And So It Begins... Part V: An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

And So It Begins…

Part V

An R.L. Mathewson

“It’s just that,” and this is where Mikey paused, “I feel like this isn’t going to end well,” she said, looking thoughtful as they watched Devin, who looked really pissed, as he was escorted to the front door.

“You’re not getting out of this,” Jason told her as he watched Trevor head back to get more fried chicken.

“That’s his third time,” Sebastian said, narrowing his eyes on his father as he watched his every move.

“Fourth,” Mikey said, sounding bored as she pulled a baseball out of the sweatshirt that he could have sworn was Sebastian’s and began rolling it between her hands only to sigh heavily when Jason plucked the ball out of her hands and gestured for her to get on with it.

“But I’m not hungry,” Mikey mumbled sadly only to sigh, mutter under her breath, and-

“God, you’re mean!”

-shoved Sebastian off the bench with a mumbled, “Fine,” making sure to sound put out as she headed back to the line while Jason looked around, taking in all the Bradfords trying to blend in as he tried to figure out the weak link.

There was Arik glowering in the corner, Reese sitting on the other side of restaurant, glaring at him over a plate of ribs, his father was a few tables away doing the same, while Lucifer, Aidan, and Darrin glared at each other as they all moved to get up only to stop and slowly sit back down when they realized that they were all trying to go back up to get more food at the same time, none of them willing to do anything that would put an end to this.

They were all amateurs, Jason thought as his secret weapon walked back to the table with two plates overflowing with so many delicious morsels. She placed the plates on the table, climbed over Sebastian and settled back in with her baseball while Jason grabbed his fork with a satisfied sigh and dug in.

This was a good plan, Jason had to admit as he glanced across the table at Sebastian as he dug into the huge pile of macaroni cheese that Mikey put on his plate. Jason couldn’t believe that he’d never thought of this before, but now that he knew that it worked, he couldn’t help but think of all the possibilities…

In the past, he’d brought his incredibly beautiful wife with him, but his little grasshopper had never been able to give him the kind of cover that Mikey did. Mikey was absolutely perfect. She was small, adorable, and didn’t get easily spooked, making her absolutely perfect for this. No one looked at her twice when she grabbed more food than she could handle. To them, she was just another adorable little girl grabbing too much food and they were the kind, considerate souls ensuring that none of that food went to waste by eating it for her.

Thanks to her, they only needed to go up once, maybe twice, an hour to grab food while the rest of the men in his family were forced to sit there, biding their time as they waited between plates, trying not to draw attention to themselves and risk anyone figuring out that they were Bradfords. It was a good strategy, but unfortunately, it had never worked in the past.

Sooner or later, one of them was going to break and when they did…

They’d better not take him down with them.