Page 10 of The Sentinels

Judith was sipping on a virgin mudslide with a mountain of whip cream and a cherry on top. "I hope the baby doesn't get a buzz from this," she joked, sucking on the straw.

"This Long Island Iced Tea packs a punch!" Lonnie quipped after taking a few sips. "What did you get, Ruby?"

"Chocolate martini."

"Yum! I love anything with chocolate. I might get that next time." I eyeballed it as I sipped my drink.

"So, getting back to what we were discussing . . ." Everyone turned their attention to Della. "Seriously, this time." The force behind her words was obviously meant to stop the others from fooling around. "Forget about Ace. He had his chance. There's a man out there for you, and we want to see you happy. We've been watching you for months at the bar, noticing how you try to make yourself invisible."

I opened my mouth to protest, but she plowed right over me.

"It's obvious, honey. You're hiding."

I was guilty of trying to be invisible at work. I didn't do anything that brought any attention to myself. I kept quiet, did my job and minded my own business, but I wasn't hiding as much as I was keeping a secret.

I forced a smile on my face. "So, what, you girls have decided to take me under your wings? Fix me?"

"We want to be your friend." Ruby spoke the words with quiet sincerity. "A couple of us recognize that we were in the same place once. Hell, I was when I first came here. I was living out of my car, running away from my past. Well, my past showed up one day."

She stopped suddenly, giving the impression that she was unable, but I had to know the rest of her story. "What did you do?" I picked up my drink.

"I had to face the consequences."

I got the feeling that it hadn't been good.

"The point is that we like you, and we’ve wanted to include you in our outings, but we thought by the way you acted at the bar that you just wanted to be left alone."

"I didn't realize that I was so transparent." I smiled. "But I'm glad you decided to take a chance and ask me to join you on your spa day. I had a great time."

"Good!" Lonnie said loudly enough to be heard over the noise of the club. "From now on you're part of our girl squad."

"Spa day and girls' night out?" I laughed.

"Oh, and so much more!" Cookie chimed in. "We go on shopping trips, lunches, and we're a support group for each other. You have a problem? We'll help you with it. Man trouble? Come to us for a shoulder to cry on."

"Or you can sic us on him," Ruby suggested.

A loud slurping sound drew our attention to Judith. She sucked loudly a few more times before noticing the eyes on her. "What?"

"Let's finish up here and head out to Jumpin' Jerries, I'm in the mood for dancing."

"Sounds good to me," Della said, finishing her drink.

The rest of us did the same. We left money on the table to cover the drinks and the tip, and then headed out. Jumpin' Jerries was just down the street and was hard-core compared to Girl's Night Out. It was more like After Hours in atmosphere, loud, dim lighting, and full of action minus the truckers and bikers.

Ruby was the first to receive a call from her man, Tanner, just as we were climbing into her SUV. I vaguely listened to her murmurs of assurance that all was good and that we were on our way to JJ's, as she'd called it. Judith was the next to get a call, just as we were pulling out of the parking lot. I had to grin as one by one the girls’ phones went off, feeling sorry for myself that I didn't have a significant other who cared about where I was and what I was doing.

Someone like Ace.

I brushed the thought aside.

Maybe someday…

Chapter 7

Ace

I watched in amusement as one by one, all of my brothers who had women called to make sure that they were being good and staying out of trouble. A tiny seed of jealousy that I couldn’t deny took root inside my gut, which I quickly brushed aside, telling myself thatIwas the lucky one. No strings, no worries. I could just sit back and smirk, wondering if any of them regretted, even a tiny bit, that they were going home to the same pussy every night. I knew better than to question it, though. Their expressions and the looks in their eyes when their women were around revealed that they were content and happy as shit.

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