Page 80 of Lady Killer

“Personally, I think it's nice,” Everest said, loudly scooching his chair closer to mine. “We don’t do nearly enough family dinners.”

I turned to shoot him down, but Locke beat me to it.

“You aren’t family. You’re hired help that should have learned his—‍”

Lucian’s steak knife drove down into Locke’s arm with such force that the whole table vibrated.

“One more word, cousin.”

Swallowing, I realized that he had stabbed the knife through Locke’s suit sleeve, narrowly missing his wrist but pinning his arm to the table.

A furious-looking Locke pulled out the knife and slammed it down on the table before standing and stomping out of the room.

“That’s fifty dollars you owe me, Ever. I told you he wouldn’t make it past the first course,” Nixon said, leaning back in his chair.

Everest, whose chair was now touching mine, was busy shuffling his plate and cutlery over with him, but he paused to fish around in his pockets to throw a crumpled hundred-dollar bill at him.

It landed in the soup.

“Keep the change.”

“Gross.” Nixon scrunched up his nose as he shoved the bowl away from himself.

Lucian pinched his brow, while Alister continued to eat in silence.

Ten minutes later, when the staff returned to bring out the next course, the bill was still floating there, and the soup was cleared without comment.

I hoped they kept it.

The main course was beef Wellington, perfectly cooked green beans and almonds, and roasted potatoes. The scents of butter and salt hit me, making my mouth water.

There was one upside to being babysat by the Blackwells.

I was enjoying a particularly tender bite of tenderloin when Lucian spoke again. “The killer still roams free.”

The meat caught in my throat.

“I’m sitting right here,” Everest said, elbowing me as if I were in on the joke.

“The clock is ticking down, there are how many more days until the end of term?”

“Eighty-nine.” The words felt like acid on my tongue.

“Your best lead, the Thomson girl, is dead. And we are no closer to ending this mess than when we started.”

He wasn’t wrong.

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but it was Alister who spoke first. “Our best lead is sitting next to you.”

The eldest Blackwell scoffed. “And did you form that objective opinion before or after she spread her legs for you?”

The food turned to ash in my mouth.

“Lucian,” Everest rumbled next to me, his hand moving protectively over mine.

“Everest.”

The two stared each other down, the tension between them so visceral it made it hard to breathe.

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