“Or you can make Cowboy take it to Bryn when we’re ready,” Liam adds.
“Thanks Nate.” Bryn completely ignores Liam but looks around the rest of the table. “Anyone else need anything?”
“Your boy might need a towel. Or a mop. I think that’s drool on the floor,” Luke chimes in, grunting when Hailey hits him in the shoulder. “Ow. What? You recall all the shit these assholes gave me when I showed up still in love with you? This is like payback.”
Bryn’s hand touches my forearm, pulling my awareness back to her. Goosebumps race up my arm at the contact. The first real contact she’s initiated between us, minus me lying on her massage bed with a hard-on.
“I’ll bring you that beer in a minute.”
Giving her a nod, there isn’t anything in the world that could stop me from turning to watch her walk away. While I hadn’t looked prior, cowboy boots adorn her feet, covering most of her calf muscles. But the backs of her knees and a partial thigh view have me biting my bottom lip to keep from groaning out loud.
God damn, is she ever sexy.
“I told you he’s fucked,” Liam announces to someone at the table. A second later I realize it’s Luke, and possibly Quinn, as he holds out a hand, gesturing to both of them. “You owe me twenty bucks.”
Incredulous, I glance between the three of them. “You guys made bets?”
Hailey reaches over the empty chair between us and pats myforearm as I take my seat again, dropping my hat back on my head. “Ignore them. It’s what they do.”
“Twenty bucks says he’s in on all our bets within the first month,” Liam crows to Hailey.
Her head tilts towards Liam, and then she looks back to me. A silent conversation passes between us as she gauges whether I’ll place a bet within the first month. Me knowing about their bet fucks one of them in the long run, and she wants to know which, something Liam doesn’t seem to care about. How he failed to see the logic means I want to have a poker night with him sooner than later.
I give her the subtlest nod of my head.
Hailey smiles at Liam. “You’re on.”
“You’re an idiot,” Brody says to Liam from beside me, taking a swig of his beer, the first thing he’s said since I got here.
“Never mind that,” I say to the table, holding out my hand. “Let me see that video.”
“Why? You want to post it?” Liam smirks.
“Maybe,” I shrug, then grin at him. “It’ll go great with my get ready with me from tonight.”
And just as I planned, I cue the laughter that erupts around the table.
“Your hunch was correct, Brody,” Nate says from his place beside Liam.
Twenty minutes after dinner, Nate stole Jordan’s chair while she was in the bathroom and Luke came to sit beside me. Boys at one end, girls at the other, and we’ve been like that for an hour.Part of me wishes I could have switched with Liam, just to have a better view of the bar where I know Bryn has been back and forth all night, but it’s probably for the best. Everyone has ribbed the two of us enough without me staring at her endlessly.
“Arson?” Brody raises a brow while raising his beer to his lips.
When Nate nods, I ask, “The fire from yesterday?”
Nate nods again, and I lean back in my chair, eyes bouncing between him and Brody. Though the tension lingered long into our shift, it seems diffused today. Maybe they both really had just missed their Wheaties.
“I talked to Tyson from six—you guys know him?” I say, all eyes turning in my direction. When Nate smirks, eyes darting to Savanna, I recall the conversation in the club. Right. Of course they do. “He double checked, and sure enough, that fire I was telling you guys about was also deemed arson.”
“Yeah, I looked into it,” Nate responds, running a hand through his hair, then looks to Brody. “Looks like the same patterns. I flagged it and called Tina. Turns out Station One and Four also had similar fires.”
“Who’s Tina?” I ask.
“Fire investigator friend of Nate’s,” Luke says from beside me.
Liam spins his beer glass on the table. “Could be a coincidence.”
“It’s not,” Brody states, jaw set, muscles working as he grinds his teeth. “You know it isn’t.”
