“You saved our lives,” I went on.
He waved a hand nonchalantly before reaching for his beer with it. “Honest, Iceman. It ain’t a thing.”
“Never be able to repay ya,” I continued, ignoring his protests. “Never be able to make up for what you did.”
“You’ve got nothin’ I want,” he muttered, his eyes sliding in the same direction Saint had disappeared in not long before.
I took in his wistful gaze and the pink of his cheeks and said, “Yeah, I have. Owe you everything, and you can take anything apart from her. She’s the one thing in this world I could never give up.”
His eyes slashed toward mine, and he sighed resignedly. “Yeah, brother. I know.”
Suddenly, I felt choked up because more than anything, I wished there was a way he could get what he wanted, even though after everything he’d done for me and my girl, I’d kill him if he so much as tried.
“Owe you huge,” I repeated. “You’ve got my marker.”
One side of his mouth tipped up. “That’s a start.”
I grinned.
“Diablo!” a voice bellowed.
We both twisted in our seats to see Veep at the threshold of the bar.
“Is your phone on silent?” he bellowed.
“Yeah,” D bellowed back. “I was watching TV with Saint, and I didn’t want to be disturbed in case she fell asleep. Guess I forgot to switch the ringer back on.”
Blade held a hand up to stop the convo. “Don’t need your life story, Princess. Certainly don’t need to hear about your day watchin’ the fuckingKardashiansandThe Real Housewives of Bumfuck Nowhere. Prez wants ya in his office.”
“On my way,” D said, getting to his feet. He drained his beer and went to amble away.
“D!” I called out.
He stopped and twisted his neck to look at me.
I smiled. “You’ll find her one day, brother.”
He tilted his head. “Who?”
“Your woman,” I explained. “The one you wanna go to bed with every night. The one you wake up next to every mornin’. The one you breathe for. She’s out there somewhere.”
He stilled for an instant, frozen to the spot. Then, after a minute, he gave me a lopsided grin and a chin lift before turning around and strolling away.
My eyes followed him, and I said under my breath, “You’ll meet her, bro. You’ve got too much heart not too, but in the meantime...”
I twisted again in my seat, ignoring the pain the movement sent searing through my chest, and caught Heather’s eye. Shooting her a conspiratorial wink, I jerked my chin, signaling for her to come over.
She beamed, put her drink down, and came waltzing over. “You okay, Iceman?” she asked sweetly. “You need another drink?”
“Where’s Arizona?” I asked.
“Showering. Carina made her vacuum the first and second floors today, so she’s freshening up before she comes down.” Her forehead furrowed questioningly. “You okay?”
“I’m good, sweetheart,” I murmured. “But I wondered if you’d do me a favor. You and Arizona. First of all, I need to ask you something, and I need you to be honest. Have you gotta problem with Diablo?”
Her eyes narrowed slightly, but she shook her head. “He’s different, and a bit weird, but I haven’t got a problem with him. He’s quite sweet, really, when you get to know him.”
“Good. The thing is, Diablo did me and Saint a solid, and I wanted to do something for him, a bit of a treat. Did you know the dude’s never had a threesome? And you know how you’re all up in Gambit’s dick ‘cause you like his cologne? Welllll, D’s never had that either.”
