Page 65 of Dreadful

When Bishop doesn’t offer his, Cruz says, “Bishop’s father was a wave.” Cruz prompts him. “Well?”

“Beautiful when he rolled in, destructive when he left,” Bishop says before taking another drink before setting his glass down.

Rafe sets his glass down. “What are we going to do about retaliation?”

The last of my smile disappears as I sink farther into my chair.

“Fucking finally,” Bishop mutters.

Coco swirls her glass, the ice cubes clinking together. “Troy, honey, can you run to the store for everything we’d need for sangria? I’d love to make a batch for everyone tonight.”

Troy stares at her, and something passes between them. He folds his napkin and drops it on the table as he stands up. “Sure thing. I’ll be back.” He strolls out the back gate, whistling a familiar tune.

Rafe leans forward, bracing his forearms against the edge of the table. “They came into our fucking house.”

Nobody has to ask who they are.

“And they paid for that with their lives,” Coco answers smoothly.

“Ten men, Ma,” Gage says. “A few, we can easily explain away. But ten?” He shakes his head.

My gaze flicks toward him before sliding to Rafe, catching on the dark bruise peeking out beneath his shirt again.

I didn’t realize it was ten people. Nausea swirls inside my gut, and my dinner threatens to come up.

“And they'll know that by now,” Coco says. “Devil's Hand sent men here to kill my family, and every one of them disappeared. You think Crowe doesn't understand what happened?”

“So, what? We just wait for him to send more?” Cruz asks, tipping his head toward the sky.

Coco gives him a look. “Of course not, honey. We’re going to take care of it.”

Rafe's eyebrows lift. “You want us to kill an entire club?”

Coco lifts a shoulder. “If that’s what it takes to keep this family safe.”

“Jesus Christ, Coco, you’re talking about mass murder,” Cruz says, with emphasis.

She looks around the table. “Would you rather us sit and wait for when they come knocking next? We got lucky last night, but your brother nearly didn’t.” She gestures to Bishop.

My gaze zeroes in on the angry red line across his throat.

“And dropping another twenty bodies is going to bring every fucking agency in California to it,” Bishop says. “There will be no family if we’re all dead or locked up.”

Rafe looks at her. “Unless you got Feds in your back pocket too, they’ll be here soon.”

“No, absolutely not,” Gage says, shaking his head. “I’m not spending the rest of my life in prison because you don’t want to share Hollow Beach.”

“What do they even want? Did you set a meet?” Cruz asks.

My muscles tense, and it takes everything inside me not to look at Rafe or show the panic clawing its way out of my gut right now.

Coco's gaze moves slowly between her sons before settling on Rafe. “Crowe isn’t too interested in anything I have to say anymore.”

I can feel the tension radiating off of Rafe like heatwaves. “I’ve atoned for that accident for years. Crowe was never gonna be satisfied with our terms. He was biding his time.”

“Maybe,” she says with a slow nod. “Regardless, they made their move yesterday, and they lost men doing it. Now they know we're coming for them. That buys us something.”

“Time?” I ask.