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“Shut up,” she said. “That was nasty, whoever did it.”
Well, score one for Maria. Of the three, I had always liked her best, anyway. They were lucky I wasn’t the type to spit on their food or in their shakes. The idea was gross period, but I had to admit, it made me smile.
Throughout the rush though, the guys never left and Rachel held up her end of the counter, and it was like I had two bastions of safety in the place because I had begun to dread every table I approached. Some had smirks. Some snickered. Still, others didn’t seem to give a damn one way or the other.
Not that it made me feel much better.
The fact all four of them were waiting for me when I walked out of Mason’s was enough to pull a tired smile. I don’t think I’d ever been this exhausted. Coop leaned against the back of my car, while the other three stood, forming a loose circle.
“There she is,” Ian said, stretching out an arm, and I slid against him as he wrapped it around my shoulders and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “You look beat.”
“I am beat,” I admitted. “I think even the aches on my feet have aches.”
“You were running your ass off,” Archie said. “How you feeling otherwise?”
“Tired.” I leaned into Ian for another sweet moment, and then made myself straighten up. “Now I still have homework to do and cats to herd.”
Coop snorted at the herding comment, but it was Jake whose gaze I caught. I could see the question in his eyes. Did I want him to come over? I did and I didn’t. But all the reasons I did were about me, and all the reasons I didn’t were about what other people had been doing.
So tonight, I was picking me and I nodded. He gave me a small thumbs up and a smile.
“Go home, call or text when you get there?” Ian asked, and I nodded. He brushed a kiss to my forehead before he let me go.
“I’m hitching with you,” Coop said as he headed for the passenger seat. Archie snorted, then stole a hug and pressed a kiss just behind my ear.
“Call me if anything else goes wrong,” he said, and it was in this stern voice. “Or if you just need to talk. Capiche?”
I gave him a little shove. “I’ll be fine, thank you for everything today. You were a hero.”
“Heh,” he said, his grin growing. “See, I was a hero.”
Rolling my eyes, I added, “Coop was a hero, too.”
“I offered to blow off practice,” Jake argued.
“I know,” I soothed giving him a sideways hug. “You and Ian are heroes, in my book. All of you are.”
“Well, fine, I’ll share the title with them,” Archie grumbled, but his grin didn’t diminish. “Go on, sleeping beauty, go get some rest. We’ll see you in the morning.”
“Yep. Thank you again, Archie.”
Neither Jake nor I mentioned Jake coming over.
Ian peeled off for his bike, and Archie slid into his car. Jake waited for them to start moving before he said, “Pizza? Chinese? What are you in the mood for?”
“Wings,” I admitted. “Spicy barbecue wings.”
“Got it.” He grinned. “Be there soon.”
“I’ll leave the door unlocked, I need a shower.”
“And now I have incentive to hurry.” His grin grew, and I laughed.
“That wasn’t quite what I meant.”
He winked, but didn’t argue.
On the drive home, Coop didn’t waste time. “I want to say something, and I want you to listen to it. Then I want you to think about it before you respond, okay?”
