Gray’s instinct was to grab the knife out of Nick’s other hand, but yet again, he had no second arm to do that with. He wasn’t worried though. If the kid had any brains left in that ginger head, he wouldn’t dare use the knife.
Nick stared at him, his chest working up and down, face red, hands balled into fists, and Gray could see it in his eyes—Nick was weighing the social cost of charging at Gray versus submission in front of the women he wanted to impress. A bully would always remain a bully.
“If you ever want to prospect, remember that there’s something like too much initiative,” Gray said in a low voice, trying to rein in the heat of his anger. There was no need for broken plates and cutlery buried in Nick’s arm.
The door slammed open, and Fox burst in with his face as red as his son’s and breathing hard as if he’d been running despite the cast on his leg. “What’s going on?” he asked and glanced at Nao. She must have texted him.
Goddamnit. Gray could have handled this on his own.
Nick growled and dared push back at Gray with his teeth bared. “Nothing, I was just helping out the disabled.”
This time, Gray had no patience to assess Nick’s intentions and punched him—just enough for him to feel it, yet not break his nose.
Nao winced when Nick’s head bounced off the fridge, and a red trickle rolled from his nostril.
Gray had no more mercy. “You’re a guest. Learn some respect!”
The boy grabbed his face with a high-pitched whine. What did he think? That daddy would save him from consequences of his actions? He was lucky that Gray hadn’t banned him from the premises yet.
Nick looked to Fox with a scowl, clearly expecting help, but all he got was a harsh slap to the back of his head.
“What did I tell you?” Fox growled. “If you want to stay here, learn some humility! Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with? Gray once stabbed a man in the eye for disrespecting his brother. This isn’t a game. You want to be treated like a man? Act like one!”
Gray pressed his lips together, but he acknowledged Fox’s reaction with a nod. Fox swallowed, keeping his eyes on Gray’s face, clearly uncomfortable with the stump. Of course.
“Thank you for giving my son a lesson. He’s still a kid,” Fox said.
“We all go through that at some point. It’s fine,” Gray told him before looking down at the fallen peach between their feet. Maybe he should have just eaten the goddamn thing instead of attempting to make something with it. That he could do without an issue with just one hand and his teeth. It was a bitter pill to swallow that maybe even his eating habits needed to change because of the amputation.
Nick had a permanent scowl on his bloodied lips, but at least he shut up and kept his smartass comments to himself.
Gray’s phone ringing was a welcome distraction, but when both he and Fox checked their messages at the same time, there was no more time left to finish the smoothie. Beast wanted the patches in the meeting room ASAP.
Nick could have Gray’s smoothie for all he cared.
The way to took only a couple of minutes, and by the time Gray and Fox entered, almost all the patches were present.
“Is everyone even here?” Fox asked, wary of his healing leg as he lowered himself into the usual chair.
Beast exhaled and put a laptop on the table. It was laughably small in his hands. “Joker’s out in Portland, but everyone else—”
Rev was the final man to enter. His gaze briefly met Gray’s before he sat across from him, next to Vars and Jake. Once the door was closed, the somber atmosphere made Gray look Knight’s way, but the VP yawned.
“Are we watching a video on safely picking up boxes?” Knight asked and raised his eyebrows. “Though you said not to bring Elliot, and Laurent’s not here either, so I’m guessing that’s not the case.”
Beast shook his head and tapped a few buttons with his thick finger. “I wish. Mr. Magpie wants to video-chat.”
“We’re entering a new era,” Knight said as he casually leaned back in his chair.
“It’s encrypted, I assume,” Vars whispered, as if someone were already recording them through the device.
Jake sighed. “Remember the brunch Magpie fed us when we went over to his?”
Vars smiled and stroked Jake’s nape.
“Best food ever. We should all find an excuse to visit him sometime,” Knight said but stilled when Beast shushed him and switched on an app, which soon elicited an odd beep.
“Behave.”
Gray’s skin erupted in goosebumps, watching the small globe revolving in the middle of the screen as they all waited. Magpie very rarely contacted his associates personally, so this had to be important. A new job for him?