Page 69 of Intolerable Bishop

“Not a chance,” Ren said as we walked inside. “I’m quite happy being on the back,” she said. I forced myself not to say that I wanted to put her on her back.

Liam was already eating, but he nodded to the extra plate of food on the table, letting me know it was for me. He wasn’t usually insecure, so he really needed to tell me what was going on because I was starting to worry that the hammer of an ultimatum was coming.

Grabbing the bag I brought in, I walked over and held it out to Blake. He slowly took it. The bruising on his face from our fight was gone, and his lip was healed, leaving behind a thin white line.

“You brought me a gift?”

“Sort of.”

He pulled it open, and I’d never been so relieved to see my brother smile. Well, other than after him almost dying, that still took the top spot on the relief chart. Blake pulled out the Canadian version of Trivial Pursuit, and Ren laughed. When we raced away from Ren’s home, we couldn’t take anything but the go bags with us. Blake had been excited to play the game or rather excited to watch Ren and I go head-to-head on our knowledge.

“The showdown begins,” Blake said, and I gripped his shoulder.

“Only if you’ll be my partner.”

“What? I’m terrible at games like this.” I tightened my hold until the humor left his eyes. “You’re serious?”

“I am. I’m sorry about hurting you. It was never my intention,” I said. I rarely apologized for anything, so to do this in front of the group was making me sweat, but it would mean more to Blake.

Blake stood and gripped me in a hug as the weight that had been sitting on my chest since we fought lifted.

“I’m sorry, too,” he whispered, and just like that, we were okay again.

There were so few things in this life that meant anything, but the love and bond of family and friends that were as close as blood was all any of us had at the end of the day.

“Alright, enough of the hugging. I’m starving,” I said, making Blake laugh.

JUNE 19 – MONDAY 9:17 PM

Ren

“I’m taking Snowflake for my partner, and we want the blue piece,” Myles said.

“Shocking,” Nash drawled as he walked into the room after getting seconds. He dropped down into the chair beside me, which was Blake’s, but he didn’t seem to care as he moved Blake’s plate over.

“Ha, yer just jealous I claimed her first,” Myles said. Nash smirked and glanced between me and Myles.

“Are you sure about that,” he whispered under his breath, too low for Myles to hear, but I did. I glared at him, but he just put the entire chicken wing in his mouth and pulled it out perfectly clean before licking his lips. He’d been like this every day he’d come to train me. The tension was always there with him, but he’d ramped it up. I didn’t think it was possible, but he somehow managed to make my heart pound out of my chest while I wanted to break his nose.

Why can I not look away?

“What are you doing?” I tried for annoyance, which wasn’t difficult with Nash.

“Sitting, eating, breathing, looking at you. What does it look like I’m doing?” He dropped the bone on his plate and licked his fingers off before sucking each one into his mouth, taking much longer than necessary to clean them. “Got nothing to say?” He had a drop of sauce at the corner of his mouth, and I had to fight the urge to wipe it away.

“Nope,” I said and forced myself to focus on my food.

He snorted, and I expected him to say something else, but he turned to Liam instead. They started talking about a building, which I’d learned was a business he was starting up with the rest of the guys. It actually sounded like a brilliant idea, and Myles promised to take me to see it once they were closer to being done.

Liam taking lead on the project was the last bit I heard before I tuned them out. Blake, Myles, and Theo were in a heated and animated discussion about something to do with sports, so I tuned them out, too, and happily ate.

When my phone vibrated in my pocket, I jumped. I didn’t think anyone had this new number. There was a message from Fiona when I pulled it out. Had to be Myles that gave it to her.

F: Hey, do ya have a minute to talk?

That was weird. She’d normally just text. I pushed my chair away from the table and hit her number as I walked to the bedroom and closed the door.

“Fiona here.”