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“He’s in the area. He can meet you at the station.” He scanned Race and Branston. “I’m assuming that’s where you’re going, right?”
Branston sighed. “Yes. We’re here to do our jobs. An assault happened, so we’ll be taking him in.”
My teammate gave a nod before joining the rest of the team.
Race asked, “What about your car?”
I shrugged. “I can get it later.” But I was seeing how he was studying it and remembered his other vocation he’d considered once upon a time. “You mentioned custom race cars?”
“My dad had a shop, worked on bikes, but I don’t know. I always liked the car part of it.”
“If you ever think of doing that, I’ll invest.”
His attention jerked back to me. “Yeah?”
I nodded, knowing what my gut was telling me. “Yeah.”
“Thanks, Zeke. I might take you up on that offer.”
“Okay,chicas, not to break up your future business deal, but we need to go.” Branston held his hand out to me. “Give me your keys. I’ll drive it to the station for you.”
I handed them over. “Thanks, man.”
Branston jerked his head toward their squad car. “Pretend you’re handcuffed and get inside.”
I opened my mouth.
He shook his head. “And don’t be a smartass. We both know it’s not the first time you’ve been in the back of a cop car.”
I couldn’t help myself. “First time where you’re supposed to be in the driver’s seat.”
He snorted, before shaking his head and heading off to my vehicle.
Race drove instead, and once we were on the way, he glanced back in the rearview mirror. “You’re really in love, Zeke?”
I could let myself think about it, about what I did, what I had no problem doing, and what I’d do again, all because he was talking dirty about my woman. It wasn’t my first time in a fight. Hell. Blaise used to start fights all the time and I’d wade in, but how it happened, how I just swung without batting an eye, that was out of the ordinary for me. Or it was now.
“Yeah, man.” Ava. Just the thought of her was making me smile. “I’m in love.”
I grunted, letting my head fall back against the headrest. “Fuck.”
18
AVA
Zeke never showed. Some of his teammates came into Manny’s, gave me looks, but remained on the restaurant side of the place. I frowned but kept working, though I checked my phone. Zeke had said he was going to come over after their game. There were no calls, no texts.
It was a little after ten when the side door opened, and in came Heather Jax, or Monroe since she’d taken her husband’s last name. She wasn’t alone. Her alone wouldn’t have sent alarms going through me since she was my boss, had been in some varying way since I was a teenager. She owned Manny’s along with her brother, but she came in, saw me, and headed right for me. Behind her was her sister-in-law, Bren Monroe.
Bren was also one of the most beautiful women I’d known growing up, with dark hair, large doe-like eyes. I knew she had a reputation of being fierce and primal, like a wolf, which had been what her crew was once called. The Wolf Crew. I went to school in Roussou, but I’d not been a part of the crew system.
She and Heather together made sense. They were family. Heather owned the place. No reason for alarm…but they weren’t alone. Tasmin Ryerson was also with them. Blaise’s sister. She was the other brother’s twin, but all three of them shared the same good looks. Tawny hazel eyes. Naturally tan. Beautiful golden blonde hair.
All three together, all three looking my way, and my heart sank a little.
Zeke and I were together. There’d been no official conversation, but I knew we were. I’d accepted it. There’d been no need for me to worry about exclusivity. Zeke had made it clear he only wanted me, but besides knowing Bren, Tasmin, and Heather in different ways, I wasn’t really ‘in’ their group.
My core had been my ex, my mom, and my grandmother. There’d been one other girl that I sometimes went to a movie with, but she moved away a long time ago. I was digressing. I was trying to say that I wasn’t a casual friend type of person. It was fine. It was how I was, and I fully knew that Zeke was more in this group than I was. They all liked him, put up with him at times, but since high school, they had adopted him. Or he made them adopt him, which was probably more the way of it and now I was with Zeke, so I’d been wary about telling any of them.
