Page 70 of Strangers in Love

Cain went around the table, getting everyone’s take on the mission one by one. I liked that. He didn’t sit and critique everybody’s decisions, lay blame for circumstances beyond our control, or take all the credit for the good parts. He listened, sometimes asking questions, sometimes offering suggestions, but it was always calm and professional. I could see why the other men, all alpha personalities, followed him. He was a good man and a good leader.

I hated the thought that what I’d done with Aline might cost me a job with this team, and I didn’t even want to think about what Cain would think, but I also knew I couldn’t keep it a secret forever. Lies had a way of coming back to bite a person in the ass. If nothing else, what I’d seen my brother Alec go through with his now-girlfriend Lumen would’ve convinced me of that.

But I wasn’t ready to confess just yet, especially with the other guys here. I wouldn’t do that to Aline. No matter how annoyed with her I was, I wouldn’t disrespect her that way. I had my asshole moments, but that was a line I’d never cross.

“I’ll write up the invoice and send it to Freedom,” Cain said as I finished my slightly edited recap of the mission. “We have one more order of business before we finish up.” He gestured at me. “Eoin has expressed an interest in joining the team.”

I was sure the guys had heard us talking on the plane on our way here, but Cain had explained that he had a certain process when it came to adding team members. As the boss, he’d technically offered me a job, but the others got to have a say in it too. He’d explained that if the majority said they didn’t want to work with me, he’d take back the job offer, but he expected the men to be able to say it to my face if they didn’t want me.

“Does anyone have any concerns?”

As I waited for the guys to answer Cain’s question, I kept my face blank. I wanted their honest thoughts, even if it meant I had to call Da and tell him that I didn’t actually have a reason to be moving to L.A.

“Just a question. If he’s hired, does that mean he has to pick up the next three rounds when we go out for drinks?” Bruce asked.

“I vote he picks up four,” Dez said. “I had to get four.”

“Because you went cheap on the first round,” Fever reminded him.

Dez grinned. “Right.”

Since it looked like I wasn’t in danger of being fired before I started, I decided to ask a question of my own. “Can the first round of these drinks I’m buying happen in, like, thirty minutes?”

That got a laugh.

“It can be a bitch unwinding after something like this,” Bruce agreed. “We get two days off after major shit if nothing’s already been scheduled, but sometimes, things are crazy enough that we need to start right after the debriefing’s done.”

“If there’s nothing else anyone needs to say…” Cain looked around the table and then grinned at me. “Congratulations, Eoin. First round’s on you.”

It said something about how tight I was wound that I barely even thought about the stares I might get going out in public. Then again, the five of us together would probably attract attention as a whole rather than just me individually. Dez even had a scar, though it wasn’t as noticeable as mine. His kinda looked like the one that guy fromAquamanhad.

“Got a favorite place here?” I asked as I pushed thoughts of scars from my head.

“J.B.’s,” Fever answered. “Decent food, pretty girls, great beer.”

I pushed to my feet. “Sounds perfect.”

The alcohol and the food appealed to me at least. I wasn’t so sure about a girl. First, unlike the other guys, I’d gotten laid last night. Second thing was related to the first. I couldn’t get that woman out of my head. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone else if I was thinking about Aline when I was with them. Again, not the sort of asshole I was.

I didn’t mind if the other guys wanted to get some. I’d head back to my hotel by myself and hopefully be exhausted and drunk enough to get some real, uninterrupted sleep. Not a bad way to end the day.

While the other guys went back to their places to shower and change, Cain dropped me off at my hotel and then went to his place. He offered to pick me back up, but I decided to take a cab instead. When I arrived at J.B.’s twenty-five minutes later, Dez was just pulling up, so we walked in together. Cain was waiting at a table already. Within ten minutes, Bruce and Fever joined us, and I headed to the bar to get our drinks.

I caught some looks being thrown my way, and most of them held pity, but I ignored everyone and just got back to the table as quick as possible. I was already starting to regret suggesting we go out for a drink. I should’ve just offered to buy us some beer to share at the office. Hopefully, once I got a beer in me, I wouldn’t care so much.

But it ended up being less the alcohol and more the other guys that helped me relax enough to not make an excuse and leave. I still wasn’t quite comfortable, but the guys were just letting me be, so I decided I’d stay until at least a while longer, and then I’d call a cab.

And then two familiar-looking women walked into the bar, and my plans went to shit.

Forty-Eight

Aline

I had grossly underestimatedmy family.

I’d known that my parents were going to be excessively overprotective when they first saw me, but this had gotten ridiculous. Like ‘following me to the bathroom and waiting outside the door until I came back out’ ridiculous, and Freedom was hovering almost as much.

I’d hoped that after we’d left the hospital with a clean bill of health for me that she would at least back off a bit, help run some interference with our parents. Instead, she’d talked to them as if I wasn’t even there, telling them most of what had happened with the doctor.

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