King Cave (Forever Evermore, #2)(125)

Cahal was still standing while Antonio was sitting, but both of them stared with the same expressions. Total and complete exasperation. Cahal shook his head first, finally taking a seat, which was a little snug since we hadn’t asked for the biggest booth, but doable after Antonio adjusted to be closer to me, squashing my other side. As Antonio began rubbing his temples, his elbows on the table, Cahal stated bluntly, “The spell won’t work when you’re closer to the Prodigies. It will give you the general location, but it will falter once you’re close. So again, the spell doesn’t work when another Mystical is close by.”

Ezra shrugged his massive shoulders. “That works for us. Once we get to that point, we’ll hang back, but still be close enough to help if it’s needed, and let each other go alone. But, up until that point,” another shrug even though his eyes were dead serious, “we’re going together.” And then he smiled. It wasn’t pretty. “If you two have an issue with that, you can go back to the cave. This is how we’re doing it, with or without your consent.”

I rested my head against Ezra’s chest, enjoying how he instantly rested his chin on top of my head. “And the beauty is that we’re not breaking any Laws because it’s only tradition.” In other words, they couldn’t haul us back with them to King Cave and threaten us to do as they wished.

There was a beat of silence, and then Cahal glared at Antonio. “Did you know about this?” He waved a hand at us. “They’re skating a fine line between jail and insubordination.”

Antonio sighed, his shoulders lowering with the action, and dropped his hands from his temples onto the table, turning his own glare on Cahal. “No, I didn’t know they were going to do this.” Truth. “They’re also right, unless you can think of a Law I’ve somehow,” he threw his hands in the air and thumped back on the booth, further smashing me and knocking into Cahal at the same time, “forgotten.” He thrust a thumb in my direction. “She may be God-awful at history, but her memory of the Law is indisputable.”

Cahal stared at me, his dark eyes unreadable, for what seemed like forever, and then he muttered, “No, I can’t think of a damn thing we could do to them Lawfully.” He smiled, letting me know he wasn’t opposed to going outside the Law.

I managed to hold his gaze, gripping Ezra’s thigh tight when I felt him start to lean forward. “You’d have to catch us first.” My grin was just as sweet. “I can mask better than anyone you know, and I’m betting Ezra could do it if he tried hard enough.” I shrugged. “Add in everything Antonio’s taught me,” my grin grew, “and you wouldn’t have a chance.”

Antonio flicked my forehead. “I also taught you not to provoke those stronger than you.”

I rubbed my forehead, but didn’t look away from Cahal’s unwavering gaze.

Finally, his dark eyes lifted to where Ezra was still resting his chin on top of my head. “Is she as good as she thinks she is?”

Instant. “If she wanted to disappear, none of us would be able to find her.”

Dark eyes landed back on me, then he grunted. “Makes sense for who raised you.”

I couldn’t really argue that point since it was true.

“So,” Ezra’s arm lowered from the top of the booth and hooked over my shoulder to intertwine his fingers with mine, “we’re good?”

Neither answered, but instead picked up their menus and started perusing the choices, which was answer enough. They weren’t leaving, and they weren’t hauling us out of the place.

Tilting my head to the side, I grinned up at Ezra. “What took you so long?” They had left before us.

Ezra lifted his own menu, his lips twitching as a waitress arrived. “Just a sec.” The waitress, who also tried to flirt with Antonio, took our orders then sauntered away, her hips sashaying. Snickering quietly at the woman’s antics, I glanced back up at Ezra for his reason. He smirked, damn near pulling me onto his lap as he re-positioned himself. “Dad had issues with me borrowing,” his dad sniffed, “a car…then, after listening to him lecture, when I did finally find one to borrow, he had issues with the vehicle itself.”

His dad’s nose rose. “He picked a…,” he blinked, “what did you call that atrocity?”

“A POS.”

His dad nodded. “Well, he tried to get me to ride in a,” he said it like it was a type, “POS.”

Antonio snorted, coughing quickly.

Cahal’s eyebrows slammed together even as Ezra and I kept stoically blank expressions while he glared at Antonio. “What?”

Antonio drummed his fingers on the table, drawling, “Do you even know what a POS is?”

Cahal’s expression didn’t change, but it was like I could see the wheels turning rapidly in his intelligent mind. His gaze narrowed slightly. A few beats later, he stated, “A piece of shit.”

“Good guess,” Antonio muttered, and then took his drink, which the waitress held out. Only his drink, and no one else’s, just so she could sashay those hips again as she left. Casually, Antonio asked, “So…what did you end up with?”

Cahal sniffed. “A Jaguar.”

This time, I chuckled and couldn’t stop it. “You guys are riding with us.”