"We can't tell Smurf that Y/N makes better meatloaf than her." Craig spoke around a mouthful of food, chewing loudly.
Everyone, even Pope, laughed. Well, everyone except Baz. He glared at me from across the table and I ignored him, snuggling in closer to J's side while he curled his hand over my hip, holding me against him.
"Nah, but I'll be telling everyone that she got Craig to eat a fucking salad." Deran took a swig of his beer, smirking across the table at his brother.
Craig threw a slice of tomato at him. "Hey, fuck you! It was doused in ranch."
"Still counts as a salad." Pope confirmed with a nod.
Baz looked at the three of them, mouth in a firm line. "Jesus, will you guys shut the fuck up?"
I looked around the table at the Cody men. They were all leaned back in their chairs, well fed and slightly buzzed on whatever their poison was. I'd just served them a nice meal, made easy conversation, and not once did anyone bring up the job that was about to be done.
I'd made it clear to J that I didn't want to know anything about the family business. He was my boyfriend, the love of my life, and I'd always be there to care for him before and after a job. But I wanted to know the bare minimum. I'd rather be left in the dark than find out how dangerous of a situation it was. If I spent every day and night worrying about J and the jobs he pulled with his family, our relationship would never survive. I'd get too paranoid, he'd get too frustrated. I loved him too much to risk our relationship like that.
So, we made a deal. I'd make all of them a nice dinner, stay at the house that night to watch Lena, and the boys weren't allowed to discuss any job details at the dinner table. It had been that way for over a year and I couldn't remember the last time one of them slipped up.
Smurf, of course, never would have allowed me to have that much control. But she was serving five years after pleading guilty to manslaughter, making a deal that if she confessed she would only serve the minimal amount of jail time. So for the next four years, things would go my way and she'd stay locked in her cell.
Everything was going smoothly. The boys considered me a part of the family and J kept referring to me as his little housewife. I told him to stop, I said that I hated it. But it was a blatant lie. I'd be lucky to be the little housewife of J Cody.
After all this time, it seemed that the only person who had a real issue with me was Baz. Not that it mattered, I liked the man about as much as he liked me. I was polite, smiled at him when he glared at me, and never excluded him from meals. But after finding out that Baz told J he was nothing more than the product of rape, I never looked at him the same. I could never respect a man who could go around saying things like that. He was a father, for fuck's sake.
I could feel his eyes on me and looked over to find the man I probably hated most in this world looking at me in a way that screamed pure, unbridled hatred. I smiled before turning back to J and kissing his cheek. "Help me with the dishes?"
He looked down at me for a moment before smiling and nodding. Craig laughed before draining what was left of his beer. "Yeah, help her with the dishes, honey." He turned to his brothers. "Yo, I'm out for a bit. I'll be back."
Baz was already shaking his head as Craig walked towards the garage. "Hey! Hey, Craig... no coke."
In response, Craig flipped him off over his shoulder.
"Seriously," Pope followed suit in his monotonous tone. "No coke."
Deran leaned back in his chair and briefly looked up at the sky before standing and following his brother. "Fuck. Fine. I'll be the one to make sure he isn't too high. Again."
