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“And yet the regrets are still there.” Greg sighed and ran one hand through his wavy reddish/brown hair. “You recall the foster kid Jordan and Theresa took in, the young girl they talked about?”
“No.” But of course, he did. He remembered way too much of his years as an agent. Jordan once showed him a school picture of the cute blonde whose large blue eyes dominated a small face.
“Stubborn ass. Anyway, she’s in need of a safe place to hang for a while after an attack at a job site. They’re asking us to take her in until they know what’s going on, if she was the target or just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Devin shook his head. “No. They can find someone else.”
“It’ll only be for a few weeks,” Greg persisted. “And we’re about as far off the grid from Philadelphia as you can get.”
Pushing off the rail, he leveled an angry glare toward his best friend. “No, and God damn it, you know why.” He turned and took two steps toward the doors, intending that to be the end of it since he refused to go down that road again.
Greg’s next words halted him with his hand on the knob. “I’m thinking of saying yes.”
Devin looked back and replied coolly, “You do that, but leave me out of it.” Storming back inside, he went straight to the bar and ordered a beer from Caden.
Handing him the cold bottle, Caden’s shrewd eyes took in his disgruntled face. “Having a bad evening?”
He took a long pull on the cold brew before answering, “Not until just now. If you want, I can spell you early.” It had pleased him and Greg when the owners of the club invited them to act as monitors, which included keeping an eye on the lighter scenes that took place on the lower level while tending bar. The offer signaled their trust in Devin and Greg. None of them knew about the tragedy that ended their FBI careers on a sour note.
“I’ve only put in twenty minutes but if you’re willing to step in, go for it.”
“That works for me, too, Master Devin,” Sydney called out from the other side, her green eyes sparkling with excitement.
An amused grin tugged at his lips. Caden’s girl possessed a knack for getting herself into trouble and a straightforward, irrepressible charm that was hard not to like. “Looks like my timing is good.” Striding toward the end of the circular bar, he lifted the hinged end of the top and beckoned Caden forward. “Go, take care of your wife. I’ve got this.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.” Caden paused as he went to move past Devin. “Let me know if you need anything.”
He nodded, reading between the lines. “Thanks.”
Taking a position behind the bar, Devin spotted Greg coming back inside. The tenseness in his shoulders eased as Greg headed toward him without hesitation. Their friendship dated back twenty-five years and in all that time, neither of them had allowed their differences to put a dent in their close bond.
“I thought you wanted to scene together tonight,” Greg said, bracing his hands against the bar.
“And I thought you had more sense than to consider taking another protective duty job.” Just the thought of being responsible for keeping someone safe from an unknown threat again produced a ball of nausea in his gut. One failure along those lines was enough.
“They don’t even know if she’s a target. Hell, Devin, we didn’t need to meet her or see the McAllisters with her to know how overprotective they were and apparently still are.” Devin folded his arms in what Greg dubbed his brick wall stance, refusing to listen. Throwing up his hands, Greg snapped, “Fine. I’ll change the subject. Do you want me to wait for you?”
“No, go ahead. I’m not in the mood tonight.”
Shaking his head, Greg muttered, “Stubborn ass,” and shifted his green eyes to scan the room for a needy sub.
“We’ve already established that.” Brett and Sue Ellen strolled up to the bar and Devin turned his attention to the couple that still appeared happy with wedded bliss after almost two decades. “Master Brett, what can I get you two?” The twenty-four-seven Dom/sub lifestyle the two were committed to kept him from asking Sue Ellen directly. It wouldn’t be an easy relationship to maintain for that long, and was one Devin himself wouldn’t care for, but who wouldn’t envy their obvious devotion and the contentment always reflected on their faces?
Brett smiled and flicked one of his wife’s pierced nipples left bare by the leather chest harness that crisscrossed around her breasts with two short straps hooked to the attached collar. “Sue Ellen has grown fond of screwdrivers, and I’ll take a beer. How’s it going tonight, Dev?” He cast a questioning look toward Greg who walked past them leading Mindy toward the stairs.
“We’re big boys,” Devin drawled with a crooked smile as he poured orange juice in a tall glass before adding a shot of vodka. “We can, and often do hook up separately.” He and Greg had favored ménages ever since a horny college girl invited them both up to her room one night following a frat party. Being the equally horny, red-blooded young guys they were, they never thought to turn her down. Thanks to Becky Dalton, they had discovered the thrill of teaming up together and were still indulging their penchant for threesomes fifteen years later.
“I know. I was referring to the disgruntled look Greg just aimed your way.” Brett took the beer Devin handed over and sipped before saying, “It’s not often he looks put out.”
No, between the two of them, Greg was easier going, slower to rile than Devin. But push him too far and his anger wasn’t a quiet rumble like his but a loud explosion that would send a smart person stumbling back until he cooled off. “He and I are disagreeing on something.” He shrugged. “We’ll work it out.”
“Oh my God, Master Brett, you have to tell me where you bought Sue Ellen’s harness,” Nan exclaimed as she and Dan joined them. “Does it have hooks in the back too?”
Sue Ellen giggled at her enthusiasm for the fetish attire and looked up at her husband, seeking silent permission to speak. Brett nodded with an indulgent smile, twirling his finger for her to turn and show the other couple the different possibilities of her new gift. Talking to Dan, he fingered the metal ring behind the neck and then the one in the center of the back strap. “Two different loops to hook cuffed hands to in back as well as the center D ring in front of the collar.”
Dan yanked Nan in front of him and reached around to cup her bare breasts and tug on her clamped nipples. Somewhere along the way, he had divested her of the PVC dress, leaving her wearing only a black, leather thong. Devin leaned against the backside of the bar and watched the two couples converse, admitting to the benefits of two people knowing each other well. Even though he and Greg were strictly heterosexual, their long-lasting friendship held some of the same benefits as a committed couple, such as having someone who knew when to push, and when to back off.
Sighing, he glanced up at the loft and, even in the dim lighting, caught a glimpse of Greg binding Mindy on the St. Andrew Cross. The two of them met in middle school in Bozeman after Devin’s father died and his mother moved them to Montana to live with her parents on the family ranch. Greg had helped him acclimate to being the new kid, taught him to ride, herd cattle and skip stones over water when they discovered they were neighbors. Growing up in Phoenix, those activities were as foreign to a city boy as the French language he had struggled to learn.
