that supposed to mean?”
I touched my middle finger to my thumb. “For medium rare, it feels like this. Press the spatula to the burger.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know how else to explain it. You’ll get the hang of it. The second side only takes about three minutes. Just let me do it.”
“Nope.”
Such stubbornness! Until it dawned on me. Maybe he wanted to talk to me. Be with me.
Problem was, I had no idea what to say. Until I spied Joe by himself, looking…strange, sipping his martini. An empty glass sat next to him on the table. Had he brought out both drinks for himself? I’d assumed one was for Bryce.
“What’s up with Joe?” I asked Bryce.
“Joe’s fine,” Bryce said, again tersely.
“Since when does he start with two drinks?”
Bryce cleared his throat. Tersely. “You’d have to ask him.”
“I’m asking you. You were with him today. He doesn’t seem like himself.” As a matter of fact, Bryce didn’t seem like himself either. Not that I could tell, really. He’d been an enigma since his father died.
“He’s fine. And I’m fine.”
“I didn’t ask about you.”
He huffed and looked down at the grill, poking the edge of the spatula into the burgers. Red juice flowed out.
“Don’t do that,” I admonished. “They’ll dry up. You want the juices trapped inside.”
“But you said—”
“I said press the flat part of the spatula against it to gauge the feel of the meat. Don’t cut into it.”
“Fine. You just take over.” He huffed again and handed me the spatula.
Then he walked toward Joe.
Chapter Forty
Bryce
“Your sister’s asking questions.”
Joe finished his second drink. “Like what?”
“She says you’re not yourself,” I said quietly. “Which means we both need to put on an act.”
“How am I not myself?”
“I don’t know. She’s your sister. She specifically mentioned the two drinks, though.”
“Oh.”
“That’s it?”
“What do you want me to say? I’ve got a lot on my mind. We both do.”
“True enough, but if we’re going to keep this to ourselves until we have more information, we’re going to have to act our parts.”
“Meaning I need to untense myself? How the fuck am I supposed to do that when I’d like to go off on that bastard Ted Morse?”
“Joe, come on,” I said. “I’m freaked too, but for all we know, this deck is bugged somehow. So ease up.”
“Fucker.”
“I know. Go talk to Ryan or something. I’m going to go inside and get a drink.”
I walked back past Marjorie, who was removing the cooked burgers from the grill. They’d no doubt be perfect. Just as well that she’d taken over. I’d have probably turned them into shoe leather. I made my way down to the bar and poured myself some of Talon’s Peach Street bourbon. Good stuff. I took a sip and let the smokiness linger on my tongue before I swallowed its warmth.
I walked back upstairs and ran into Talon, who was returning from Dale’s room.
“He’s not coming out?” I said.
“Not right now, but he’s okay. Just a little scared.”
“Why?”
“Oh, you don’t know yet, do you? He saw a man on the playground he thought he recognized from when he was in captivity.”
My heart dropped into my gut, but I took a sip of bourbon to hide my surprise. “Oh?”
“It’s probably nothing. I used to see all sorts of shit after my…experience. But he’s scared, and it’s bringing up a bunch of other stuff.”
“Like what?”
“He’s feeling like he’s not really a Steel. That he’s a bother to us.”
“Oh. Jeez.”
“I know. I reassured him that he’s a valuable part of the family and we all love him. He’s okay, but he needs his alone time, and I totally get that. I was his age when…”
He didn’t finish. He didn’t have to. We both knew what he didn’t say.
“That Peach Street?” Talon gestured to my drink.
“The one and only. You want one?”
“Yeah.”
We walked back down to the bar, and I poured Talon two fingers. “More?”
“Nope. That’ll do for starters. What are you doing in here, anyway? Didn’t I leave you in charge of the grill?”
“I turned it over to Marj. I think we’d all rather not sample my cooking.”
Talon chuckled, and we walked back upstairs and out onto the deck. Everyone had found a seat around the large table, so we joined them. I loaded up a burger with all the fixings and then wondered how I was going to choke it down.
Joe was still being quiet. Not overly odd for Joe, but he was normally a little more talkative when he was with his family. I met his gaze,