a rejection.
None of that mattered as we sat in the cozy backroom of a restaurant that smelled heavenly – like grilled meat, spicy cabbage, and other delicious mysteries that arrived with a knock on the door. I was still in a state of shock after Dodge calmly relayed the events of the previous day, and not just because having a witch and a couple of shapeshifters around the table had stopped being the weirdest thing about my life. Hearing him recount the awfulness of what I’d only peeked at in the kitchen, and Dodge’s assessment of what had really happened, turned my stomach all over again. He’d seen and understood a lot more than I had.
It left me feeling so out of my depth that I wanted to just leave them all to it. I could let the adults in the room handle everything and I’d go hide in my closet until things blew over.
Dodge wrapped up with our visit to Smith’s office as a brief stop with a client, which Deirdre grudgingly acknowledged as “reasonably acceptable.” The big dude next to me paused only as the waitresses arrived with massive trays of tiny bowls filled with a wide range of bean sprouts, kimchi, pickled stuff, fish pieces, and things I might have needed the Internet to identify. He shifted in his chair and stretched, resting his elbow on the back of my chair since his wingspan was too wide for our side of the table. He didn’t go on until after the door shut behind the waitresses. “He’s going to call the detective who’s shacked up with one of the lions.”
I made a mental note: not all shapeshifters were wolves. Apparently there were also lions. How could one tell them apart in human form? I frowned as I picked up the metal chopsticks and tried to hold them without dropping one and looking like a fool. Trying to pick up a piece of kimchi took most of my concentration, though the others kept talking. We’d never bothered with chopsticks growing up, so I’d never practiced with them. If it wasn’t related to how the Romans dined, Dad didn’t care.
Miles grunted, sounding rather irritated. “I’d rather we handle this in-house.”
“It’s Bridger,” Todd said. “If the detective can handle the heavy lifting, why not?”
They kept arguing about whether involving the lions in “pack business” was acceptable, but I tensed as Dodge leaned over and picked up my hand. He maneuvered the chopsticks into the right position on my fingers, then demonstrated how to use them to pick up a piece of kimchi. He did it absently and without taking his attention off the other two men at the table, but my heart stuttered at the simple gesture. He must have seen me struggling and decided to... to what? Show that he knew more than me? Help me actually eat something instead of letting me stare sadly at the little dishes with my stomach rumbling?
I hated not being able to judge his intentions and having to fish around for motivations. As straight-forward as he seemed to play things, the man was a damn mystery.
Dodge put his elbows on the table and went back to scowling at Evershaw. “At least we can use the detective as a threat if Bridger doesn’t agree to leave Persephone alone. The loan shark doesn’t want the cops sniffing around her shady business, and we all know if O’Brien starts kicking rocks, all kinds of shit is going to be uncovered. When we confront Bridger, that’s in the back pocket. Just in case.”
My cheeks heated as I gripped the chopsticks and used the pinching motion he’d demonstrated. It wasn’t easy by any means, but I managed to get a piece of cabbage onto my little plate and tried to maneuver it into my mouth. Part of me wondered where he’d learned to use chopsticks, because he was damn good at it – picking out little pieces of cucumber kimchi and bean sprouts with garlic to put on my plate – all the while continuing to discuss whether or not they would confront Ms. Bridger.
It was definitely easier to stab a piece of cucumber with one chopstick than to pick it up with two.
I caught Dodge eyeing me sideways when I used my modified technique to finish off everything stab-able.
When Miles paused in what sounded like a rehearsed diatribe about how the lions were all rich assholes that no one did business with unless they had no other choice,