“Pint in the pub when we’re done?” Scott said. “I’m not working tonight.”
Zack felt his chest sink. It was tradition, after they’d been out they’d all head to the pub for at least one. The only members of the team to get a pass were those still on call and those with small children. “Sorrell’s waiting for me in the King’s,” he said, knowing there was no point at all in hiding his plans.
There was a wicked grin on his brother’s face, one that was identical to the wicked grin he had, but before Scott could say anything voices could be heard just above the wind. They were on the way down. The rest of today’s team were there.
It was another two hours before Zack entered the pub looking for Sorrell. He half thought she would’ve gotten fed up of waiting and headed back home, but he saw her dark red hair above one of the comfy chairs near the fire, her kindle in one hand and a glass of red wine in the other.
“Good book?”
She turned to give him a gentle grin that alleviated any fears he’d had.
“Excellent. Small American town known for its moonshine and residents that have hot sex. Just need the next in the series to be out yesterday,” she said. “It’s been blissful.”
He wasn’t sure what the appropriate response was. And now he was wondering what Sorrell’s definition of hot sex was and whether it was the same as his.
Fortunately, his brothers and the other members of the team hadn’t managed to make it into the pub yet, all leaving their cars on their drive ways as there was a possibility that not many people would be going places in the morning, given how much snow was falling.
“Do you still want to get some dinner here?” she said. “Or we can get take out?”
She was no longer bundled up in her winter clothes. The roaring fire had peeled them off her, leaving her dressed in a thin sweater and skinny jeans, her hair slightly mussed by the wind. The shape of her breasts, breasts that he dreamed about just before he went to sleep, were defined through the thin cotton and he really wanted to get them both the hell out of there and see what they could do to keep warm in her bed.
“Zacky!” Jake’s voice rang out sounding like the bells of doom. “Shall we join you?”
Please God no, he thought, managing to keep a smile on his face for appearances sake.
“If you want. You’ll need to pull up a few chairs though,” Zack said.
Alex and Scott appeared behind Jake, grinning like idiots who were on a day trip from a lunatic asylum.
“We’d better leave him to it. If we sit down there he’s going to have no chance with Sorrell,” Scott said.
“It’d put her out of her misery in the long term,” Alex added. “Leave it any later and it’d be like saying ‘let’s look at what you could’ve won’.”
“Either sit down with us or fuck off to your own table,” Zack said, fast losing patience. “Disappear and I’ll get a pint in for you all.”
There was a collective whooping. “He definitely wants us out of the way,” he heard Scott say.
“Enough to set the moths free… Look at that, Zack’s going to get his wallet out for the first time in months.”
Zack inhaled deeply and asked whichever god was on duty that evening to gift him the art of patience so he could stay out of prison for a little longer.
“I’ll add a shot of tequila for each of you too, if you go now,” he said.
Scott looked like he was about to die laughing. “It’s a deal. Have a good evening. Sorrell, when you decide to level up, you know where I am.”
She nodded, giving Scott a look that suggested he’d be next in line, right behind Charles Manson and Kim Jong Jung.
“Please do not judge me by my family. And that includes Rayah,” Zack added.
Sorrell shook her head. “They’re only doing what you would if it was Scott or Jake sitting here.”
He frowned. “Scott or Jake?”
“Okay,” she said. “That’s what you took from that? Sit down Zack. Get a drink and have a look at the menu. I’m hungry but I don’t want to be here all night. I can think of some other things I want to do.”
Her eyes glinted and her mouth twitched up in a wicked smile.
He wondered how quickly they could eat.
