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“I want to talk right now,” he says. “I saw this one at Taste earlier.” Marten points to me. “Are you dating your boss? That’s classy, Mia.”
“No,” she says. “He’s–” she trails off.
“He’s what?”
I sense movement and turn to the side. I spot five very large men coming down the sidewalk toward us. I realize it’s Jake, Jesse, Maddox, Carter, and Liam. They must’ve been in one of the other bars when Andi called.
Marten and his friends see them coming, too, and they all take an involuntary step back as my teammates gather beside me. Jake nudges me, eyes on the men. Jesse goes to Andi and puts a protective arm around her. He eases her back from the group, probably more worried about keeping her clear of a fistfight than getting to join in on the fun.
“We don’t want trouble,” one of Marten’s friends says.
“You sure?” I ask. “A minute ago, it looked like you did. As long as the trouble was four guys against four girls who were obviously trying to get away from you.”
“Marten just wants to talk to her,” the tallest of his friends says. “She’s being a bitch.”
I take a step toward him, nearly bumping him with my chest. “Watch. Your. Mouth.”
The guy meets my eyes, but he visibly swallows.
I can feel the potential energy in the air like crackling electricity.
Marten shakes his head and laughs. “My drink is getting warm in there. Come on, guys.”
The guys all step back from us again.
“I don’t want to see any of you in Taste,” I say. “Is that clear?”
Marten smirks. “You wouldn’t catch me dead in there. But my father? You’ll be seeing him and hearing from him. Trust me on that.”
“His dad is a big deal,” one of his friends adds dutifully. “Most influential food critic in the business. You picked the wrong family to fuck with, Hockey Boy.”
Marten pulls open the door and his friends file in. He gives me one last glare over his shoulder before disappearing inside.
“Wow,” Paisley says. “That was intense.” Except she’s slurring so badly she says intensh like she’s Sean Connery. “Did somebody put up a bat signal? Or do you guys only respond to hockey pucks?” Shombody, shignal, and reshpond.
“How much did she drink?” I ask.
“She’s fine,” Mia says. “We’re all fine.” She hesitates. “I appreciate that you stepped in, Nolan. But, I don’t like that you seem to be following me.”
“I wasn’t trying to,” I say.
“Come on,” Caroline says, touching Mia’s arm. “We’re lucky he was here.”
“What was that about?” Jake asks.
“That was Marten,” Mia explains. “I dated him for a while. We tried to do long distance when I was in culinary school and it didn’t really work out. He was always really paranoid and jealous and he never trusted me. So I eventually just ended things. I thought he took it well, but apparently, he found out I’m back today and didn’t take the breakup as well as I imagined.”
“What does he want?” Carter asks. “If it’s singing advice, I could help him. I heard him doing karaoke the other night and he’s not really hitting those high notes. See, the secret is underwear choice. Pick something restrictive enough to really grasp the boys and the high notes will come more naturally.”
“Shit,” Maddox says. “Is that how you do it?”
Carter grins and taps his temple. “Gotta think like a genius if you want to perform like one, big guy.”
Maddox nods, as if this is the wisest thing he’s heard all day.
“We’re going to go,” Andi says. “I’m freezing.”
“I’ll drive you,” Jesse says. “Do any of you girls need a ride home?”
