Zac shrugged. “Considering Lexi stole your wallet in the first thirty minutes of knowing her, I think it’s understandable that you don’t trust her.”
“But it’s not just Lexi. I feel like I’ve lost my edge about everyone over the past month.” Gavin looked over at where two of his friends, Baby Bollinger and Riley Harrison, were talking at the bar. “You heard Baby has a new love interest.”
Zac nodded. “Quinn. I’ve met her. She’s been working here at lunch, right? And teaches at the local college campus?”
“Yep. Like Lexi, Quinn showed up out of the blue, and I got all suspicious.”
“Quinn didn’t actually show up out of the blue. She’s Riley’s sister.”
“I know. And she has every right to be here. But I was suspicious of her too. I talked Baby into leaving Quinn alone for a while, despite knowing how much he cared for her.”
Zac shrugged. “Nothing wrong with taking things slow.”
“But I did it because Quinn came to work here. I was convinced there was some sort of nefarious connection between her and Lexi. That they were in cahoots to scam the town or some such shit.”
Zac let out a chuckle. “What would we do without you to protect our honor from these big bad criminals, Gavin?”
Gavin sighed and took a sip of his own beer. “Probably live longer, happier lives.”
“Cut yourself some slack. You’re protecting the town. It’s what you do. Your means may be questionable, but your intentions are good.”
He glanced over at Lexi, who was carrying a tray of beers over to a table on the other side of the bar. Zac probably wouldn’t say the same if he’d seen what had happened between them a month ago.
The kiss had been an impulse, not a planned tactic to get info, but he could definitely see why she would take offense at the whole situation. He should’ve handled it better, backed off and kept the interrogation and the heat separate.
Except that heat seemed to pervade everything around them.
He was still itching to kiss her again, despite the fact that he couldn’t trust her. He wanted to get close to her to find out whatever secrets she was keeping.
But he also just wanted to get close to her.
He sat back with a sigh. The place was filling up. It was midweek, but the women were coming here for a girls’ night out, and the men were all casually hanging around to be their dance partners. Maybe focusing on them would help distract him from the fact that the next step in finding out about Lexi would be to run her prints.
That felt like a huge, suspicious-bastard overstep, even to him.
“Why don’t you just enjoy yourself tonight?” Zac said. “Don’t worry about Lexi. Don’t worry about anything. The girls will be here in a few minutes. Everyone is safe and unharmed. Let’s be thankful for that since it very nearly wasn’t the case.”
Gavin leaned back further in the booth. Zac was right. It had been a hell of a month for everyone. An accident that wasn’t an accident at all had nearly taken out Baby during an adventure race. Then the team had had an unexpected mission to Egypt to stop a terrorist and save one of their own.
“The girls deserve their night out,” Zac continued. “They may not want all us guys here, but given everything that’s happened, they’ll understand. Besides, I’m pretty sure Annie is going to be sharing our news. We decided to get married Valentine’s Day weekend off the coast of California on one of the Channel Islands. Cade is helping us out by providing a jet to get everyone there as a wedding present. So clear your calendar.”
Now that really was good news. Gavin grinned and held up his beer mug to clank it against Zac’s. “Right on, brother. That’s something to look forward to.”
They drank a sip of their brews before Zac looked up across the bar and a goofy smile fell over his face. “It’s very definitely something to look forward to.”
Gavin didn’t have to look over to see who had walked in the door. Probably a number of people, but definitely Anne Griffin. She’d been putting that goofy look on Zac’s face for nearly two years now. And Zac had helped the shy, stuttering doctor come out of her shell.
“She’s wearing her red boots, the same ones she did on our first date.” Zac stood and slapped Gavin on the shoulder. “I’m one hell of a lucky man.”
Gavin watched as Zac walked over to kiss his fiancée hello. Anne shooed him away, undoubtedly because this was supposed to be the girls’ night out. But her laughter rang out as Zac yanked her against him and dipped her to kiss her passionately, to the delighted hoots of the women around them.
It was good to see Zac happy. Hell, this place had become a certified matchmakers’ headquarters over the past couple of years. It had been amusing to watch all his fierce brothers-in-arms fall so hard and fast for their women.
At one time, he’d believed Janeen was his forever person. That was part of what had been so hard about her betrayal. The loss of that dream. He wanted someone who would tell the truth, no matter how ugly, including when he was being an asshole and needed to be put in his place.
He wanted someone he could trust.
“You doing okay?” Kendrick sat down across from Gavin and pushed an obnoxious-looking green drink in a highball glass—complete with a cherry—in front of him.
“You buying me drinks, Blaze?”
Gavin genuinely liked the younger man, despite the fact the two of them couldn’t be more different in temperament and personality. Kendrick was talkative, outgoing, and fun. Gavin, on the other hand, well hell, he was pretty much stoic and cranky.
Kendrick gave him a big, toothy grin. “I’d gladly take credit, and will buy you drinks any time you want, but this one is from the bartender.”
“Mac?”
“No, I think Mac went home. This is from your favorite new waitress.” Kendrick couldn’t seem to stop smiling. “She asked me to give it to you.”
Gavin studied the green brew. “Do you think it’s poisoned?” He was only half kidding.
“No,” Kendrick said. “I think the present of this little gem is in its name.”
“Oh yeah? And what’s that?”
“Pain in the Ass. Lexi said to make sure you got it.”
Gavin didn’t try to stop his laugh.
Pain in the Ass indeed.
7
Lexi fought back a yawn, loaded up another tray of drinks, and rushed them out to the table near the door. At this point, she was basically running nonstop to keep up with everyone’s orders.
It was a Wednesday night for crying out loud, generally their slowest night of the week. She’d sent Mac home a couple hours ago when it was still quiet.
It was generally her night off, but she’d seen at lunch today that he needed to go. The new heart medication he’d started this week had left him tired and weak as his body adjusted. He hadn’t wanted to go, but Lexi had insisted. No point in both of them being here with nothing to do when he could be at home relaxing.
Who knew that the entire Linear Tactical crew and all their significant others would show up for a night out? They were dancing to all the eighties music, and the place was packed.
Lexi certainly didn’t mind making the money—the tip jar on the bar was full to the top—but it was a lot of work for her and Amber to handle on their own.