“It’s Corny. I need you to meet me.” Carson and Cole’s father sounded slightly panicked.
“What do you mean you need to meet with me?” Ten wore a worried look on his face.
Ronan leaned over Ten’s shoulder and tapped the speaker button.
“…want to talk to you about my surgery and my family. You’re the only one who can help me.” Corny sounded earnest.
“Why do you think I can help you? Your wife called me out as a witch.” Ten made the jack-off gesture with his left hand.
“Destiny is sorry she said that. She has the tendency to be a bit dramatic. She was shocked by how accurate your gift is. Can you meet us at this sushi joint across from our hotel?”
Ronan nodded, pointing to himself.
“Pregnant women shouldn’t eat sushi. Ronan and I will meet you at Casa Blanco, the Mexican place just down the street from the Hawthorne. We’ll be there at five.”
“I don’t want no cops there,” Corny said with a snarl in his voice.
“You don’t have a choice,” Ten said matter-of-factly. “If you want to speak with me, Ronan comes too, or you can forget about it.”
There was no way in hell Ronan was going to let Tennyson meet the con artist duo alone.
“Fine. We’ll be there at five.” Corny disconnected the phone.
“Fuck me with a chainsaw.” Ten sunk into the seat beside Ronan.
Jude snorted. “Tell us how youreallyfeel.”
“I wanted to go home and have dinner with my kids. Now, I’m stuck with this asshole.” It wasn’t like Ten to swear like a sailor unless he was really riled up about something or someone.
“You shouldn’t talk about Ronan that way.” Jude laughed again.
Ronan snickered along with him. “Why does he want to talk to you?”
“I assume he thinks I can somehow get through to Carson and Cole about donating a kidney.” Ten sighed. “Make no mistake, I’m firmly with our friends. If there’s pertinent information to share with them, I’ll do that, but I’m not going to be taken in by Corny’s agenda, that’s for damn sure.”
“Aside from not wanting to die and living to meet his daughter, what other agenda could he have?” Fitzgibbon asked.
“That’s what we’re going to find out.” Ten shrugged. “He doesn’t know yet about Jace’s offer. Do you want me to mention it?”
Fitzgibbon sighed as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I’m coming along with you. I’ll only mention Jace being willing to assist if he seems willing to be reasonable. We’re sure as hell not just handing him a bucket of money. Anything Jace pays out will be through proper channels with receipts for our taxes and responsible shit like that. I refuse to let my husband be taken for a ride by some slick-ass con man.”
“Preach, Fitzy!” Jude held his hands in the air as if he were at a tent revival. “Should I come too? I feel kind of left out here.” Jude pouted.
“Since the three of us will be having Mexican, why don’t you and Cope make tacos for the kids. Everly loves putting her own tacos together. I bet the other kids will too.”
“That sounds like fun. I’ll make sure to load your kids up on refried beans before I send them home.” Jude waggled his eyebrows.
“Karma’s a bitch, you know,” Ronan shot back. If memory served, the last time Jude had Mexican food, he’d stunk up the house so bad that Cope told him to sleep in the yard. It would serve him right if the same thing happened again tonight.
Pulling his mind away from Jude’s relationship with spicy food, Ronan got back to the task at hand. The clue to how and why Sebastian Stark died that night three years ago was contained in his phone, and Ronan was going to find it.
12
Tennyson
The scent of margaritas hit Ten in the face when he and Ronan walked into Casa Blanco. Ten had never been much of a drinker before he and Ronan met, but with everything going on in the Sebastian Stark case and now with Corny Craig, he could go for a stiff one. He wouldn’t, not with Ronan with him. Ten would just have to find another way to relax.
“Over there.” Ronan pointed to a table in the back.
