Page 31 of The Heart

Leena’s eyes go wide.

“Where were those?” she asks, looking mortified. Luke and I both chuckle this time, because if there’s anyone on this planet she doesn’t need to feel embarrassed about with that sort of thing, it’s Colton Fisher.

He smiles at her, holding his coffee up and using a finger to point toward the rail above the door. She glances over, the most adorable blush spreading across her face.

“You’re using the real ones too, not that fuzzy gift-shop bullshit. I have to say, boss lady, I’m impressed,” he smirks, before removing the lid to his drink so he can down the rest of it.

“I–” Leena stutters, looking incredibly uncomfortable over the whole situation. It’s kind of adorable, but annoys me all the same, so I slap Colton upside the head.

“Fisher, leave our woman be. Lu, you shower first,” I say.

“Sure thing, boss!” Luke chides.

Asshole.

As he disappears, Leena distracts herself, looking at her phone and pretending that her little coffee friend didn’t just figure out that we like to use police-grade handcuffs when we fuck her.

While she’s occupied, Colton and I exchange a look. One where he’s congratulating me on the perfect woman we managed to find, and my look is a response telling him how I already fucking know.

—

I fucking hate road trips. But with all the equipment and personnel we needed for this particular operation, and seeing as it was less than eight hours from home, this just made sense.

Still. I hate being trapped in a vehicle with other people for this long, even if I’m fucking two of them. It’s only been three hours, and I’m already starting to lose my shit.

And then Colton starts singing.

Fuckingsinging.

There’s some bullshit pop song on the radio that I’ve never heard, and the man is practically bellowing it at the top of his lungs. So is Leena.

Neither of them can carry a tune.

I look to the man beside me, finding Luke cringing, clearly in just as much pain as I am.

I switch off the radio, ignoring the complaints coming from the back seat, pull the receiver to the CB radio out from under the dash and bark into it so the van behind us can hear me.

“Okay, that’s fucking it. We’re pulling over,” I say.

“What? Colt start singing again?” Jace laughs a response, his voice sounding through the crackle of the speaker. “Wait, can we guess which station?” he adds.

“102.5? 99.9? Oh wait, no! 98.5!” Ava shouts over the music they have blasting.

“Would you guys turn that down?” Ryan adds, more than likely still nursing a hangover. The sound cuts out, and I think we’re finally done listening to them as I pull off at one of the exits.

We’re not.

“Seb, you have to tell us which station. There’s money involved now,” Jace says.

“No,” I reply, my tone clipped as I hang up the receiver.

That’s when I feel Colton’s body intruding on my personal space, leaning between Luke and I to grab the mic and clearing his throat before using that goddamn boat captain announcer voice of his.

“This is Captain Fisher, interrupting this broadcast to confirm it was in fact, 98.5. Over,” he states, then goes back to his seat.

I rub my temple.

“Captain Fisher, that is not what I wanted to hear,” a disappointed Jace says from the other side, an enthusiastic Ava laughing in the background.

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