Page 37 of Gator's Gambit
“Sounds good.”
I help her into the car before stowing the suitcase in the trunk and going around to the driver’s side. Pulling out of my spot, Ihead for the highway that’ll take us back to Riverton. I point out all the things of interest along the way, and conversation flows easily, like it has pretty much our entire lives.
The woman from the airport’s words pop into my head, and I realize she summed Fancy up in the space of five seconds. A gentle spirit. That’s Fancy to a T. Yes, she can get upset, but it’s rare, and you have to havereallypissed her off to get her riled. For the most part, she sweet, happy, and gentle – a soothing presence in any situation, as Andrew experienced at the airport.
Once we hit Riverton, I take her around the area, showing her some of my favorite spots, ending with a slow drive past the base just as an Osprey is coming in to land.
“See the plane?” I point over at the troop carrier about to land. “It’s one just like that I called you from the other day.”
“Isn’t it a bit small for a transporting your teams?”
The next few minutes, on the drive over to Nero’s, are surreal. Never, at any point in time, did I ever consider the idea that I might be discussing military transport planes with Fancy. Too fucking weird.
Escorting her into Nero’s, I accidentally groan out loud when I spot my team sitting at a table in the back. While I do want to introduce Fancy to the guys during her visit, I didn’t mean for it to be quite so soon. I’m still contemplating making a quick getaway before anyone sees me, when Bear looks up and spots me.
“Heeey, Gator. Tried to get hold of you earlier – we decided to do lunch unexpect – ” I see the exact moment he spies Fancy. His words dry up, an evil grin spreads across his face, and I brace because I know what’s coming next.
Bear nudges Lucky seated beside him, talking to Digit. When Lucky turns to him, he nods in our direction. As I lean down to whisper in Fancy’s ear to make a run for it, Knight’s voice booms out across the restaurant.
“Gator, my man, come join us.” His grin tells me he knows exactly what he’s doing.
I hold up a hand, then bend to speak to Fancy as quietly as I can manage in the noise of the busy place.
“That’s my team leader and my teammates. We don’t have to join them if you don’t want to. We can go sit at a table by ourselves, or we can go somewhere else entirely. This is a regular hangout for the team, so I should have thought about the fact that there was a chance they’d be here. I’m sorry.”
The poor woman looks positively queasy as I peer down at her. Despite how obvious it is she’d rather face a firing squad than have lunch with these strangers, she swallows and gamely replies, “We can sit with them, if you want to.”
“I don’t, actually. I’d far rather have a quiet meal with you.” I’m not sure I understand the look of horror that crosses her face.
It’s a testament to how rattled Fancy is when she blurts, “We have to go sit with them. They’ll think I don’t want to meet them if we don’t, and then there’s zero chance I’ll get them to like me.” She claps a hand over her mouth as horror turns to dismay. It’s clear that wasn’t what she’d intended to say out loud.
Understanding where it’s coming from, I hug her to my side before taking her hand in mine and leading her over to the guys’ table. A hush falls over the table as we stop beside Knight’s seat. Angling my head so that Fancy can’t see me, I give each one the death stare, trying my damnedest to intimidate them into behaving.
Since he’s sitting at the head, and our leader besides, I turn to Knight and start the introductions with him. “Fancy, I’d like to introduce you to my team. Starting here, on your left, is the Boss Man himself – Knight, also known as Merrick Kane. Next to him is Dutch, known to his parents as Onyx Wilde.
“Next you have Scooter, or Beckett Archer. On the opposite side is Bear, or Xavier Dermot. Then Lucky, also known as Jessen Ambrose. And finally, Digit, or Treven Nicols. Guys, this is Fancy Gilmore.”
Under any other circumstances, Dutch’s jaw drop would have been hilarious. As I pan around the table, taking everyone’s expressions in, I’m surprised by them. They all have some degree of disbelief on their faces. Which should probably have warned me what was about to come out of Dutch’s mouth.
“TheFancy? As in, Em’s Fancy?”
“Yeah, Em’s Fancy,” I parrot.
An unholy glee lights up his eyes, and I give him another stare that could slice through metal. “Ooooh. I get it now.” His cryptic words are all he says, but that grin that has yet to fade warns that at some point he’s going to have something to say. I can only pray it isn’t in front of Fancy because I’m pretty sure it won’t be anything I want her to hear.
“Guys, scoot around so Fancy can sit here, beside me,” Knight says to Bear, Lucky, and Digit sitting on the bench seat of the booth.
With no intention of being relegated to the other side of the table and leaving her to deal with the guys, I grab a chair from the table that’s conveniently emptied behind us. Whacking Scooter on the arm, I motion for him to move down.
When finally we’re all settled again, I look over at Fancy and can only hope she understands the apologies in my eyes, since I can’t say them out loud.
18
FANCY
Dinner with Gator’s team turned out to be far more pleasant than I’d expected. The guys were great, and they seemed to like me well enough. They told me tales of adventures on missions, any embarrassing stories they could think of about Gator and ragged on him mercilessly. But through all of it, it was quite clear to see the love and respect, the bond between them.
Eventually though, fatigue caught up with me, and try as I might, I couldn’t quite hide the yawns.
