Chapter Eleven
Gravy Makes Everything Better
Ziggy
I wasn’t used to waking up next to anyone, let alone being tangled with them all night. She wasn’t just a cuddler, Ro was a damn octopus.
I was almost relieved when my phone finally vibrated on the nightstand.
“Yeah?” I mumbled, my voice thick with sleep, even if I hadn’t gotten much.
“If you want these biscuits and gravy while they’re still warm, you better get that door open,” Henny sang.
“Yeah,” I grunted with a little more conviction as I threw a leg off the bed. Ro’s body remained draped over the other side.
I exhaled on a groan and stared at her, somewhat amused by the faint snoring. I didn’t know snoring could be cute, but it was kind of puppy-like.
“Scoot,” I grunted, tapping at her hip.
She murmured, and flung her arm out, all but ‘clothes lining’ me in the process. I cleared my throat, and she moved her arm off it.
“What?” she whined.
Oh, no. No. No. I couldn’t be smothered by an octopus all night and have something whining in my ear before the ass crack of dawn, too. I shoved her across the bed without a second thought and shot off my side before she’d finished shrieking. She finished flailing and gathered the covers around herself, pulling up on her knees to stare at me in that ‘wide eyed, startled from slumber’-type of way.
“What the fuck?” she demanded, as I hopped into my boxers and left the room without explanation.
I unlocked the front door and moved to the kitchen while Henny let himself inside. He was carrying a paper bag from the diner I favored. As he neared the table, he began to unpack.
“Biscuits and gravy?” I grunted, staring at the three steaming containers.
“You got it.”He popped the lid off one and presented it to me.
“Fuck, yeah,” I sank down in the seat and the movement behind him caught my attention when Ro appeared. “Morning, Sunshine.”
I winked at her and Henny turned to face her.
“Hey, Ro.” He raised his chin at her, but she didn’t return the gesture or the greeting. “Ey, I’m sorry I slung you out of the car yesterday, aight?”
Her gaze snapped from him to me. “C’mere, Henny brought us breakfast. I put Zeus in the utility room until the food is gone.”
I tapped the top of one of the other containers in offering. She briefly glanced at it before cutting her eyes back to Henny.
“Sorry for calling you a bitch. I shouldn’t have said that,” she sleepily mused, stepping around him.
I wasn’t really expecting her to apologize for it and paused with the fork midway to my mouth. When they both looked at me, I hurriedly returned to my food.
“I’ll forgive you, but only if you take that mutt with you when you leave.” She sniffed like she was playing but I could tell she was dead serious.
I laughed and saluted him with my chin, silently giving my consent.
“I didn’t want to say anything, because I really can’t be sure,” Ro stammered, “But– I don’t think he has them snared in anything– Your brother and his daughter, I mean. I’m pretty sure he’s just bluffing.”
“That the type of thing he does often?” Henny asked, taking a seat himself.
She popped the lid off her breakfast and raised one shoulder, “My brother has an odd sense of humor, but… we’re married, so that has to change things. He can’t have Sammy, she’s practically family to him now.”
I set my fork down and stared at her, until she realized I was doing so.
“What the fuck do you mean– Your ‘brother?’”
She finished chewing and sighed. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Try,” I insisted, causing her to blink and pointedly stare.
I didn’t mean to put her on the spot about her family business, but this shit was serious!
“He’s not my blood brother. The one I lost, Keefe–he was my real brother. Our mom had an affair with Sean’s dad, that’s how Keefe came to be. When Sean’s mother died, his father moved my mother in and after that we were all one big not so happy family.”
Her expression soured about the same time her story did and she went to poking around at her biscuits a while.
“So, the guy my brother killed was Sean’s brother?” Henny slowly caught on. “And you’re his sister, but you’re not Sean’s sister.”
“Correct.” Ro nodded, as she rose from her seat and went to the refrigerator.
She grabbed a glass of juice and returned, “My mom tried to move on, after Keefe was born. I mean, obviously, I’m here, right? But, uhm– I guess Mr. Morgan wasn’t so keen on the idea. I’m sorry– Did you really just freely say that?”
Henny studied her face, his brow raising in silent question.
“Did you really just say that, like you were talking about last night’s game? Your brother killed my brother…”
I sat up and so did Henny, “Hey–” I reached for her hand, but she jerked it away, not taking her eyes off Henny.
“I’m not stupid. I know the Savage known as Menace Zade killed my brother, I just didn’t expect to hear it discussed so flippantly at the breakfast table. That’s why you’re worried about Sammy, she ran with him?”
She glanced to me for confirmation, but her gaze lifted and widened at the last minute. Zeus sounded off from behind the gate causing me to turn in search of their upset.
“The Nash woman was abducted from her home weeks ago, Roisin. Honestly, your gossip is tiring and much beneath you.” Sean sighed. “Her father and she had a falling out over her discharge from the military, nothing more.”
He put his hand on my shoulder as I set my jaw against his intrusion.
“They hadn’t spoken in some time, but neighborhood cameras around her residence show she was removed from her home forcibly, in the wee hours of the morning that fateful day. Yes, she was forcibly carried away, it appeared. A tragic, missing-person case, it seems. Unfortunately, it’ll be seen as further evidence of the need to secure Mr. Zade, and to do so swiftly. Another charge, another warrant.”
He smiled at Henny, who looked ready to charge, and then sighed in a satisfied manner, “I told you, Wyatt, your daughter is fine.”
Henny glanced toward me, and I subtly saluted him with my chin, all but praying his ass didn’t leave the chair.
“It’s true.” Sean nodded, “You should probably let me escort you to the police station. They’ll be wanting to speak with you, no doubt.”
“Right.” I grunted, pushing my breakfast away.
“Bring the wife, it’s a further excuse for your being out of the loop with your daughter’s whereabouts, yeah?” Sean recommended.
“You told the police my brother took her by force?” Henny roared, and that tall frame of his shot out of the chair about the time I rounded the table. Zeus went wild in the utility room, his vicious barking echoing through the kitchen. Each wave of it left me closing my eyes and cringing against the sound as I quickly put myself between them and put all of my strength into keeping Henny off Sean.
“At young Lennox’s request, aye. I did,” Sean snapped back at him.
I could feel the hate radiating off of Henny, that one good eye was narrowed so tightly, I doubted he could even see the mobster.
“Un-fucking-believable,” Henny cursed, before storming toward the utility room and snatched Zeus by the collar on his way out of the house.