Chapter 7
SEVEN
NICOLE
We joined the others in the far corner near the bar. Pool tables and dartboards seemed to have been reserved for us. That’s pretty cool.
“Hello, all.” A friendly looking man set a tray of beer pitchers on the high-top table. “I see we have a newbie.” He whipped his hand out and extended it toward me. “I’m Adam, one of the managers here at Zack’s and a friend of everyone.” His grin went from ear to ear.
“Nicole. Nice to meet you.” I shook his hand. “This is a pretty nice place.”
He looked around. “I think so, too.”
“Hey, Adam,” Savannah smiled, “let’s see what fancy girlie drinks the ladies want.” She pulled him away as Mark held up the pitcher of beer. I shook my head, and he shrugged and poured one for himself.
Savannah called me over to where the girls had gathered around a separate long table. Adam was taking their drink orders as fast as he could.
“What’s your poison, Nicole?” Sloane, John’s wife, called from the far end. “We always like to try something new. I’m having a Sour Puss, and Savannah’s having a Blue Walrus.” She laughed and clapped her hands.
“I think I’ll stick with a pinot.” I grinned. “I might get wild and crazy on those.”
“That’s the whole idea.” Savannah patted the chair next to her, and I sat. “You need to let your hair down a little.”
“Yeah, we’d like to see that,” Mark called from where he stood with the guys. He held up a beer and wiggled his brows at us.
“I just bet you would.” I allowed myself to get into the fun. “Okay, Adam,” I glanced quickly down the drink list, “I’ll have a Random Ruckus.”
“One Random Ruckus for the lady.” Adam wrote it down and laughed as he headed for the bar.
“Make them all doubles,” Mark called, and all the guys but Paul whistled and clapped.
I saw Paul watching me, but when he caught my glance, he turned to say something to John. I hated that we had something between us. He and John went to the pool table, and the other guys followed. They began to joke with each other as Ty handed out pool cues.
“He likes you, I can tell.” Savannah patted my arm. “You just need to give him time to see that he’s wrong about you. He is wrong about you, I know. I’ve seen you with that child, and it’s obvious you care a lot for him. So has Abigail, and she always gets a good read on people.”
“She’s sweet. Thanks for that. I’d do anything for the little guy. I felt it was the only thing I could do to get him out.” I noticed that the other girls were listening.
“Listen, Nicole,” Ty’s wife Ivy smiled from across the table.
“These guys are hardwired not to trust. You can’t blame them.
” I hadn’t missed the fact that she glanced at Catalina, who played with her string of small pink pearls.
“When Ty and I met, he was dealing with the death of one of his teammates. He’d been killed by a fellow soldier.
He shut down on me, and it was very hard on our relationship, but I knew I liked him enough to weather the storm, and I’m glad I did.
” She smiled and glanced over toward the guys’ table.
“Have you even met Cole?” Savannah snorted and leaned in.
“He was so used to having things go his way, the man trusted no one.” She raised her brows.
“Well, maybe a select few.” She shrugged.
“Until I came along.” She gave me a wicked grin.
“We might love their alpha-asses, but we sure as shit don’t back down when we need to.
If you feel you have to stand your ground with this whole media thing, Nicole, we have your back.
” She raised her glass to mine, and the other girls all chimed in their support.
“Thanks, you guys.” My heart swelled.
Savannah held up a finger. “That being said, you can stand your ground, yes, but know where he’s coming from too.
Like Ivy said, they’re wired differently than most, so don’t walk away from something that could be just because he isn’t open to it.
He’s a great guy, but his shell has hardened over time.
He just needs a little love in his life before he’ll soften up. ” She arched a brow at me.
I looked around the table at these strong, gorgeous women who had let me inside their circle and decided to share. “Okay, truth?”
“Please.” Sloane nodded, and her serious eyes went to mine.
“I’ve only known the man for a short time, but we’ve shared some amazing moments.” I felt my cheeks heat and pressed my thighs together when I remembered that kiss at the safehouse. “But maybe they only happened because of the danger we were in.”
“Like the whole ‘in the moment we could die’ kind of thing?” Keith asked as he sat in a chair across from me.
“Oh!” I felt my whole body seize up. Apparently, he’d been listening. I quickly glanced around, but the girls didn’t even flinch with Keith’s sudden arrival, so I allowed myself to relax. Okay I guess this is how it is here.
“Exactly.” I smiled at him. “So, how do you really know if that person is for real or only reacting to the situation? Is he worth fighting for? Can I even trust him? Because he doesn’t seem to trust me.” I took a deep breath.
“Okay,” Keith stopped Mia from speaking, “sorry, Mia, but I want to take this question.”
“Go ahead.” She grinned and leaned back in her seat.
He spun his beer through his fingers as he thought.
“Nicole, I had a wife who was tough as nails. We met in high school, and I loved that girl. Then something tragic happened, and everything went to shit. Years later, I found her again and fought for her.” He paused then waved a hand as if to dismiss something.
“Let’s just say after some time and skipping over a number of significant events,” he made a wry face, “we found ourselves married with two kids.
“Trouble was, over the years, she began to resent me, and it became too much for her. All the signs were there, but I chose not to see them. Then she was killed because she did something stupid.” My mouth sagged open, and my eyes went wide.
“You want to know how I got her back? Her body back, I mean. How I got answers about her death and how I got closure to move on?” He pointed at Paul. “Because of that man.”
“How?” fell from my lips.
“The how is a whole other story.” He pursed his lips. “Just know that despite his cold demeaner, he has one of the biggest and most selfless hearts I’ve ever met. I think it’s fair to say he’s done more for our operation, our family, than any of us.”
“Agreed,” Savannah added. “He’s a saint.” There were murmurs of agreement from the others.
“So,” Keith leaned his elbows on the table, “I’m going to ask you this one time, and whatever your answer is, we’ll believe you.”
“Okay.” I felt my chest tighten.
“Did you use the child for your own personal gain?”
I licked my dry mouth and looked at him straight in the eye.
“Keith, I’ve never really been loved by anyone, so when I say this, know I mean it from the bottom of my heart.
I swear on that little boy’s life that I didn’t use him for a story.
I was in a bad situation, surrounded by a magnitude of Cartel, and it was the only way I could think of to get him out.
Trust me, I lost a lot more than Paul’s trust when I made that call. I had no choice.”
He waited a beat and held my gaze intensely. “All right, I believe you.”
“No,” Ivy shook her head, and my stomach dropped, “we all believe you, Nicole.”
I let out my breath and let my shoulders sag with relief. “Thank you.” I rubbed my forehead and felt the tightness of a headache. “And for what it’s worth, Keith, I’m really sorry about your wife. I’d like to have met Lexi.”
“Thank you. It’s worth a lot.”
I looked around the table and felt like for once in my life I might be among people I could have a deep friendship with. I glanced at Paul then caught Savannah’s smile as she watched me. “You guys really want us to date, don’t you?”
“You know what it is, Nicole?” Cat said, and I found her Hispanic accent comforting.
She had been the quiet one of the group, and I found myself getting worried Mike had warned her to stay away from me.
“The house needs a certain breed of soldier to handle what they do, and it takes a certain kind of woman to live with them.” She looked at Keith.
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but there’s a reason you and Paul took a while to settle down with someone. You needed to see that fire inside.”
Keith nodded. “You’re right on the money. You know when it’s there and when it’s not.”
“Right, and we women can spot it too. When Savannah and Mia met you, Nicole, they saw it.”
“We did.” Mia agreed.
“You have that fire that we all have and that they all want. We,” she waved around the table, “push because we know it can work with you two. Of course, there’s more to it than that, but it’s worth giving it a try, though, right? I mean, life is too short not to take a chance.”
I looked down at my drink and absorbed what she said.
I had put my life on hold and put myself second for the sake of my job.
Maybe it was time to have a little fun and see where life would take me next.
The only problem that stood in the way was I loved my profession.
I lived for the challenge of digging up clues that helped me piece together a master puzzle.
In the perfect world, I could do both, but sadly, that didn’t often happen.
Suddenly, the music changed to Austin by Dasha, and the place went wild. Mia’s face lit up as she grabbed Savannah’s arm.
“Do you know the dance, Nicole?” Mia beamed at me. She positively vibrated out of her chair.
I wondered if I should fib, but she looked so excited. “If I say yes, are you going to pull me out there?”
“She does!” she shrieked, and before I could protest, I was dragged onto the dance floor and into the straight line that had quickly formed. It took a few minutes for everyone to find their rhythm in the dance, but we soon had it and fell into sync.