Page 57 of Kings Fear No One
There isn’t a single empty table in the house.
Sydney spots us half a second later and thrusts her arm up to flag us down. Logan and I forge a path toward them, dodging servers carrying huge trays of food and a tipsy woman staggering over to the bar area.
It’s not until we get closer that we realize our double date is a triple.
Blake and Korine have pulled up chairs on the side. Logan slows up as if he’s about to make an escape.
My hands slip around his thick forearm to keep him at my side. “Thanks for inviting us.”
“We come to the Smokin’ Pig every other Friday,” Korine says. “It’s kind of become a tradition of ours.”
“Well, it’s a good thing we’ve been included.”
I almost cringe at Logan’s curt tone. It drips of sarcasm, his expression disgruntled. If he was ever into the idea of a double dinner date, he’s changed his mind. We take the chairs across from Mason and Sydney.
It quickly becomes apparent Logan and his younger brother really haven’t patched things up. Whatever truce they’ve reached is tenuous at best, outright hostile in its worst form. Both men stare off anywhere else but at each other while me, Sydney, Korine, and Blake try to make conversation.
“Do you ever sing karaoke?” I ask.
“Korine’s succeeded in getting Blake up there,” Sydney giggles.
“You laugh as if you didn’t enjoy my rendition of “Sweet Child O’ Mine”.”
Korine lays her head on his shoulder. “It was cute. Especially when you forgot the lyrics.”
“I couldn’t read the screen. And watch it—you don’t call Kings cute. Puppies are cute. Kittens are cute. Kings are?—”
“Sexy as hell and I can’t wait ’til we get home.” Korine drops a kiss on the underside of his jaw.
Blake seems to forget all about what he was saying and is suddenly distracted by Korine. His hand slips under the booth. I have a sneaking suspicion if I looked under there, I’d find his hand on her thigh.
“Someday I’ll get Mace drunk enough to do it.” Sydney bumps her shoulder into Mason’s.
He’s in the middle of taking a drink from his beer bottle. He cocks a brow at her, sets down his bottle, and says, “I’ll do it if you join the Tits on Heels wet t-shirt contest at the club.”
“You already said you’d never let me!”
“There’s your answer.”
Sydney rolls her eyes and bites back a smile while the others laugh. Everyone except Logan.
A tense beat follows once the laughs die down. I catch Sydney’s eye and see her mind hard at work, thinking up a new topic.
“Hey, what’s up, fam?!”
We look up at the sound of Ozzie’s loud voice. He’s walked up alongside a woman I’ve never seen before. They couldn’t seem more different—Ozzie’s covered in dozens of tattoos while the woman’s pale and unassuming. He’s got the kind of energy that draws attention while she’s more of a skittish mouse.
“There you are,” Blake says. “We were taking bets.”
“You kidding? I never miss Smokin’ Pig’s Friday night specials. Didn’t even wear a belt ’cuz I’m about to demolish some ribs.”
“Hi, I’m Korine,” she says, holding out her hand to greet the woman with Ozzie.
“Oh shit. Where are my manners?” Ozzie snaps his fingers into a finger gun he points at the woman. “Everyone, this is Hope. Hope, everyone. Mace, Cash, Ghost, and their girls Syd, Kori, and Tey.”
Everyone murmurs a hello to Hope. Some shuffling is done so the pair can slide into the only empty seats left at the table.
Logan’s tensed at my side. First at Ozzie and Hope’s appearance, then at Ozzie calling me his girl. His jaw’s clenched and his body’s hardened. He’s pissed; he’s regretting ever agreeing to dinner tonight.
