Turning toward the sound of my name, and there, in the back corner of the bar with a clear line of sight to all the exits, sat my teammates. I picked my way through the crowd to where they were. The fuckers let me fucking flounder because there’s no fucking way they didn’t see my ass arrive.
There were four open seats at the table. All of them in a line, putting whoever sat there with their back to part of the room. Walking up to the table, I said, “You guys suck.”
Everyone burst out laughing, including Josh and Jason when the dropped into the two open seats further away from me. Marcus, drying his eyes from laughing, said, “Have a seat,” kicking the empty chair across the table from him.
I flipped it around and sat, fighting to hide the wince of the pain in my ass. Parker’s eyes met mine, and he lifted the bottle of beer in his hand to his mouth. If he thought he was hiding the smirk with it, he was sadly mistaken. I loved the guy as a mentor and teammate, but I loathed the fucker for knowing what and how that wince felt.
“Alex Madison, meet my brother Foster, the second smartest son of Admiral Holt, and that’s his wife Julie. This beautiful but poor, deceived woman is my sister-in-law, Lillian, who married the stupidest child in our family, my eldest brother, Walker.”
“You’re just pissed I met her first,” Walker said.
“Damn straight,” Parker said. Then turned back to me, “Now, you might wonder who the smartest of Vivian and Matthew Holt’s children is…”
“Piper, hands down,” Julie yelled, banging her fist on the table as Lillian said, “Amen.”
I laughed. This camaraderie was what I’d missed growing up as an only child.
“Okay. You ladies…well…you’re right,” Parker said, while his brothers raised their beers and nodded, but then he continued, “And that leaves me. I might not be the smartest, as our beautiful, intelligent, sassy as fuck sister surpassed me, but of the Admiral’s sons, I am far and away the smartest.”
I couldn’t help but laugh as the Holts disproved the claim with stories of why Parker wasn’t as fucking smart as he said. When everything calmed down, I asked, “So, what makes Walker the stupidest child in the family?”
“They’re jealous.”
“Bullshit!” Parker and Foster yelled. “What else do you call the son of a Navy SEAL turned Admiral who joins the US Marine Corps?”
“OORAH!” Walker yelled out the warcry for the Corps.
Everyone at the table groaned and rolled their eyes. But the entire bar, minus a few answering OORAHs, booed, then responded with a window-rattling Navy HOOYAH. The SEALs at the table joined in. As did Julie.
Lillian shook her head, then looked at me. “So, why did you say they suck?”
“It was a test,” Marcus said before I could answer.
“What sorta test?”
Walker laughed. “It’s a new guy test, Lil.”
The confusion on her face lifted, her eyes rounded. “Well,” she started, her face turning to focus on Marcus, “don’t keep us, and even more importantly, him, in the dark. Did he pass?”
The team and two men who looked nearly identical to Parker all laughed, as did Julie, but none of them answered her question. That came from the man who left me lying in my bed, covered in cum, bruises, and handprints.
“He passed Lillian. If he hadn’t, they woulda razzed his ass for the fuck up.”
“Daniel!”
Cheers and greetings went up around the table, and Lillian stood, rushing around the edge of the table, her face wreathed in smiles. I clocked her movements.
Fuck. He wore the hat. Turned backwards, and everything. And as my eyes ran over him, I realized the man dressed to entice—dark jeans and a snug t-shirt. When she collided with the man, Daniel wrapped his arms around her, but his eyes met mine.
Daniel broke eye contact and turned to greet the team when Lillian released him from the hug. I swallowed, sucking in a deep breath which wasn’t nearly as effective at cleansing the anxiety from my system while I listened to them catch up.
“How have you been?” Lillian asked Daniel, who rested his ass against the chair beside me.
My level of panic intensified. That chair was the only one left open. He would sit right next to me. How the fuck would I be able to keep my hands to myself?
Daniel replied to her question that I’d forgotten she’d asked, “I’m good. Enjoying being in California away from the family.”
“Liar. How are they?”
