Page 2 of Just Say When

The word was a breeze against my bare neck, causing a riot of goosebumps on my arms. I spun slowly on my barstool and tilted my chin up to meet Brax’s disapproving gaze. “Prig.”

It was our standing greeting, at least for the last fifteen years or so—that is, when we bothered to greet each other at all. Mostly we ignored each other or let our glares do the talking.

With a narrow glance at Alan, he gripped my elbow with one large hand, hauled me off my stool and into a corner at the far side of the bar, and proceeded to loom over me in a way that made me wish for a few extra inches on my five-nine height.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, Essie?” he demanded, his voice barely more than a low rumble.

I gave a toss of my ponytail and batted my eyes, knowing it would piss him off even more. “Having fun.”

He glowered. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

You used to like my idea of fun. That was the kind of thing I would never say out loud, due to the high risk of it coming out wistful. And honestly? Death first. I would never give him the satisfaction.

Brax had always been a stickler for rules when we were kids. My brother Jack was even worse. Still, the three of us—Brax, Jack, and me—had been a tight trio. We had done everything together, right up to the day in our junior year of high school when Brax almost died. That had changed things—between me and Brax, anyway. He was still close with my brother. HelikedJack, the way he used to like me. Nothing had changed for them, not even when Jack joined the Army.

It was me he took umbrage with.

Umbrage. That was a good word. Too bad I so rarely had a reason to use it. I almost never took umbrage, aside from animal abusers. Unlike Brax, who took umbrage against every single thing about me.

“What are you up to, Essie?” He released my elbow and crossed his arms over his chest, legs akimbo, blocking my ability to get up to anything at all.

That annoyed me. Not that he was in my way; Brax wasn’t prone to violence, and I knew his ticklish spots, so getting around him wouldn’t be much of a challenge. No, I was annoyed that I had stood there for a solid minute and hadn’t once thought to remove his hand from my elbow. He’d let go first, like my elbow had served its purpose and was no longer of any interest to him.

Galling, really.

I almost took umbrage with it.

But I had the feeling he would like that, so I simply smiled, knowing he wouldn’t like that at all. “Can’t a girl have a couple drinks and some laughs on a Friday night without people jumping down her throat?”

“Sure. But you’re not having some laughs, Essie. You haven’t laughed once. Alan Gaffney has never said a single interesting thing in his life, even by accident, andyou rubbed your temple a moment ago. That means you’re bored. Boring people give you a headache. The fact that you’re still here talking to that jackass means you’re up to something. Tell me what it is.”

Damn our thirteen years of friendship.

“You know,” I said coolly, “it’s customary to forget all those intimate little details you learned about a person when the friendship no longer exists.”

The corner of his mouth kicked up. “That so?”

“A gentleman would. It’s the polite thing to do.”

“See, that’s the problem, right there.” He leaned forward, his gaze hot as it seared into mine. “I’ve never felt like much of a gentleman where you’re concerned.”

My pulse jumped at the base of my throat as I swallowed hard. If Brax pushed me against the wall right now and put his hand up my skirt, I would be slow to stop him. I blamed his forearms and broad shoulders. It should be illegal to look that hot on the outside and be that irritating on the inside. False advertising, that’s what it was.

I gave him a good, hard shove that failed to move him even a little bit. “You’ve been a gentleman every goddamn day of your life, Brax, because that’s how your mama raised you, so don’t try acting all tough with me. Even when you’re asshole, you’re a gentleman about it.”

Which was exactly why I was going to win this little game. Brax was a gentleman to his core. Fortunately for Pirate, I was no lady.

“Get out of my way. I need to piss.” I pushed past him, my shoulder hitting him somewhere in the bicep.

He let me pass like I knew he would.Sucker. I glanced over my shoulder to see him settle in next to my empty barstool and then jerked my chin at Janie. She followed me to the bathroom.

I handed her a wad of cash. “For Alan’s next four drinks.”

I almost felt bad about it, but the truth was, he was going to drink those drinks regardless of whether I was paying for them. Around ten, he’d pass out in his truck in the parking lot, too drunk to drive home. It was his Friday night routine. Me paying for it was for my own peace of mind, to make sure he stayed where I needed him to, for as long as I needed him to.

Janie nodded and tucked the money into her pocket. “And Brax?”

I heaved a long-suffering sigh. “Not much anyone can do about him,” I groused. “Try to stall him, I guess.”

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