“Sorry ‘bout that.” I yawned, rubbing my eyes before shaking Ezra’s leg since he was still snoring, his mouth slightly parted and his face toward the ceiling. “Ezra, wake up. I think they were saying something.”
He groaned softly.
More shaking. “Ezra, wake up.” Hell, I wasn’t awake enough to wake someone else.
“Sweetheart, go back to sleep,” he grumbled. “You wore my ass out.”
I stilled for a moment, coming fully awake, and then slapped his face with a bit too much force, but I needed to wake his ass up before he said anything too damning. He jerked, his green eyes flying wide open, and I muttered, “Stay awake.” I pointed between me and him, glancing to everyone at the table. “He meant we had a fight earlier. Worked out our issues.” I flicked a glance to the next table over — Shifters — who were gawking, since they had seen me slap Ezra. Pointing at a younger individual, I ordered, “I want two coffees. One black, the other with plenty of cream and sugar.” A glance at the beverage area, then back to her. “Cut in line.”
She jumped from her chair, nodding, and scurried off to do as told.
Ezra glanced at me from under hooded lids, rubbing the back of his neck.
I turned from him, staring directly at Antonio. “What were you saying?”
“That I wish for a bullet. To my brain,” he muttered, continuing to rub his temples.
Elder Merrick was wiping tears from his eyes from his silent mirth. “That was fucking extraordinary.” He turned his watering gaze to Cahal and Antonio, and started busting up again as he stared. “I hope like hell I don’t have kids like them.”
“Possibly ADD,” Elder Jacobs stated, sounding thoughtful. He nodded. “It has got to be.”
“Shoot me. Please,” Antonio muttered under his breath.
“What fight earlier?” Cahal probed, his concentrated scrutiny still honed on us.
I blinked, then quickly evaded his question, muttering, “Ezra and I get along, talk to one another. Yet you’re making fun of us, when the four of you just had four separate conversations, and I bet none of you even heard what the others said.” I jerked my head at Ezra. “At least he listens to me, and I listen to him.”
Still with his chin on his hand, Cahal nodded absently to Antonio. “He wants a bullet through his head for having to deal with you two, which I don’t blame him for since he’s had to do it far longer than the three of us.” He paused, eyes on Ezra’s. “What fight earlier?”
“Hmm?” Ezra grabbed a coffee when the Shifter set them down in front of us. He sipped, his nose crinkled, and he handed it to me, lifting the other one. His eyes danced to me as he took a drink, then to his dad. “What are you talking about?”
Cahal drummed his fingers on his chin. “You were asleep, and you said…,” he glanced to Antonio, “what was it exactly?”
Antonio simply growled.
Elder Merrick murmured, “I believe he stated that she wore his ass out.” He sipped from his Coke, watching me as I took a drink from my coffee.
“Ah, yes.” Cahal nodded, his eyes back to his son. “Ms Ruckler said it was in reference to a fight you had earlier. So again, what fight?”
Ezra recovered fast enough, hearing of his major oops, to state dryly, “Obviously, the one we had earlier. Fists, kicking, teeth, the whole shebang as we worked through our issues.” He turned his gaze on Antonio. “Other than a bullet needed, what were you saying?”
Cahal held up a hand, and peered toward Elder Merrick.
Elder Merrick drank from his Coke, and then smiled. “He told truth.” His arresting gaze met mine briefly when Ezra’s dad glanced away.
I knew right then he had caught me in a lie somewhere. Altering my attention to Antonio, I quickly went through what I had said, but nothing sprung out as too awful. Plus, he had to have one hell of a nose to be scenting truths, lies, and partial truths at all times. I actually had to concentrate in order to do it.
Antonio asked sharply, “Lil, are you listening?”
I jerked. “Yep.” No clue what he had said before, but I was listening now.
Elder Merrick laughed while rubbing his face, his chuckle heard this time, sounding jagged.
Ezra glared. “Do you mind? We’re tired, and you’re not helping the situation.”
“From the fight?” Elder Merrick prompted.
Ezra grunted, letting that be his answer, since he was smart enough not to answer.