and said, “Ketchup.”
He grimaced and for the first time in what felt like weeks, I felt like laughing.
I didn’t laugh, however, because shortly after my amusement entered my bloodstream, it left just as fast when something Shine said reminded me of Faye. And why I was at the beach.
“How many crazy fuckers despite ourselves do you think are vacationing this week?” Shine asked.
I felt a ball of exhaustion and sadness well up in my throat.
“Some of us aren’t here for vacation, dumbass,” Price said as he set a plate down in front of me, along with a bottle of ketchup.
Tears for another reason welled, and I quietly grabbed the ketchup and deposited the perfect amount onto my sandwich before I started eating.
Price took the seat on my left just as Shine said, “Shit, I’m sorry. That was rude of me.”
I shrugged, unable to say a word because if I did, I’d cry.
And honestly, I was tired of crying.
Faye had gone out how she’d wanted to go out, and I couldn’t complain about the way that she had.
Though, I just had two words to anyone that would listen: Fuck cancer.
“God, would you fuckin’ stop chewing like that?” Price’s voice broke into my morose thoughts.
“Chill, bro,” I heard Tide say.
“He’s doing it on fuckin’ purpose,” Price grumbled.
I looked over at Bram the one brother I hadn’t been introduced to yet, but knew as ‘Bram’ since he’d been yelled at no less than ten times. He was grinning unrepentantly.
“Food is for eating, not seeing,” I murmured once I’d finished my bite. “Also, if I see masticated food, it makes me nauseous, too. Just sayin’.”
“Masticated.” Bram tilted his head. “Sounds dirty.”
A ring on his finger caught my eye, and before I could tell myself to control my mouth, I blurted out, “Are you married?”
There was a long pause at the table as everyone seemed to gather a breath, and then, “Currently being asked for a divorce.”
“Asked?” I wondered. “Why do you sound like that annoys you?”
He tilted his head and sighed as he started picking at his food. “I didn’t want one.”
“Could’ve fooled us,” Cannel mused from where she was playing dominoes at the opposite end of the table. “If you wanted her, why do you act like she’s a pariah every time she comes around?”
