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Heavenly tensed. She wasn’t comfortable with their ruse. Clearly, Beck’s brother wasn’t, either. Even though Seth had done it to protect his mom, he hated it, too.
Swallowing his guilt, he answered carefully. “He’s hoping to. I talked to him a little bit ago. There was an emergency at the hospital, and since he was on call, he had to go in.”
Shit. Would the twins wonder why he knew where to find Beck before his own brother?
“Oh.” Zach sounded disappointed.
“Don’t worry.” Jack bumped his shoulder. “We got you, man.”
“Yeah,” Connor seconded.
Seth let out a sigh of relief that his brothers seemingly hadn’t questioned anything.
Heavenly flashed Zach a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes and changed the subject, bless her. “So, you like beer now?”
He nodded sheepishly. “It’s actually pretty good.”
“He likes vodka-Sevens, too. Don’t you?” Jack laughed, elbowing Zach in the ribs.
“Not to mention Jack and water,” Connor added with a grin. “Tequila shots. Scotch…”
Heavenly laughed. “Wow, you’re definitely expanding your horizons. Good for you, I guess.”
“Turns out, Satan’s brew isn’t bad after all,” Zach admitted. “I just don’t like hangovers.”
Seth scowled at the twins. “You boneheads didn’t teach him moderation?”
“It’s okay. I needed to learn for myself, and I did—the hard way.” Zach grimaced. “Three of anything is my limit.”
“Good plan,” Seth gave him a noncommittal reply and an imitation smile. He wanted to do better, but it was still hard to look at Zach and not see his own loss.
“Grab a plate, everyone. It’s time to eat,” Liam called.
“Thank goodness.” Heavenly pressed a hand to her stomach. “The salad I had at lunch wore off, and I’m starving.”
“Then let’s get you fed.” Seth put a hand to the small of her back.
Before they could make it to the buffet line, Jericho approached with a friendly nod. “Hi, Heavenly.”
She turned and smile. “Hi, Jericho. Nice to see you again.”
“You, too. The food here all looks good, but I admit…I’ve thought once or twice about your French toast casserole. I don’t suppose you made any today?” He winked.
“I didn’t. Sorry.”
“Well, damn.” Jericho laughed and stuck out a hand in his direction. “Seth, right?”
“Yeah.” He shook the agent’s hand. “Good to see you. I know you were involved in that Big Bear mess, but you’re Dean Gorman’s friend?” And Seth had walked right past the guy without so much as a hello the day Zach arrived at Beck’s place.
“Yep. Dean and I go way back.”
“Yeah? You from around here?” Seth made small talk, wondering why the agent had approached them.
“Born and bred. For the last few years, I’ve been working mostly in San Bernardino County, but starting next week I’ll be working the west side of LA—my old stomping grounds. I’m glad to be moving back.” He smiled. “But you don’t sound like you’re from around here.”
Seth shrugged. “You can take the guy out of New York, but…”
“You can’t take New York out of the guy. Got it.” The agent nodded and scanned the party, then he dropped his voice. “Dr. Beckman around?”
