His brother snorted. “M’kay. You just keep tellin’ yourself that,bro.”
“Okay, fine. The truth is I felt sorry for you that day, so I decided to take myself out of the equation.”
“You’re so full of shit.”
“Am I?”
Garrett picked up the platter of cooked burgers with a wide grin. “Why don’t we go find Avery and ask her?”
His brother started toward the house, but Coulter hurried to catch up before stepping directly into his path.
“You know, there’s really no need to bother Aves with this.” He mirrored Garrett’s attempt to move past. “She’s busy getting stuff ready to bring out here, plus she’s in there with the girls. And you know how they can be when they’re in the middle of one of their gossip sessions.”
Garrett’s knowing gaze immediately filled with humor. “That’s what I thought.” He made a sharp left turn instead and headed for the large outdoor table.
The relief Coulter felt had nothing to do with his sister-in-law. Avery would have laughed, too, because his brother was right.
He was full of shit. He knew it. Garrett knew it. Hell, everyone at this party knew it.
Coulter was the proverbial class clown. The immature one of the bunch. The guy always cracking jokes and poking fun.
What they didn’t know about, what he’d kept well-hidden, was the darkness lying just below the surface. The pieces of himself he kept reserved for a job none of them knew he had.
“Burgers are done!” his brother announced loudly.
The table was surrounded within minutes.
“I gotta say, Falcon . . .” Bones swallowed the rest of his bite before finishing his sentence. “This is a pretty damn good burger.”
Garrett grinned proudly from his seat across the table from the other man. “Glad you like it.”
“He’s right, babe.” Avery sent her husband a smile. “These are probably your best yet.”
Coulter nodded, adding a sincere, “I’m with her.”
Several others jumped in to offer their own words of approval. A moment later, the conversation fell to a low hum.
Coulter and those around him took their time enjoying the food and time with friends. On the outside, he probably looked as though he were totally relaxed and stress-free. But on the inside, he was filled with knots of his own making.
Alex had yet to look his direction or acknowledge his presence in any way. He, of course, had noticed the very moment she’d arrived.
Her aversion to him wasn’t altogether unexpected, but that didn’t make it suck any less. She’d asked for one night, and like a dumbass, he’d been more than happy to agree.
Since then, Coulter had all but convinced himself that he was fine. That he’d moved on. Put his memories from that night firmly in the rearview.
There was only one problem with that little theory.
I’m even more obsessed than before.
“Hey, Colt,” Ethan “Apollo” McAllister called out to him from a few seats down. “Where’d your last job take you? You get to go anywhere cool?”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “I was just in L.A.”
It wasn’t until Avery piped in with a slightly high-pitched, “L.A.? I didn’t know that’s where you’ve been working.” She leaned forward, looking at him from across Garrett, who sat between them. “When were you there? Alex was just in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago.”
Shit, shit, shit.
He couldn’t help but slide his gaze Alex’s way. “You don’t say?”
