The Devil You Know - K.B. Winters Page 0,61

television.

I was a fucking idiot for letting it continue, but the thought of Kat hating me, of thinking that I didn’t want to be with her when I wanted it—badly—didn’t fucking sit well with me. At all. The whole situation had disaster written all over it, but the problem was, when Kat was around, I didn’t give a damn. I couldn’t think of anything but her and how much I wanted her.

The family settled around the dinner table, including Emmett and Madison. “How’s Kat?” Jasper, sitting next to me, leaned in and whispered the question to avoid drawing attention from the others.

“She’s fine,” I grunted. “You know Kat, resilient as ever.”

“You find anything on the sister, yet?” His question had an edge to it, and I turned to look at my best friend. He was concerned, nothing more, but the fact that I thought it could be more, meant I was fucked. Sooner or later, I knew he’d find out.

I shook my head. “Nothing concrete,” I told him quietly, turning my head away from Madison. She missed nothing. “Just a bunch of loose ends, so far.”

“Sorry I’m late,” Kat said as she breezed into the dining room wearing jeans—again—that hugged her ass and long shapely legs. More distracting than the jeans, was the low cut pink top she wore that showed off more than a hint of cleavage. “Had some things to take care of.”

Sadie let out a huff of laughter. “That should be your theme song these days, sorry I’m late. We’ve been waiting.”

Said without anger or frustration, just a hint of amusement.

Kat froze, halfway to sitting and looked around the table with a frown. “’Scuse me. I don’t see Bonnie, either, so it’s not just me holding up dinner.”

The decanter of whiskey was in her hand before her cute little ass hit the seat, pouring three oversized glugs straight into a wine glass.

“Bonnie isn’t feeling well,” Cal said defensively.

“Yeah, what else is new,” Kat mumbled loud enough for the whole table to hear. “Fine, I’m sorry. I have so much fucking work that I don’t even get a day to myself.”

The wine glass looked close to snapping at the stem with her white-knuckled grip and I wondered what had Kat so on edge.

“What’s up with her?” Jasper’s whispered question echoed in the room as the dining room door opened and the platters of food delivered to the table.

Before I could say a word, Kat jumped in. “Why don’t you fucking ask me what’s wrong, Jas, if you actually give a damn?” She held up a hand. “Never mind, I don’t care if you do. Or not.”

The room fell silent for a quick moment, but Sadie didn’t let tension linger at the dinner table, especially on Sundays.

“I spoke to Ronan this week, several times in fact, and I’m confident he had nothing to do with the attempt on Kat’s life.”

Madison gasped and looked at the woman she thought of as a hero.

“Are you all right?” She put a worried hand on Kat’s forearm and it was the first smile she flashed since she arrived.

“I’m fine. It happened a long time ago.”

“A week isn’t that long ago, Kat.” Virgil glared at his sister, worry and anger still swimming in his eyes. “If not Ronan, who?”

“Ten days,” Kat clarified, “give or take. And my money is on Mueller. He’s got a better, more pressing reason to come after me than Ronan.”

“Because of me and Molly?” For all her toughness and street smarts, Madison was shit at hiding her emotions. She wore her guilt all over her face.

“No, Maddie, it’s because he’s a piece of shit. Got it?”

Madison nodded but from the scowl on her face, she didn’t buy it.

Smart girl.

“I’ll take care of it,” Sadie declared with the air of a queen.

Jasper shook his head and sent a worried glare my way because we both knew what that meant.

“No Ma, I’ll handle it. Don’t get involved. Please.”

Sadie lifted a shoulder in acknowledgement of his words, but I didn’t miss the fact that she hadn’t actually agreed not to get involved.

“Let’s eat,” she said instead and picked up two slices of roast, gracing the table with an easy, maternal smile.

“What’s up with you man, you seem distracted?” Jasper was focused today, which meant he noticed every fucking detail, including the fact that I couldn’t focus. Not on anything but Kat, anyway.

“Nothing, man. Just…everything. Ravager. Emmett. Mueller. The Rhymers. Take your pick.”

“No fucking shit,” he growled and shook his head. “And we still