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Aurora
All I really wanted to do was participate in the conversation with Cain and his father. They were trying to negotiate for peace or a duel or something. I couldn't hear, because Cain’s mother was so intent on having a conversation with me.
“Do you have a copy of the Better Homes and Gardens basic book? I really think that's the gold standard in cookbooks,” she told me.
On the other side of the table, Alexander was saying, “You must think I'm an idiot if—”
“Do you, dear?” she prompted.
“Oh, no.”
Overheard: “The only way we’d have peace is if—”
“They have Cain’s absolute favorite brownie recipe. He doesn’t like them too sweet. Oh! And you should have his favorite granola bar recipe. You should really make him homemade granola bars, they’re so much better for you both—”
Overheard: “—too fucking bad, then—”
“I don’t care about the best brownie recipe!” I admitted, perhaps louder than I intended. Even Cain and his father stopped talking and looked at me, and she looked absolutely shocked. Slightly more quietly, I said, “I mean, I do. I love brownies. But what I want to talk about is what comes next for us.”
“Oh, you want to focus on the future?”
I knew Pax very much wanted to focus on the past. I had seen the way he'd looked toward the house, as if he were thinking about storming inside and shooting Cain’s father. But Pax understood the terrible ripple effects that would have.
“I want to discuss it.”
“The only future you two should worry about is the next five minutes.”
Cain tensed.
His mother said, “Oh, dear.”
Cain didn't look away from his father. “This merits a full-onoh shit,Mom.”
“You have five minutes to get out of here,” Alexander said. “You and I are done, Cain. I'm willing to let you live out of respect for your mom, but you're cut off. You'll never go near any of my business, and if you do, I will track you down. All five of you. And I'll burn you alive. Understand?”
“You don't want to start a war with me, Dad.”
“I wouldn't start a war with you. I'd fucking nuke you.”
The two of them stared each other down, just for a second, but we were in his house, and we had to get to ground where we had control.
Cain shielded me with his body as we moved toward the doorway, and as soon as he was behind me, he pulled up the hood on my jacket. It slid over the back of my hair, offering what meager protection the jacket could from a bullet.
But we made it to meet Pax, Remy, and Stellan. They took one look at us and no one needed to say a word before all five of us were moving, quickly and smoothly entering the car. Pax had it in gear before we even had the doors closed.
* * *
Cain
As we drove home, Remy said, “Well, it sucks that you're cut off, but at least we won't starve. I've put some money away.”
I rolled my eyes. We all knew Remy had made himself rich.
“If we needed it, I could do a fight too. I've gotten a few offers lately. Lots of money on the table,” Pax said.
“I would be surprised if my father could leave it at cut off and not murdered.” My hands flexed. It made sense for Pax to be our wheelman, so I could focus on things, but I hated that I wasn't the one driving right now. “I got the vibe that he was planning something else.”
I tried to manipulate him into showing me his hand. Unfortunately I had learned a good amount of what I knew about manipulating people from him.
