Watching Austin work is soothing the turmoil inside my head. When he’s walking through a crime scene he rarely talks, though I know for a fact it’s loud in his head, but I let him do his thing. He did mention he wanted my help but he doesn’t need it.
But what I needed was the simple fact of being around a friend. A friend who handles everything with precision and rarely thinks he’s wrong. And he wasn’t wrong with knowing exactly what I needed today.
It’s late afternoon when we stop at a diner to grab something to eat. I’m still wearing the huge black raincoat and cap–allowing me to hide my crappy appearance–when we order burgers and fries.
“Thank you for today,” I tell him in all sincerity.
Austin rises one of his eyebrows. “For taking you along to a fresh crime scene? The dead body did it for you then, huh?”
We lean back to let the waitress place our food in front of us. I cringe as I glance at my burger and tell Austin, “I’m sure it was the maggots crawling out of his mouth.”
Austin chuckles. “That’ll do it. But you’re welcome to join me any time, Bee.”
“You’re only saying that because I don’t answer the questions you ask out loud to yourself.” He really doesn’t ask for answers, it’s more him trying to think things over but a lot of people talk to him during his brain process and it annoys the shit out of him.
“You know me too well,” he says and shoves a fry into his mouth, checking his phone for the third time since we got here.
“Finally found a girl?” I ask and point at his phone.
He gives a little shake with his head. “Girls get annoyed with me. I’m waiting for results of the DNA they found for another case I’m working on. They’re a little backed-up but they promised to give me priority and get me the results as soon as possible.”
“It’s nice to have contacts,” I murmur and a thought strikes me. “Are there multiple facilities they can send DNA to? Different districts usually send it all to one place, right?”
Austin nods with a mouthful of burger and I make a mental note to check something when I get home. I glance out of the window and notice Archer across the street, talking to a woman. Not just any woman; Zuri.
She reaches out to pat his chest. Archer shakes his head and takes a step back. Zuri turns on her heel and walks into a store. Archer keeps staring at the store while I hear Austin clear his throat.
“That woman wants more from your man. But the look on his face is one of frustration and annoyance,” he easily supplies.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I grumble.
Archer crosses the street and heads for the diner.
“You told him we were here?” I question.
“I texted him when we left my office. He said he’d meet us here and bring you home.”
I grab my chocolate milkshake and point it at Austin. “Queenie is still at my parents’ house and I was hoping we’d go there first.”
“Sorry, chicken. Your parents let me know they will take Queenie for the night. And you never said a thing but my phone has been on overdrive with answering texts from different people concerning you. Needless to say, you’re more needed than you think. And the fact you forgot your phone when you made coffee priority.” He holds out his hand, palm up. “Coffee is priority, even more so on a shitty day. But like this fucker here.” He points at Archer who is standing next to me. “It’s all right to have a bad day, but remember to live and let live: you don’t need to take the world on with just your shoulders to support it while you have a bunch of people who wouldn’t think twice to come running. People are always there to lend a hand, folks. You have a mouth on you, use it.”
Austin stands and touches my nose with the tip of his finger, instantly annoying me because he used to do that when we were kids.
“Thanks for the help and the company today,” he says and directs his attention to Archer to add, “At least one biker acknowledges her worth when it comes to asking her for help on active cases, even if it’s not from the MC she’s a part of.”
Archer rumbles a low growl in his chest but Austin is already walking away, leaving me to mutter my goodbyes against his back. Archer sits down across from me and his eyes widen but before he can reach out, I wave his concerns away.
“I’m fine, let me eat so we can go home. I’m not like Austin who can inhale his food, did he even pay for it, or did he leave the bill for you to pay? It would be just the thing he’d do to annoy you some more.” I know I’m rambling to avoid discussion.
“I fell right back into handling everything myself,” Archer grumbles and rubs a hand over the back of his neck. “Even if I said I’d change and hand things over to others. Dammit.”
“And I fell right back into the same routine myself without doing things for me. I guess it’s a routine that’s hard to break while it’s breaking me up inside from time to time, making me feel sorry for myself while I have loads to be thankful for.”
Archer shakes his head. “No fucking way. It’s life kicking your legs out from under you and making you painfully aware of the fact you have to pace yourself before you completely absorb in everything else, forgetting what matters most.”
I point at my face. “I know about the painfully aware part.”
Archer grimaces. “Not funny, Bee. It hurts my fucking heart to see the pain on your face and knowing I had a part in screwing up.”
“You didn’t do this. Neither of us is to blame. It’s easy to fall back into a routine.” My shoulders sag. “You have–”
“Don’t start with reciting my responsibilities since you and Queenie come first, but my flaw will always be to handle everything myself. It’s just easier for me to know jobs are handled correctly while I should hand them off because my brothers can carry the load too. And I know it’s because I had to take the gavel at a point where Broken Deeds MC had to prove themselves again. Not to mention, Galen’s murder, and you and I…see? Now I’m reciting it. Fuck. Can we add more time in one day? I think that’s the solution.”
I can’t help but snort. “Right. Then I’ll take that time to clean and do some more laundry while you take more tasks or ink some more clients. The roads never end, Archer…I guess we can only pace ourselves every once in a while to stop racing.”
He reaches over the table and feathers his fingertips over my bruised face. “Or stop from colliding.”
“Yeah,” I croak. “That especially.”
We keep staring at each other when Archer suddenly says, “Baton was right. The mayor’s daughter has a stalker. We found out the apartment across the street from hers was rented to someone who doesn’t exist. The whole room was filled with pictures of her and a telescope was aimed right into her bedroom.”
“Yikes. Now what?”
“The mayor arranged for her to leave the country while we try to find out who her stalker is.”
My heart hurts for Baton. “How’s he doing?”
Archer winces. “He’s pissed since I ordered him to stay put instead of following her out of the country. I called in a favor and made sure only one person knew where she’s going, giving us the peace of mind to know she’s safe while we handle it quickly so she can return home.”