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Seth chuckled. “That obvious, huh?”
“Well, most of my customers in here are cops anyway, but that private party group is from the local PD, for sure,” Danielle remarked. “So, how long have you been on the force?”
Seth sipped his drink and set it down. “Eight years,” he said.
“Wow. That’s a long time,” she replied. “You must really know what you’re doing now.”
He noticed Danielle’s eyes flit down to his fingers, searching for a ring. There wasn’t one. In fact, there never had been. Seth was as single as could be. He was in no hurry to change that, but he thought about it from time to time. Maybe one day, he would meet a woman who made him want to wear that ring.
Only, he had never come across any woman who could compare to the ideal in his head. And it wasn’t just some unrealistic, imaginary ideal, either. One time, years ago, there had been one spectacular woman who set the standard. The only one to ever tame him, to turn him from a player to a bona fide boyfriend. Seth couldn’t imagine there were many others like her out there in the world. He met a lot of beautiful women; Miami was teeming with them. Seth wasn’t blind, but he also wasn’t interested. Even though women caught his eye all the time, they could never hold onto his heart.
“N-Not to imply you didn’t know what you were doing before,” Danielle backtracked, taking Seth’s pause as a sign she’d offended him.
He quickly jumped back into the moment and gave her a smile.
“No worries. I know what you meant,” he assured her warmly. “Could you take me to that private room? I’m already an hour late for the party. You know how it goes.”
“Of course!” she said, coming out from behind the counter. “It’s just through that door in the back corner. Follow me.”
As Seth walked a few steps behind the bartender, he felt his phone vibrate in his coat pocket. He pulled it out to read a text message consisting of one acronym.
ETA?
Seth deftly typed back,Right now,and pressed send just as Danielle unlocked the door to the private party room. Instantly, he was bombarded with a totally different vibe than the rest of the bar. Instead of old country tunes warbling from the jukebox, this room had an in-set speaker system bumping the typical club favorites, the kind of music that could prod even the stiffest wallflower to tap his foot. The room itself was populated with seven men Seth recognized from the office, all ranging in age and type, and in various levels of intoxication.
There were a few younger beat cops taking cinnamon whiskey shots in the corner, two older officers locked in a deep, riveting discussion about firearms over a bottle of Scotch, and two men sitting on the black leather sofa. One of them was the deeply drunken star of the evening’s event: Chuck, a twenty-something desk guy with a tribal tattoo on his left biceps peeking out from his short-sleeved shirt. Seth could tell just from his slumped posture and glassy expression that he was many drinks deep and probably close to knocking out for the night. He was slurring his words and laughing in conversation with a man almost comically his opposite. This guy was in his early thirties, but with the demeanor of a man much older and more distinguished. He had short, dark brown hair, intense dark eyes, and he was built like a wrestler. This man looked relieved to see Seth come walking into the private room. Seth gave him a wink as Chuck stumbled to his feet and flung his arms wide to embrace Seth.
“There you are, man! I was startin’ to think you forgot about my bachelor party!” he slurred in Seth’s ear.
“And miss the chance to see you this messed up? Not a chance,” Seth replied.
“Finally, somebody might be able to keep up with me,” Chuck teased as he nudged the stoic-looking man beside him. “Lincoln here is a teetotaler. Did you know that?”
“I’m not a teetotaler, Chuck. I had a beer,” the older cop said in a soft, gruff voice.
Chuck snorted and clapped him on the back, hard. “See? One whole beer. What is that about? You got some deep dark past I don’t know about?” he joked.
Seth shot Lincoln an empathetic look, but the older man just looked bemused.
“Don’t worry about the past, anyway,” Seth intervened brightly. “You should be thinking about your future. I mean, that’s the whole point of tonight, right? One last celebration of freedom before you’re tied to the old ball and chain.”
“I’m sure Lindsey would love to be referred to that way,” Linc joked, totally deadpan.
“Ah, Lindsey,” Chuck sighed. “Prettiest girl I ever met. I still can’t believe she’s willing to put up with me forever.”
“Me neither.” Seth laughed good-naturedly.
“Means so much to have all the guys here tonight, you know,” Chuck remarked. “I tried to get the lieutenant to come, but he had something with his granddaughter. Lame.”
“He should’ve brought her,” Seth said and chuckled.
“She’s in kindergarten, but she’d still probably drink Linc under the table.” Chuck cackled and elbowed Linc in the ribs.
Seth idly swished his glass, hoping nobody would notice how little from it he had consumed so far. Everybody knew Linc wasn’t much of a drinker, but people were always surprised to find out that Seth felt about the same way. There was a time when he would’ve been doing shots in the corner with the beat cops, but not these days.
At just that moment, the door opened and Danielle walked in with a big smile and a tray of brightly colored shots. “Hey there, boys, anybody need a little boost?” she said, beckoning.
As soon as she laid eyes on Seth and Lincoln, she made a beeline for the two handsome men. She held up the tray and smiled, her dark eyes shining.
