Page 5 of The Sentinels

"Lunch is on me today," Della quipped, drawing my gaze to her.

"Oh, how generous!" Judith shouted.

"I mean for Emerson!" Della clarified. "The rest of you bitches can pay for your own lunch."

"Ouch! That's just rude," Cookie laughed.

"Which part?" Ruby wanted to know. "The ‘bitch’ part, or the ‘paying for our own lunch’ part?"

Laughter filtered through the SUV, as the comments and joking around continued all the way into Orlando and to the spa. It had been a long time since I'd been part of a girls' outing like this, and I couldn't help but wonder why I had been invited so suddenly. I knew the girls, they often accompanied their men to the bar, but I'd always felt like an outsider looking in because I was an employee and had no connection to any of the men.

I couldn't deny that I was enjoying the camaraderie. The girls that I worked with at After Hours were all friendly, and Bonnie and I had developed a close friendship, but none of us hung out together outside of work. We didn't go drinking or dancing, we didn't meet up for girls' nights at our apartments. It wasn’t completely abnormal, because I'd worked at other places where work and personal relationships had been kept separate. I knew that people had lives outside of work that sucked up what little time they had left.

It didn’t take me long to decide that I liked these women. Ruby was the only mother in the group, and her twin boys were almost two-years-old. They were gorgeous boys. Hell, they had gorgeous parents. All of the men in the Sentinels were muscular, handsome devils.

Thinking about the men in the Sentinels immediately made me think of Ace. He didn't think so, but he was handsome, too, even with the scars he carried on the right side of his face and neck. I hadn’t had an opportunity to confirm it, but I suspected that those scars marred a good portion of his body. I'd heard the stories of how badly wounded he'd been and how he'd almost lost his leg.

It was said that he'd returned from the military a changed and bitter man, darker than most, quiet yet reflective. He was lethal, too. I'd seen that for myself during the occasional fights that had broken out at the bar. He’d ended them with quick and brutal precision at the end of his large fists. When the fights were over, I would watch the savage darkness leave his twisted expression until calm returned to his eyes.

"You've grown quiet," Judith said to me unexpectedly. We were lying on massage tables across from each other. Ruby was also in the room, but it was clear from the sound of her breathing that she'd fallen asleep. Her light snores joined with the serene music playing through the room.

"Guess I was about to join Ruby in a little snooze," I lied.

A soft laugh escaped Judith. "We do this once a month, and every time she drops off during her massage."

"Who can blame her with two rambunctious toddlers at home?"

"I know. And before long I'll be joining the ranks of motherhood."

She was seven months along. "Do you know what you're having?"

She shook her head. "Mark and I decided that we want to be surprised. We did the nursery in neutral colors." She was lying on the maternity massage table. The plug at the center of the table had been removed, and her protruding baby belly was hanging slightly below it in a stretchy, mesh-like basket. "God, this feels so good!" she moaned.

She was right. The man working on me had strong hands and he wasn't afraid to use his strength to really work the kinks out. Soon the soothing atmosphere and muted lighting in the room caused me to doze off. I didn't try to fight it, and when the massage was over, our massage therapists left us alone in the room for a few minutes. I was as relaxed as a person could get by the time someone came back and led us away to be served lunch. By that time we'd already been at Pampering Professionals for half a day.

A full day spa package had set me back two hundred and thirty dollars, but so far I had no complaints. The package had included my choice of five of their paid services, which were plentiful, and included a champagne lunch. It was here that Judith, Ruby and I were reunited with the other girls as we sat in our soft plush robes, comfy slippers, and nibbled on a variety of cheeses and fruits as we drank bubbly champagne. As I took a sip the bubbles tickled my nose, causing me to giggle.

"What are you giggling about over there?" Lonnie asked me from her end of the massage chairs we were relaxing in.

"The champagne bubbles tickled my nose. I can't remember a time when I've treated myself to such luxury."

"You should join us every month. You deserve it after all the hours you put in and the crap you have to put up with at After Hours."

"Is that an invitation?" I asked Ruby. The thought of treating myself to a spa day once a month sounded like heaven.

"Of course!" she laughed. "I don't know why you haven't been coming with us all along. You've been at the bar so long, we think of you as family."

Murmurs of agreement made their way to me as the other ladies nodded.

Ruby's comment choked me up, and I found myself blinking away unexpected tears. I'd been working at After Hours for almost three years, but had always made a point not to get too involved with the Sentinels and their women, with the exception of Ace. The fact that they thought of me as part of their family caused me to think about my own family back in North Carolina. If you could call what I'd run away from ‘family’.

I was finally able to manage, "Thank you, I'd like to be included." I purposely relaxed back in my chair and closed my eyes.

"As a matter of fact, we're having a girls' night out tonight, you should start joining us for that, too," Della added.

I laughed softly, keeping my eyes closed. "A girls' day at the spa and a girls' night out all in twenty-four hours? Is this what it's like when you belong to the men of the Sentinels?" I joked.

My remark was met with laughter. "Well, yeah," Judith replied for the group. "Our men are good to us and expect us to be waxed at all times." More laughter erupted.

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