Chapter 11
Noah
The camo pattern had never looked as good as it did wrapped around Serra in a strapless cargo pant jumper as she danced in my bar.
Rock had mentioned she was here with the girls when he stopped by the bar to warn Ethan not to serve them too many drinks.
It was a warning he didn’t really have to give because none of us would ever let any of them get pissy drunk in here, but I knew why it was a particularly touchy spot with him.
Actually, we all knew. Rock’s past addiction to alcohol, Jeret’s struggle with PTSD, Ethan’s abandonment issues, Del and Lance’s crippling guilt, and my former bout with steroids, then, pain meds.
We were a pretty fucked up bunch, which was yet another reason we stuck together.
Serra mentioned meeting Camy, Rylan, and Portia during one of our morning workouts.
I wasn’t surprised since Camy had long ago deemed herself Providence’s one-woman welcome committee.
No doubt that had a lot to do with her and Rylan’s former rival, Erica Bohannon being named the head of Providence’s Tourism Bureau when she returned to town after going to college in Atlanta.
Lance had joked that they were recruiting Serra after Camy came into the bar announcing she’d met my ex and thought she was amazing.
That comment had led to the brothers giving me hell for the remainder of my shift because I hadn’t told them about Serra or the fact that she had ties to Providence.
Only Rock knew that tumultuous part of my past.
It was busy tonight, so I hadn’t gotten a chance to go over and speak to her, but on a trip from the storeroom to grab another case of that fancy ass Basset-Banks wine that had grown really popular in the last three months they’d been serving it, I saw her.
Drake had mentioned the winery was now partially Black-owned by one of the members of the illustrious Donovan family.
I’d co-signed the recommendation since I was familiar with the wine from my days of attending star-studded parties in L.A.
I was breaking down the box when the song changed and a few screams erupted from near the stage.
About an hour ago there’d been a group of seniors celebrating their freedom from high school insisting that Shandy serve them alcohol.
Lance and Del had gone over to help Stefan get them outside when they’d wanted to start an argument instead of just adhering to the laws.
One of the boys had threatened to go home and get his father’s gun because Lance had slammed him to the ground when he’d tried to charge him.
We didn’t have bouncers on staff because our goal was to be family friendly.
And we only hired security when large parties were booked, but Del suggested we revisit the conversation soon.
In the meantime, we were all on alert to make sure nothing else popped off tonight.
Along those same lines, we kept the music playing through the speakers as general audience as possible without it being Disney hits on replay.
Instead, our playlists leaned heavily on R we’re talking about Noah’s falling in love ass.”
Ethan shot me a look and I shook my head. “I’m not in love,” I said. “I just haven’t seen her in a long time and I like how she looks now.”
It took exactly zero seconds for Ethan to narrow his eyes as he stared at me. This dude. I gave a wry chuckle as I shook my head.
“Nah, I think he might be right,” Ethan said.
I waved both hands at them. “You just want everybody to find a woman and walk around here as whipped as you and Del are now. Your words don’t count for shit.”
Ethan laughed. “And yet, you sound like you already know what I’m about to say.”
“Some bullshit,” I chimed.
I couldn’t be falling in love with Serra, because I’d never fallen out of love with her.
Before either of us could say another word, the song ended abruptly and was replaced by a voice coming through the mic.
“Alright, alright, guys and gals, we interrupt our regularly scheduled good time for a very special announcement.”
We all turned our attention to the stage where Camy now stood.
Del’s little sister was all of our little sister.
There was nothing any of us wouldn’t do to protect and take care of her.
Her overly cheerful ass could be annoying, but her heart was big and pure, and she would give anyone the shirt off her back if they needed it.
She would also draw her knife on anybody who pissed her off.
None of us had any doubt about that, although we were all on deck to fuck up anybody who dared piss her off in the first place.
“Who gave her ass permission to get up there?” Lance asked when he joined us in our favored meeting spot.
Del came from the kitchen chewing something. “Hey, did I hear…shit, what’s she doing up there?” he asked glancing toward the stage.
“I’m sure most, if not all of you here tonight, know my brothers own this bar,” Camy said. “But let me go ahead and give them a shout out. Raise your hands, guys. Noah, Jeret, Lance, Del, and Rock.”