Page 143 of Scatter the Bones

“To be fair, I think Wrath started it,” Rooster says in his most helpful tone. “And you’re kind of proving their point.”

Grinder mutters something low and threatening.

While the guys continue their back-and-forth, Serena slips between them and hooks her arms around Shelby and me, tugging us forward with a conspiratorial grin. “I’m starving. Every calorie I take in, Lincoln sucks right out of me.”

Shelby titters with laughter. “From what I heard, it’s a big ol’ carb fest in there this mornin’.”

The main room’s packed again, but thankfully the giant-screen TV is dark—no pornos playing on a loop this morning. No garish red lights either. Just weak sunlight sneaking through the tinted windows and the white glare of the overhead lights.

Serena edges behind the empty bar and motions for us to sit at the short side of the counter, near the wall. The corner’s cozy and out of the way, which I appreciate after last night. The guys sort of form a loose circle behind us, talking in low tones.

Serena pulls three bottles of water from somewhere under the bar and I accept one gratefully. The condensation chills myfingers as I twist the cap open and take a long sip, enjoying the cool rush down my throat.

Serena glances around the packed room, then rests her elbows on the counter, leaning closer to me. “Gray said you had some trouble last night. I’m so sorry we got separated.”

I set down the bottle, grateful it’s only the three of us tucked into this corner. “It all happened so fast, I’m not sure you could’ve done anything.”

“Bonnie’s been askin’ for trouble lately,” Shelby mutters, picking at the label on her water bottle. “She used to be okay. I dunno what crawled up her butt.”

“Well, Gray assured me they won’t be coming back.” Serena pats my hand, her tone firm and big-sisterly.

“Uh, one of them, Amanda, said you used to be friends?” I wince. “I’m sorry if I got her in trouble.”

Serena stiffens at the name. “We haven’t been friends in a while, unfortunately.”

“Oh.”

“No, no.” She reaches over and squeezes my hand. “I’m sorry if she said something awful to you.”

“Eh.” I shrug, then remember how awful it actually got. I stick out my tongue and gag. “She bragged about…” I swallow hard. Seriously? Am I really saying this out loud? “Jigsaw fucking her so hard he bruised her spleen.”

“Ewww, what the hell,” Shelby groans. “Who says that?”

I pat my stomach. “Well, she was pointing to the wrong organ. I was five seconds from pulling my knife and giving her a splenectomy.”

Serena lets out a sharp huff of laughter.

“Should be a lobotomy since she clearly ain’t usin’ that organ, either,” Shelby says with a dramatic eye roll.

Serena’s gaze flicks past me. Probably checking if Jigsaw’s listening. “I’m not sure if this helps or not, but I don’t even thinkthat’s true.” Her cheeks turn pinker underneath her carefully applied makeup. “Way before I met Gray, when I used to…” She glances around, voice dipping. “Visit here—she wanted to hook up with Jiggy.” She shifts her gaze to Shelby. “And Rooster. But she never did. That I know of.”

I shrug. “I’m not worried about anything that happened before me.” I hold up one hand. “I don’t want to hear about it in graphic detail, but I don’t care. That wasn’t the worst anyway. Bonnie and Nikki were much nastier in the personal attacks.”

Serena rolls her eyes. “I can only guess. Don’t believe any of the trash they said.”

The quick squeeze of her hand lingers. I don’t know what I expected—maybe a polite smile and generic apology. But she’s warm. Genuine. Like we’re already friends, not two women thrown together because our boyfriends wear the same patch.

Shelby leans in. “I’m sorry I wasn’t with you this time.” Her lashes flutter as she glances over her shoulder. “Jiggy’s been on the market so long, I guess some of the bunnies are losin’ their dang minds.”

I snort, then dissolve into full-on giggles behind my hand. “Yes. He made it clear that he didn’t ‘do relationships’ when we first started…” I clear my throat delicately. “Seeing each other.”

Shelby angles her body slightly and shoots a slow, deliberate stink eye at Jigsaw.

“What’d I do, songbird?” he asks, cocking his head in exaggerated innocence. He leans over and taps her shoulder with the tip of his pinky.

She ignores him, smiling sweetly at me instead. “He’ll deny it, but he needs someone with steel in her spine to tell him when he’s actin’ a fool.”

Jigsaw slides his hand over my hip and squeezes lightly. “You do call me out when I need it.” He leans down and kisses my cheek. “I love that about you.”

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