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“He’s been nursing a club soda on the rocks.” The brawny guy—Dane thought he heard someone call him Brick, the name suited him—chuckled again.
Jaxson eyed him funny. “Seriously, man? How long have you been sitting here?”
Dane looked up, trying to remember the exact time he walked out of Gabriella’s apartment. He had every intention of wiping the whole ordeal out of his mind and get some work done. Except it didn’t happen as soon as he eyed the bar and noticed it was open. He’d been sitting in the same spot ever since.
“Well, don’t know what time it is, but they have delicious breakfast burritos. You should try one. Simply superb.”
Brick pulled a menu from below the bar. “We’re on supper items now. The nachos are the shit.” Then he put his fingers to his mouth and let them go as if gesturing they were delicious.
“Wow,” Jaxson muttered. Then he smiled at Brick. “We’ll take the nachos and two beers. If he’s going to sit here and sulk, then he’s going to do it the correct way.”
“It’s about damn time. First round’s on the house,” Brick said with a sly grin and pulled two beers out of thin air and set them on the counter in front of them.
Dane wanted to slap Jaxson’s hand when he snatched his club soda away and replaced it with a beer. Instead, he grabbed the bottle and took a sip. The first swallow went down smoothly. The second, third, and fourth went down a little faster than he anticipated.
Damn it.
He had tried to avoid this.
Drown his sorrows.
And over a damn woman.
“Want to share what happened?” Jaxson asked, then took his own long swallow.
At this rate, they’d be on their second round before Brick had a chance to put in the nacho order.
“Mia happened.”
Dane felt Jaxson stiffen next to him.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Dane sighed, tilting his head a little in his direction. “It means, Mia came, and nothing else mattered.”
The rigidness in Jaxson’s shoulders dissipated. He slouched as he took another pull from his beer. “They have a tight bond. Not even I’m more important to Gabby.”
This time, Dane stiffened. That made it sound like Jaxson wanted Gabby to give him more attention. But he saw the fallout of his confession last night. Did the damn asshole like both women?
Jaxson must’ve noticed the change in his demeanor because he turned. Then he suddenly clapped him on the back and smiled. “Dude, I like Mia. Only Mia. I’m just saying, as a good friend of Gabby’s, she puts Mia over anyone, even me. I’m sorry.”
Dane took another swig of his beer, nearly done with the bottle. “So, we’re sulking together now?”
Jaxson eyed his bottle, running a finger up and down the label. “I went over to Mia’s last night. She wasn’t crying anymore, I was thankful for that. But we’ve decided it’s better we stay friends and to forget I even said what I said.”
“You both decided that?” Dane couldn’t stop the laugh. Because that was some bullshit if he ever heard before.
“She decided that,” Jaxson said with a clenched jaw. “But, I’ll take her any way I can get her.”
“Yeah, because she’s Mia. Sweet, precious Mia.”
He couldn’t hide the disdain in his voice. Hell, if Jaxson wanted to sit with him and attempt to be chummy, then he’d have to deal with whatever came out of his mouth.
“What did she do to you?” Jaxson asked in a friendly voice, but Dane heard the gravel in his tone, the repressed violence just below the surface.
“She showed up this morning, and I asked hernicelynot to hurt Gabriella again.” Dane looked at him. “You don’t like it when Mia cries. Well, it breaks my goddamn heart to see one tear in Gabriella’s. I was not about to let that happen again.” He shifted his attention back to his beer. “Gabriella didn’t appreciate my support in the matter. She asked me to leave.”
Brick appeared out of nowhere with two more bottles of beer. “Nachos will be done in five. Bottoms up, champs. Second round’s on me, too.”
