“Coming right up,” he said. He turned on his heel and walked away, the sway in his hips more pronounced.
Ronin snorted. “That was fun, as usual,” he said. He chuckled, shaking his head, then glanced over at Maddox and Phoenix. “Y'all missed quite a show. Or maybe you're just used to it.”
“Used to what?” Maddox asked.
Ronin chuckled and shook his head. “Never mind! So, now… how’s business and what brings y’all down this way?”
“Same ol’ same ol’,” Nix said. “Work and play… although Zan is doing most of the playing for us.” Nix chuckled, but then it changed into a sigh, which his friend covered by drinking the last bit from his beer bottle.
Ronin couldn't help wondering what the story was behind that sigh…
“That good, huh?” Ronin asked.
Maddox laughed. “Actually, for the most part, it's not half bad. It definitely beats the army. It pays better, and we choose who shoots at us.” His friend snickered, downing half of his beer.
Ro rolled his eyes at Maddox, shaking his head at his friend’s macabre sense of humor… although it was nothing new.
“What about you, bro?” Maddox asked, “How's life?”
Ronin groaned and rubbed his face with his hand. He was about to speak when he glanced to his right and saw Robbie approaching the table with their beers, so he paused.
Robbie handed out their beers. “Need anything else?” His eyes were on Zander as he asked that question. Zander arched an eyebrow at Robbie, and the poor guy looked away.
The poor guy was playing with fire and didn't even realize it.
“I think that's it,” Maddox replied, breaking the eye-fucking Zan was giving Robbie.
“Killjoy,” Zander muttered.
Robbie nodded, but before leaving their table, he passed a note to Zander. “Holla if you need anything... I'm yours for the night,” Robbie added, before walking away.
Ro shook his head at the two of them and watched as Zander opened the note. A smile appeared on his friend’s face at reading whatever was on the piece of paper.
Zander held it up for everyone to read. It was Robbie's phone number and,“I'll be off at midnight.”
“Looks like someone's getting lucky tonight,” Nix teased, and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Ronin chuckled. It was just like hanging with the men when they were back in the army and out on leave... Zander was always the first to ditch them for a piece of ass... Nothing changed. Maddox turned to Ronin. “Anyway, you were about to fill us in on how life was in your shoes.”
Ronin took a swig of his beer before speaking. “Honestly, not bad. I'm just doing a lot of random tasks for Rick at the moment. Right now, he has me going to certain packs, meeting with pack Alphas to set up work exchanges so that unmated pack members have a chance to find their mates. Not exactly like taking out insurgents in Fallujah, but I need calm right now... well, sometimes it gets tedious..." Ronin shrugged. “It's going well so far, but I still can't wait to be done.”
“Better you than me,” Maddox replied. “I can't imagine having to do all the schmoozing.”
“Yeah, wouldn't have been my first choice, but I don't really know what I want to do next, and as annoying as Rick is... well mostly... I love doing something to help the pack. Finn and Dax took over as sheriffs at the station. But I don’t think law enforcement is for me.” Ro sighed, “Honestly, I don’t know what’s next, so why not help a bunch of pack members get mated.”
“I see you said help others get mated. Don’t you want to?” Nix’s brow was raised questioningly.
“Can’t say it’s part of my plan when I barely have my life together, you know,” Ro let out a sigh. He hadn’t admitted this, not even to Rome, his twin brother, but he was feeling a little lost.
“That fated shit is for the birds, man. Fuck all that mess. Why would you want to tie yourself to one person forever?” There was a bitterness in Maddox’s tone that they’d never heard before.
“Cynical, much?” Zander said. He let out a chuckle, “Don’t you believe in having a mate and finding your fated one?”
“Why would I want to tie myself to someone, so much so that losing them makes me want to die? We’ve all seen death. Can you imagine doing what we do and leaving your omega at home?” Maddox’s fist was wrapped around his bottle of beer so tightly that Ro was worried he would break it.
“Want to talk about it, bro?” Ronin asked Maddox. He glanced at Zander and Nix to see if they knew what this was about, but they both shook their heads.
“It’s nothing, man,” Maddox replied, and took a long swig of beer signifying that was that.
