Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 145823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145823 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“What?” I snapped. Both Garrett and Sawyer’s heads twisted my way, then Garrett asked for the tab. Morgan was on a bar?
“Do you think you can get to Avon? I think you might be the only one she’ll listen to, or the only one who can muscle her down at this point, anyway.”
“Tell me where you are. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Fourteen minutes later, I parked my car, killed the engine, and took the front stairs two at a time, flanked by Garrett and Sawyer.
“Jesus, who trucked in the frat guys?” Garrett asked. The college crowd had filled the bar, consuming the long, wooden counter that ran the length of the space and overflowing to the pool table area.
“Jax!” Sam called out from the right side of the bar.
I nodded, then pushed my way through the crowd. “Where is she?”
“With Mia.” Sam glared up at me and jabbed her finger in my chest. “One thing first. I really need you to stop fucking with her, Jax. She hasn’t had a drink since I can’t even remember when, and after one conversation with you, the girl is three martinis down and sitting on the damn bar like she’s holding court.”
Shit. How bad was she?
“I had no clue Claire was going to show up like that, and when she did, Morgan wasn’t speaking to me. What did you want me to do? Write it in a note and slip it under the door?” I shot back.
“You could have hired a skywriter for all I care. I don’t give a shit how you relay the information, just that you do, because honestly, you’re not my priority—she is. You let her walk straight into another shitstorm you created, after I’d spent all damned week trying to clean up your last one.”
Sawyer slid to my side and grinned at Sam. “I think I’m in love. Did you hear the way she just ripped into Montgomery?” he asked Garrett.
“Yes, because we’re both standing right here, you moron.” Garrett shook his head.
Sam arched an eyebrow at Sawyer. “Let me guess. Cocky, good-looking, and hanging out with this guy…you’re another pilot, too, right?”
“Yep.” Sawyer’s grin got even bigger.
“And you?” She turned her gaze on Garrett.
“Rescue swimmer. Flying is for the boys too scared to get wet.”
“And you are?” Sawyer asked.
“Married,” she replied, flashing her ring. “Now if you’re done?”
“My bad.” Sawyer’s hands went up as the jukebox changed to “Sweet Home Alabama.”
A flash of red caught my eye, and I leaned around the corner enough to see Morgan swaying with Mia, sitting on the bar in the middle of a horde of guys.
I sucked in a breath. It was no wonder she was surrounded. Damn, she was gorgeous. Her sleeveless, red top was cut low and tied just above the waist of an impossibly short jean skirt. I wasn’t even sure I’d call the thing a skirt, honestly, since it revealed so much of those long legs. Her cowboy boots swung slightly as she sang along to Lynyrd Skynyrd, her arms loose in the air as she and Mia belted out the chorus.
She wasn’t drinking—she was drunk.
“She’s had three martinis?” I asked Sam as I planned my best route for attack.
“Yeah…” She cringed.
That was a good amount of alcohol, but it wouldn’t explain her sloppy motions as she brushed her hair out of her face.
I glanced from Sam to Morgan and back again before it hit me. “Oh fuck, is she on anti-anxiety meds?”
Sam nodded. “Daily. She’s not supposed to drink, but I figured she deserved a glass of wine after the shit you put her through today. I guess Morgan thought she deserved something a little stronger.”
“Damn, who’s that girl next to Morgan?” Sawyer asked.
Sam snapped her finger in his face. “No.” She moved it toward Garrett. “Not you, either. Last thing I need is my husband getting home from deployment and going straight to jail for murder.”
“Noted,” Sawyer replied, already scanning the crowd for his next conquest.
“I wasn’t even looking,” Garrett swore.
When the guys around Morgan urged her to dance on the bar top, I decided it was time to move.
I waded through a sea of Axe body spray with Garrett and Sawyer at my back. Living here for the last five years had taught me that the only thing lacking more than inhibitions with celebrating tourists was their common sense.
“Get out of my way,” I growled at the polo-wearing pretty boy who was inching his hand toward Morgan’s thigh.
The guy shot me a glare but took one look at my face, hopefully seeing the promised murder in my eyes, then glanced back at Sawyer and Garrett, and moved. “All yours,” he mumbled, staggering away. Was I ever that young and stupid?
“Mr. Carolina!” Mia waved as I put myself between the women.
“Well, if it isn’t the reason I’m drinking!” Morgan greeted me with a sweet tone and an equally sweet, fake-ass smile. “Did you come all the way over here to help me pick out a guy to go home with? There have been quite a few propositions for being so early in the evening.”