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“What the heck, Aine?” said Tara as soon as they were gone. “You should’ve seen the look on your face when I mentioned Striker. Are you seeing both of them?”
Ava stepped forward and put her hand on Tara’s arm. “It wasn’t an easy breakup for my sister. Maybe you could scale it back a bit.”
Aine didn’t like the look on their friend’s face. Tara raised her chin as though Ava had just issued a challenge. She’d seen her in action and knew that once she set her sights on a man, she rarely failed at gaining their interest.
She would literally die if Striker hooked up with Tara, but what could she do? If she asked her friend not to go after him, it would lead to a conversation about her and Stuart that she didn’t want to have. Aine had no doubt that Tara would call her out on claiming both men, and there was no guarantee she wouldn’t do it in front of either of them.
“Speak of the devil,” Pen said when she saw Striker walking up to the front door.
“I’ll get it,” Tara offered.
Aine looked at Ava, who rolled her eyes and mouthed, “Sorry.”
—:—
Striker wasn’t sure what he’d just walked into, but the tension in the house’s entryway was as thick as bay area fog.
“I’m here to meet with Razor,” he said when all four women looked at him.
“He’s downstairs,” Ava told him, adding, “with Stuart,” when he walked away.
Maybe that’s why they were all staring at him. Did they think he’d cause a scene?
After his conversation with Merrigan, Striker was even more determined not to pull Aine into his DNA clusterfuck. She hadn’t agreed, but saying the words out loud to someone who knew him as well as Fatale did, had allowed him to let his guard down and talk from an emotional place rather than just state the facts he’d shared with the stranger on the plane and Razor.
“Hey, Striker,” said Razor when he walked into the workout room where he was talking to Stuart. He’d noticed when he walked by that the office door was closed.
“Hello, Stuart,” he said, determined not to be as much of an asshole as he’d been the other times he was around the plumber.
The man stepped forward and shook his hand, but didn’t say anything.
“Is Mercer here yet?” Striker asked.
“Negative. Should be soon, though. I’m sure Quinn is champing at the bit to see Penelope and Tara.”
Striker nodded. “Is our meeting still on?”
“Sure is.” Razor looked at the plumber. “Don’t want to be rude, but today is a work day for us.”
“Not a problem.”
Striker watched Stu head up the stairs, and followed Razor into the office. “What the hell is going on?”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe it was my imagination.”
“Oh, you mean the conversation taking place upstairs?”
“Crickets when I walked in.”
Razor laughed. “That’s because you were the hot topic when I rescued Stuart and brought him down here.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, there aren’t that many of us who are still single, and you’re one of the only bachelors here this weekend.”
Striker scrubbed his face. “Fuck.”
