Page 16 of Chasing Forever

“Another round, fellas,” she chirped, a bright smile curving up her painted red lips. She glided around the table, depositing glasses in front of each of us, having managed to get every one of our drinks correct without having to ask.

“You’re a saint, Len,” I grunted, grabbing my much-needed beer and sucking back a hearty gulp.

Her smile turned sassy as she shot me a wink. “What can I say? I live to serve,” she teased. “You boys holler if you need anything,” she said before tucking the tray under her arm and sauntering away.

Raylan shifted beside me, and I didn’t miss the way his eyes trailed Lennix’s every step as she moved farther away, winding through the crowd. The way he watched her piqued my curiosity, and my gaze bounced back and forth between them. I didn’t miss the way the muscle in Raylan’s jaw strained when he spotted a man reaching for Lennix’s arm to catch her attention. Or how his grip on his beer bottle tightened to the point it was a wonder it didn’t shatter as she smiled up in a way that had the dude eating out of the palm of her hand.

And apparently I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.

Hardin let out a low whistle, his eyes widening. “Might want to watch yourself there, Ray. Zach catches you lookin’ at his baby sister like that, he’s liable to gouge your eyeballs out with a rusty spoon.”

“Shut the hell up,” Raylan groused, making the three of us laugh at his sudden surliness. “I’m not lookin’ at her like anything. I just noticed the way that asshole grabbed her arm.” His nostrils flared. “Who the fuck is that guy, anyway? He shouldn’t be grabbin’ on her like that.”

I turned back in Lennix’s direction. She was still smiling, and laughing now, as she reached out to caress the man’s forearm. “I don’t know, man. In my professional opinion, it looks like two people flirting with each other.”

He shot me a killing scowl. “Yeah, well, he’s too goddamn old for her. I mean, look at him.”

Rhodes choked on his laughter. “He looks about your age, little brother. What’s that difference? About twelve years?”

“Eleven,” he answered quickly, like that number had been sitting in his head for some time now. He seemed to realize he was still staring, looking for all the world like a man about to commit homicide, and shook himself out of his stupor. “Or somethin’. I’m not sure.”

“Sure you aren’t,” Hardin snickered.

“Screw you, man. I’m not interested in her that way. She’s like my little sister.”

Hardin hooked a brow up, his expression reading,whatever you say, you dirty, dirty liar. But he was smart enough not to vocalize it, because something told me Ray wouldn’t hesitate to take a swing at him just then. But in Raylan’s defense, as much as I loved Hardin, sometimes his face looked exceptionally punchable.

Lennix’s laugh carried over the din of bar noise, and all four of us looked over as she and the guy she was talking with pulled out their phones and started exchanging numbers.

Raylan’s face suddenly grew red, and I began to worry I was going to have to lock my friend down to keep him from doing something epically stupid.

Ah hell. The man had it bad. And given that he was one of Zach’s best friends, and had himself a bit of a reputation as a lover of the ladies, this could go bad very quickly.

He drained the last of his beer, slammed the bottle on the table, and pushed to his feet. Grabbing his wallet from his back pocket, he pulled out a few bills and tossed them onto the table. “I’m callin’ it a night. See you assholes later.”

With that, he took off toward the door.

Watching that situation play out was either going to be entertaining as hell or catastrophic. Hard to tell which way it would lean just yet. But I had a feeling it would go down in town lore—much like Hayes and Temperance’s relationship had years ago—before it was all said and done.

“Shit,” Rhodes grumbled into his drink. “I’m gonna have to kill Zach before he kills my little brother, aren’t I?”

Hardin and I burst into laughter.

We hung around the bar for a while longer, listening intently as Harding regaled us with the most entertaining cases he’d had over the past couple weeks. As only one of two veterinarians in and around Hope Valley, Hardin was responsible for all kinds of animals, large and small. On any given day, he could spend his morning dealing with a tricky cow birth, then head back into the office to treat a sick bearded dragon.

Hardin threw back the last of his whiskey and knocked his knuckles against the table. “Well, guys, it’s been a blast, but I’m outta here.”

“You got the girls this week?” Rhodes asked, speaking of Hardin’s two daughters. He and his wife had gone through a nasty divorce late last year, and one of the main battles was over custody. She’d tried her hardest to screw him when it came to visitation, but in the end, he ended up with shared, now he gets his girls every other week.

“Nah, that’s next week. I have an early morning appointment at a horse ranch over in Grapevine.” He started moving backward, a grin tugging the corners of his mouth upward. “These were on you, right?” he said to Rhodes, pointing at his empty glass on the table.

Rhodes shook his head good-naturedly. “You really are an ass, man.”

Hardin clapped him on the shoulder on his way past. “And you’re a good friend. Catch you guys later.”

A quick glance at my watch showed that two hours had passed. That was a decent amount of space, wasn’t it?

Rhodes’s chuckle pulled my attention to him. “Just go, man. It’s obvious you’re itchin’ to get home. I got Blythe and the kids to get to anyway.”

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