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“Joy, what are you doing down here?”

It was Ava, shouting from halfway down the block. She was with her man, Brent. She was all tricked out, and I’d bet my bottom dollar she was out for a night of clubbing.

Joy waved but didn’t yell back an answer. Instead, she looked up at me and tugged at my hand, making it clear she wanted to go to Ava, not to my truck. I was putty in her hands.

Literally.

We walked their way, and Ava bounced toward us.

“This is great luck,” Ava enthused as she caught Joy up in a hug. “You’ve got to come with us. We’re meeting everybody over at Louey’s. It’s karaoke night. It’s going to be a blast.”

I looked at Brent and saw that his look of pain matched mine.

“I don’t know, Ava. It’s going to be too loud to really talk to one another,” Joy protested.

“What it’s going to be is fun. That’s one syllable. Three letters. F-U-N. Fun! Come on, Joy, you’ll love it.”

Before I knew it, Ava had her arm linked with Joy’s and was pulling her down the street.

“Fuck,” I muttered.

“My thought exactly.” Brent nodded. “But at least Roan, Simon, and Hart will be there.”

“They will?”

“Yep.”

“Well, then it won’t be a total bust.”

“Plus, get three shots of tequila in Ava, and my night is made.” Brent grinned. “But any more than that, and the window closes.”

I watched Joy as she and Ava walked ahead of us. The way her heels made her ass sway was killing me. “I don’t know Joy’s window yet.”

“You don’t? I’m surprised. You’re moving kind of slow, my friend.”

“Joy’s a little jumpy. I don’t want to rush her. I want to make sure she feels safe with me.”

“Safe?” Brent gave me a long look. “Do you think something’s happened to her in the past?”

“I’m not sure, but she shows some signs of past trauma. I just don’t want to push her.”

“Well, she hasn’t said anything to the girls, 'cause Ava would have told me in a heartbeat.”

Of that, I had no doubt. “It could be nothing,” I admitted.

“No,” Brent disagreed. “You’re like Simon. You led a team of SEALs. You’d know. I trust your gut. But if she’s your destiny, this slow shit must be killing you.”

He was right about that. But if my girl needed slow, then that’s what she’d get, and I told Brent that. “Well, good luck,” Brent said, clapping my shoulder as we followed our women to Louey’s.

When we got inside the bar, it was packed to capacity.

“Follow me, everybody,” Ava ordered. “Roxie texted me where their table is.”

“You tell me where it is,” Brent told her. “I’ll clear the way.”

She looked up at her man and grinned. “Sounds good.”

I positioned Joy behind Ava so that the women were between us. When we got to the table, I saw that somehow, they had procured chairs for us. What’s more, the table was close to the stage.