Page 16 of Hard Rain

Another voice followed before he even located the first speaker. “About damn time. You bring trouble with you again?”

Axel huffed quietly beside him.

Whip’s lips twitched.

Five seconds inside and half the room already had opinions. Some things never changed. He’d take it.

Because this bar right here?

This was home.

A couple guys near the dartboards lifted beers toward them while one older woman behind the bar pointed directly at Axel.

“You still breakin’ furniture when you lose pool games?”

“One time, Carrie. One time,” Axel shot back automatically.

“Bullshit,” three people answered together.

Whip laughed under his breath while Axel glared at the entire room like he was considering homicide.

Nobody looked remotely concerned by Axel’s expression. Not one damn person in the room even blinked.

Somebody near the dartboards yelled, “Hell froze over. Tauber’s voluntarily in the bar before midnight.”

“Your tab’s still unpaid, Randy,” Whip called back automatically.

Laughter rolled through the room.

Axel barely made it three steps before somebody else pointed toward the state championship plaque hanging behind the bar.

“Bain! You still hittin’ people like a damn freight train?”

Axel cracked his knuckles. “Builds character.”

“Breaks bones,” somebody yelled immediately.

Whip snorted and ducked behind the bar, grabbing two beers from the cooler beneath the counter.

The back-office door swung open behind him.

Retired U.S. Marshal, Wade “Crash” Tauber stepped out carrying a ledger book beneath one arm.

“Bout time you showed up,” Crash grunted toward Whip automatically.

Whip slid one beer onto the counter. “Missed you too.”

People still underestimated his father because of the gray threaded through his hair.

That usually lasted right up until Crash looked at them. Age had settled onto him like worn leather instead of weakness. Broad shoulders still strained the faded Henley beneath his flannel, and his rough, scarred hands looked capable of sanding wood bare. Old injury stiffness touched his left knee for exactly one step before disappearing beneath habit.

Then Crash’s sharp gaze landed on Axel.

“Well,” he drawled. “Look what the rain dragged back in.”

Axel snorted softly. “Good to see you too, Crash.”

Crash grunted like that covered enough sentiment for everybody involved.