Page 75 of Snap

She smiled wanly. "I don't know about that."

"We are pretty freaking awesome," Bam said.

"And modest too," Grace said.

Bam pretended to look offended. "Hey, woman, why do you have to attack me like that?"

We all laughed, although Rubie's sounded strained.

I gave her a concerned glance.

She offered me a watery smile in return before covering it by taking a sip of her coffee. "This is good."

I sipped mine. "It really is. Is there anything Waves doesn't do well?"

"They're not good at keeping out the riffraff," Chase remarked. "They let Bam in all the time. And Hawk."

"And Chase," Bam said.

"Worse than that," Ashley said. "They let in me, Bec and Grace." Her eyes widened.

The other two women grinned.

Bec shook her head. "John and Vera must have some really low standards," she joked.

"Hey," Hawk put an arm around Bec's waist, "that's my girlfriend you're talking about." He kissed her temple and smiled at her like a man who was obviously head over heels.

"What does that say about your standards?" Bec asked him.

"They're sky high," Hawk said firmly.

"Could you two be any cuter?" Chase asked. He rolled his eyes, but the gaze he turned on Ashley was just as besotted.

A couple of nurses passed and gave us all a funny look. Maybe because there were eight of us gathered around, maybe because they recognised us.

Bam grinned at them and gave them both a finger wave.

One of them even blushed, but I suspected he wasn't Bam's type.

"Rubie?" Skye stepped out of a corridor nearby. She looked exhausted. Her eyes were red like she'd been crying.

Rubie stood so fast I had to grab her coffee before she dropped it.

"Is he?—"

"The doctor said he should be fine," Skye said. "They think he had some kind of seizure brought on by stress." The sides of her mouth turned down, but she didn't seem to be blaming anyone. "They said he needs to rest, but you can see him."

Her eyes scanned the group. "Maybe only a couple of you. I'm sorry, the doctors said…"

"We understand," Hawk said quickly. "Doctor's orders are doctor's orders and we all want him to get better."

"Yes, we do," Chase said. "Now we know he's okay, we should probably go and leave Rubie and Ollie to it."

"Yes," Grace said. "Come on, Bam. We can come back and visit in the morning." She took his hand and led him toward the door. The others followed.

"Thanks for the coffee and burgers," I said before they headed out into the winter night.

I offered my cup to Skye. "I've only taken a sip."

---