Page 38 of Jump

Kids run around, and parents keep a close eye. Alcohol is consumed, but no one is loud or obnoxious. No one makes a dick of themselves or puts anyone in danger. Fuck, but this entire show is entirely respectable and pleasant.

Which makes my crew’s attendance somewhat superfluous.

“Do a walkthrough.” I wave Ivy one way, and Sloane another. “No noise,” I tell them. “We’re not alarming anyone. We’re just here to keep an eye on things.”

“Yes, Lieutenant.” Sloane grabs Rizz and starts circling to the left.

“They’re up in the middle,” Axel mumbles on my right.

He and I are… enemies at best. And yet, we gravitate toward each other. It’s a companionable thing. A comfort, when hanging with someone else would be far worse.

The devil you know, and all that.

“Third row back,” he clarifies. “In the center.”

I follow his gaze and catch sight of Hannah’s ponytail, sitting high above her head. She’s tall as hell, which makes her torso long and her head higher than the woman beside her. But I’ll be damned if my eyes don’t instantly swing to the blonde. To her long locks, and her delicate shoulders.

We stand a good distance behind them, so I don’t get to see her face. I don’t even get to see her profile. Her head faces the band, her neck, slightly arched, like she’s glancing down.

Hannah chatters to the people on either side of her. Jase on her right, and Viv on her left. She laughs and drinks. She’s a social being who can’t help but to be amongst the crowd.

But Viv doesn’t appear to be chatting back. Her head remains still. Her shoulders, square on and unmoving.

A dude on the end of the line, a profile I don’t recognize, turns in to face Viv. He talks at her. Smiling. Flirting. His very presence sets my teeth on edge, but Viv’s lack of response is enough to shrink the odd ball of dread sitting low in my belly.

He’s interested, but she’s not.

“We approaching, Lieutenant?” Axel’s shoulder brushes mine as he folds his arms and waits for instructions. “Or are we being normal, respectable men and not snooping on their independence?”

“You can be respectable if you want.” But I start forward, my turnouts swishing against my legs, and my boots thud, thud, thud-ing on the grass.

The band clocks us as we approach, but they literally don’t miss a beat. The blond drummer is a paramedic I work with more often than not, but tonight, he hammers at his drum kit and grins when our eyes meet.

The lead vocalist needs a haircut. The bass player needs to loosen up, and the last wears his hair long and tucked behind his ears.

Four men play in this band, and every one of them differs from the last. But together, they make a sound that soothes the soul and allows a man to relax.

If I had to sit outside at night and be around other people, I can think of worse things to listen to.

I nod for the fourth member and continue around chairs and picnic blankets. Little kids ooh and ahh and reach out to touch my pants when I’m close enough, which makes my approach less stealthy than I was hoping. But as I come up on Jase’s right, and Hannah’s eyes jump to mine without a single speck of surprise, relief washes through my veins when Viv remains oblivious.

Her attention, wholly and completely focused on the book in her lap and the pinky nail she nibbles between her teeth.

“She hasn’t said a word in an hour,” Hannah teases. She speaks at normal volume, but Vivian is engrossed enough to make her date scowl. “And she’s been too busy to drink, so you don’t have to worry about us, Lieutenant. We’re more sober than nuns.”

“Hey, Sully.” Axel steps through the crowd and stops at the back of her chair. Crouching, so he’s not blocking the view of those behind us, he grabs his girl under her chin and dips her head back until her lips are his for the taking. “You look good under the moonlight.”

“Hmm.” Smiling, she puckers her lips again and makes a sound in the back of her throat when he obliges her. “And you look equally good in that uniform. It’s at least ninety percent of the reason I’m attracted to you.”

“Whatever gets us over the line.” His hand remains on her throat, his thumb stroking the side of her neck. But he looks toward Viv and raises a brow. “She think she’s in a library?”

“She’s been obsessed with it all day.” Jase rolls his eyes. Sitting forward on his chair and selecting a beer cap from the grass at his feet, he chucks it at Viv’s leg, and snickers when it pings off of her knee and shoots into the air. “Wake up, boss. You’re being antisocial.”

Her brows furrow, and her mutilated fingernail drops away from her mouth. Lowering her book—my book—she turns to her employee to chew him out for his rudeness, but her eyes come to me instead. Surprised, then alarmed, she jolts in her seat and snaps my book closed with her thumb between the pages to hold her spot. “Matt.” Finally, she looks to Axel and pales. “When did you get here?”

“Just a minute ago.” He reaches over the seats and steals the book from her lap before she can fight him off.

Every reader knows the panic that comes with the thought of losing their current page, but Axel is considerate enough to stuff his thumb in before he turns the book over to read the back.

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