Page 16 of Knight
Holden winced. “Sorry, Bails.”
Flynn pushed his chair back. “I’ll go with?—”
“No, let me,” I cut in, hopping up. “I think I might need a few shots to deal with Axel, anyway.”
Axel laughed. “Hot damn, get a round. We’ll drink with you.”
“Nothing good will come of that,” Holden said sternly.
“That’s why it’s fun,” Shiloh said. “Bring Holdentwoshots.”
Holden sighed and shook his head, but a smile tugged at his lips. I could already see that he was a more rigid personality, but Shiloh did a good job of loosening him up.
“We’re in,” Emory said. “Right, babe?”
“Why the hell not?” Gray said. “We can both sleep in tomorrow.”
“Sleep,” Holden said with a snort. “As ifthat’swhat you do in the morning.”
“You’re one to talk,” Emory shot back. “Shiloh’s had to skip breakfast three times in the last week. The poor guy is gonna faint in his classroom from lack of sustenance.”
“I give him everything he needs,” Holden protested.
“He sure does,” Shiloh drawled with an exaggerated eyebrow bounce.
“I meant the breakfast bars I bought you to keep at work,” Holden said, “not…”
Axel just grinned. “Protein shakes every morning?”
Okay, so it turned out, Bailey and Flynn were the tame ones. Yikes. Imagine living withthoseguys.
I turned and headed for the bar before more innuendo could fly. Bailey fell into step with me.
“They’re kidding,” he said. “Well, mostly. Gray and Emory really are fuck bunnies. Living with them was awful. I had to sleep with earbuds in or wake up to Gray’sheadboard slamming the wall and Emory wailing like a banshee.”
“Kinda like those moans coming from your shower earlier today?” I teased.
Bailey reddened. “Yeah, sorry. That’s why I understand why you want your own place. Flynn misses you, but he’s never had to live with…” He waved his hand back toward his brothers. “All of that.”
I leaned against the bar and caught the bartender’s eye. He was maybe mid-thirties with tousled dark brown hair and thick stubble.
“What can I get ya?” he asked, glancing between us. “And don’t even try me if you’re not twenty-one.”
“I’m twenty-five,” I said, reaching into my back pocket for my wallet and displaying my license. “I’d like seven shots of tequila and a margarita.”
“Put it on Holden’s tab,” Bailey said with a grin. “He’ll want to welcome you properly to the family.”
There was that word again.
“I’m not really family, though.”
Bailey gave me a long look. “Flynn’s family, and you’re his brother. Face it, Aiden, you’re stuck with us.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. Flynn seemed at home with these guys, and I was really glad to see he had found a family. It would make it easier when it was time for me to leave. But I wasn’t staying in Riverton for long, and I had hardly earned my place among these guys the way Flynn had.
“And what about you?” the bartender asked Bailey. “You got ID?”
“I’m twenty, and I just want a soda, so relax,” Bailey said.
