“Glad to see Bryce is still here; I feel like we’ve become family. The kind of family you never want to see and don’t tell people exist, but family.”
“You’re very good at pissing people off,” Robert said.
“I am,” I told him. “It’s a natural gift.” I turned to Antonio. “You okay?”
Antonio nodded. “Sorry for the call.”
“No problem,” I said. “It isn’t a party if all the guests aren’t here.” I looked back to Robert. “You want to explain why I’m here?”
“I felt that last night you were involving yourself in matters that don’t actually have anything to do with you. I wanted a nice face-to-face like this, where I can inform you of what will happen should you continue to stick your nose into matters you shouldn’t.”
“That might actually be the politest threat I’ve ever received,” I said. “I mean, you can go fuck yourself with a sharp stick, but the politeness is appreciated.”
Robert smiled, just before Bryce punched me in the jaw, knocking me off the chair.
“You know, when you have a particularly stubborn animal, you have to break it so that it learns how to behave.”
“Ah, the old ‘break an animal’ bullshit,” I said, getting back on the chair. “You don’t break an animal by beating it until it behaves. That’s how you create animals that will one day turn on you.” I looked over at Bryce. “Why is Brooke scared of you?”
“Ask her,” Bryce said with a chuckle.
“Mr. Carpenter,” Robert said. “You genuinely don’t seem to understand how badly this situation will go for you.” He snapped across the table, cracking the butt of the pistol against Antonio’s jaw. Antonio almost spilled out of the booth, but before I could do anything, I found Robert pointing the gun at me.
Antonio was dragged from the booth and punched in the face twice by Bryce. A third punch sent Antonio to the floor, and I readied myself to intervene.
“You do and you both die,” Robert said, seemingly aware of my intentions. “We aren’t going to kill him. Not now.”
Bryce kicked Antonio twice in the ribs and once more in the head.
“Stop it,” I said. “You’ve made your point.”
Robert motioned for the attack to stop, and it did. I finally looked down at the semiconscious Antonio and was grateful to see his chest rise and fall.
“He’ll need an ambulance,” Robert said. “Any witty comebacks?”
I looked up at Robert and had the desire to tear out his throat. “No.”
“Next time you involve yourself, both you and Antonio here will die. We’ll come back when his waitresses are here, and we’ll butcher the whole place. Am I clear?”
I nodded.
“If you see me or Bryce again, you walk the other way. If you think that you’re some white knight who gets to fuck Jessica, you’re wrong.”
“I’m not trying to do anything to Jessica. Is that what this is about? Do you think Jessica and I are together?”
“I think that you only involve yourself in her affairs because you want to get a piece of that ass.”
“You’re delusional,” I snapped. “There’s nothing going on, now or ever, with Jess and me. I stepped in because you were all being thuggish dicks.”
“And now you know not to,” Robert said, punching me in the stomach and pushing me off the chair. “I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. Stay away from me and what is mine, and we won’t have to escalate things further.”
He kicked me in the head, leaving me lying on the cold diner floor as they all left. My vision went spotty for a short time. The sounds of sirens filled my ears, and I pulled myself upright next to Antonio.
I felt his pulse, and while he still had one, he was drifting in and out of consciousness.
Four paramedics burst into the diner and ran over to Antonio and me as I tried to tell them to look after my friend.
They did their jobs well before taking Antonio out on a gurney, leaving me sitting in a booth at the diner.
Sheriff Adrian King and a deputy walked into the diner and stood in front of me.
“It’s turned into a shit day,” I said.
“We need you to come with us,” the sheriff said.
“Can we do it later? I just want to take some drugs before the headache really starts.”
“No,” the deputy said. “We’re going down to the station now.” He removed his cuffs from his belt.
“You’re arresting me?” I asked, incredulous. “What did I do? I didn’t realize getting beaten up in a diner was a criminal offense.”
“Not arresting you. We’d prefer you volunteered to come with us.”
“Why?” I asked.
“We have some questions about a body that was found this morning,” the sheriff said.
Chapter Five
LAYLA CASSIDY
Realm of Helheim
Two weeks ago, Layla Cassidy had fought a dragon. An actual dragon. Big wings, teeth, breathed fire . . . well, a kind of fire that was made of pure magic, but the point was she’d fought and helped kill a dragon. So having spent the time since sitting in a dusty library in the city of Niflhel in the realm of Helheim, Layla was beginning to get cabin fever. It wasn’t like she wanted to go fight another dragon. Ever. But the library had countless thousands of books and only six people to go through them.
“I’m so bored,” Tarron the shadow elf said from across the table. With light-purple skin and a short black beard that matched the long hair on his head, he looked like the kind of person who picked fights in bars. Although Layla was pretty sure that Tarron wouldn’t be caught dead anywhere near a bar.
“I humbly request to be refrozen for a few more thousand years,” Tarron said. “Because that would be preferable to reading some of the utter rubbish that passes for historically accurate data in these books.”
There was the sound of someone being hit somewhere among the rows of books inside the first floor of the library, followed by a sudden exclamation of surprise. The library itself went deep underground, and Layla really hoped that she wasn’t going to have to waste the next few years moving slowly down into the catacombs just to find what the group was looking for.
“You fell asleep,” Kase shouted.
“I came here to help Layla,” Harry tried to whisper, which, considering the acoustics of the room, was nearly impossible. “But it’s so boring.”
“You know you’re both grown men, right?” Layla said, raising her voice. “You can leave at any time.”
“Can’t,” Harry said, walking out from the rows of books, rubbing his arm. “Kase told me I had to stay.”
Kase shrugged.
Harry Gao had a brilliant mind. He was a few years older than Layla’s own twenty-three and a little taller than her, with unruly dark hair and several days’ worth of stubble. He was also someone who got bored quickly. Spending two weeks going through stuffy book after stuffy book was not his idea of a good time. Although Layla was pretty sure there were very few people in the library who were there enjoying themselves.
“Where are the rest of the team?” Harry asked.