Page 129 of Through the Flames
“Hunter?”
“Yeah?”
“Would you … do you want to meet my family? Officially, I mean.”
I froze, the cheers and camera flashes blurring into white noise.
Her family. The circus of noise and love she’d been born into. The thing I’d never had.
“You want me to?” I asked carefully. I knew she was trying to move past what had happened to her, but I also knew she avoided going back to her hometown at all costs.
Maybe it wasn’t a good idea for me to go there, either. I didn’t know what I’d do if we ran into the people who treated my girl this way.
On the other hand, maybe weshouldgo.
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t.” Her thumb stroked over the back of my hand, steady. “Dom, Mom, all of them. I want them to see what I see.”
Before I could answer, a voice crashed into the moment.
“Yo, Rhodes!”
Dom barreled through a knot of suits, grinning like he’d just won the lottery and couldn’t wait to collect in chaos. He slapped me on the back so hard the jersey almost slipped from my hands.
“Congrats, man. Big league now.”
Ella groaned. “Dom. Please don’t start. I’m begging you.”
Dom ignored her completely. He leaned in, voice pitched just loud enough to carry to a few reporters.
“Couple things you need to know before you roll up at Mom’s for dinner. One: Do not mention pineapple on pizza. Civil War broke out last Thanksgiving and the scars are still fresh.”
“Dom—” Ella pinched the bridge of her nose.
“Two,” he went on, a deadly serious look in his eyes, holding two fingers in the air. “Don’t sit in Dad’s recliner unless you’re ready to duel him for it. I’m talking pistols at dawn. He’s territorial.”
I arched a brow. “Duly noted.”
“And three,” Dom jabbed a finger at me for emphasis. “If you eat the last piece of cornbread without offering it to Mom first, she will put a hex on you. And she knows people.Witchypeople.”
Reporters nearby chuckled. Ella looked like she wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole.
“Are you done humiliating me?” she hissed.
Dom grinned wider. “Not even close. But I’ll let Broodzilla find out the rest on his own.”
I finally let a smirk curve my mouth, just enough for him to see it. “Bring it.”
Ella groaned again, but when I pulled her against my side, her laughter slipped free.
The family who raised Ella and her half-feral brother must have been chaos incarnate. If she wanted me in the middle of it, then that’s exactly where I’d be.
Thirty Eight
Ella
Main Street in Briar Creek hadn’t changed, not really.
The faded awnings were still there, as was the hand-painted “ANTIQUES” sign leaning against a shop window.
