Taste for Trouble (10 page)

“And
Will has this information?”

“Boy’s
got this crazy memory. Remembers every little thing he’s ever read and most of
what he’s heard or seen. Damn handy in a manager.”

“I’ll
bet.”

“He
can do mental math, too. Huge numbers. Fun stuff at a party.”

“Huh.”
She let James tow her through the crowd while she chewed on that interesting
bit of information. “What does Drew do?”

“Drew?”

“Yeah.
What’s his superpower? I mean, you’re an elite athlete—your current
out-of-shapeness notwithstanding—Will’s some sort of brainiac. What does Drew
do?”

James
thought for a moment then smiled. “Drew’s a two-fer.”

“A
two-fer? How’s that?”

“Well,
on one hand, he can charm the circuits off any e-thing you’ve got. Jacked our
first Wii so that Will double faulted at deuce every time he got to the finals
at Wimbledon. It took weeks for Will to figure it out and deliver the beat
down.” He smiled fondly, the memory of his brothers pounding one another to a
pulp evidently warming his heart. “Kid was all of fifteen.”

“And
on the other hand?” Bel asked, amused. “What’s Drew’s other superpower?”

“He falls
in love.”

Her
eyebrows shot up. “With whom?”

“Everybody.
He’s our heart and soul. Our conscience.”

“Some
conscience.” She sniffed. “If I remember correctly, he sat by like a
beer-swilling lump while you talked my fiancé into abandoning me on live TV.”

He
gave her a look of mild exasperation. “Setting aside the fact that the wedding
thing
wasn’t my fault
, why would Drew squawk about a guy deciding to
follow his heart?”

“Setting
aside the fact that it
was too your fault
, a decent conscience doesn’t
let you shame, humiliate or otherwise harm somebody like that. Following your
bliss is no excuse to damage other people.”

“So
you should go ahead and marry somebody you don’t love to keep them from getting
hurt?”

“No.
But you should keep your promises.”

“And
if you can’t?”

“Then
the burden’s on you to make it right.”

“To
whose satisfaction?”

She
frowned. “What?”

“Who
gets to call when it’s tit for tat? When you’ve paid enough? What happens when
you have the bad luck to owe somebody who’s never going to be satisfied?”

“Everybody’s
satisfied eventually.”

He
snorted out a laugh, then swallowed it when she cut him a razor sharp look.

“There
is nothing funny about living up to your obligations,” she told him.

“No,
ma’am,” he said, suddenly sober. “There surely isn’t.”

They
walked in silence for a few moments then arrived at the bar. James looked
around, nonplussed. “Well, this is unusual.”

“What?”

“This
here’s an open bar. And Will and Drew aren’t glued to it.” He peered into the
milling crowd. “I reckon we’ll just have to wait for it then.” He turned to the
bartender. “You don’t happen to stock Shiner Bock, do you?”

The
bartender popped the cap from a beer bottle and passed it over. James dropped a
twenty in the brandy glass posing as a tip jar on the counter and glanced at
Bel.

“Don’t
tell me. White wine spritzer?”

Bel studied
him. “No, thanks. Wait for what?”

James
took a pull on the bottle. “What?”

“You
said we’d have to wait for it. Because Drew and Will aren’t here. Wait for
what?”

“Oh.”
James leaned an elbow on the bar. “You’ll know it when you hear it.”

“Hear
what?”

Will’s
voice rose above the din of a hundred conversations. “Hey, why so unfriendly? You
wiggled your ass for tips last night and now you won’t even talk to us?”

Bel froze
and James set aside his beer.

“That,”
he said. A grim resignation replaced the perpetual cheery optimism in his face
and he said, “Excuse me.”

Bel
jerked out of her wide-eyed paralysis and scurried after him. “Hey, wait!”

She
caught up with him just as he broke through the crowd that had gathered around
his two brothers and a waitress.

“Will,
for God’s sake.” Drew shoved his shoulder between the waitress and his brother,
backed Will up with the force of his body and held out placating hands to the woman.
“I’m so sorry,” he told her. “My brother’s drunk.”

“Not
really, but wouldn’t that be nice?” Will side-stepped Drew and smiled down at
the waitress. It was anything but nice.

“I
don’t want any trouble,” the woman said, her cheeks pale, her tray flattened
against her chest like a shield.

“We
won’t give you any.” Drew shot Will a stern look and hooked him by the bicep. “We’ll
just be on our—”

“Screw
that.” Will shook off Drew’s hand and leaned down toward the woman’s bent head.
“Listen, sweetheart. You work at a strip club, all right? You show off your
goodies for tips. We probably ponied up a car payment last night alone. And now
you won’t even acknowledge us? What kind of customer service is that?”

Bel
glanced at James. “Your favorite stripper?”

“Just
a waitress, I think.”

She
gave him a hard look and he gave her a roguish grin in return. “At our favorite
strip club, yes.”

She
sighed. Had she really imagined they didn’t frequent strip clubs? That they
didn’t pay to ogle naked breasts and drink themselves stupid? Good lord, what
had she gotten herself into?

“Okay,
that’s enough.” Drew shoved Will. Hard. “You’re speaking to a lady, Will. Dig
up some respect.”

Will
took a stumbling step, then caught his balance. His hands curled into fists and
his lips curved into a glittering, violent smile. “Or what, baby brother?”

“What,
you want me to make you?” Drew’s hands—his very big hands, Bel thought wildly—clenched
into fists at his sides. Oh dear God.

“Oh,
please,” Will sneered. “Like you’re going to swing on your own brother over
some
stripper
.”

“Well,
shit.” James sighed. “That’ll do it.”

Panic
fluttered weak wings in Bel’s chest. “Do what?”

James
shook his head. “Drew’s real protective of women.”

“He’s—”
Bel’s tried to digest that one but her logic couldn’t keep it down. “He goes to
strip clubs,” she said blankly. “You can’t be both protective of women and
patronize strip clubs.”

“He’s
especially protective of strippers.”

“That
doesn’t make sense.”

James
rolled up each cuff one more turn. “Better get in there before Drew takes that
swing.”

“Before
Drew—” Bel couldn’t breathe.

“Hmmm.”
James squinted. “Or Will.”

“They’re
going to
fight
?”

“Definitely.
At this point it’s just a question of here or at home.”

She
stared, open-mouthed. He returned the stare as if awaiting instructions. She
slapped his arm, hard. “At
home
, James!”

“You
got it.”

He
jogged forward and caught Will’s elbow which was—dear God—cocked back for the
first punch. Then he tapped the back of Will’s knee with the front of his own and
suddenly Will was hopping for balance instead of swinging on his baby brother. James
inserted himself neatly between his brothers and addressed the waitress.

“Pardon
us, ma’am,” he said. Drew scowled at Will across the breadth of James’
shoulders, his jaw tight and hard. In return, Will gave him a sick parody of a
grin that showed all his teeth and made Bel shudder. “My brother’s an ass.” James
paused to give Drew a speaking look. “They both are, actually.” Drew, at least,
had the grace to flush and look down. Will’s smile just got uglier. “We won’t
bother you anymore.”

“Fine.
Good. Excuse me.” The waitress shouldered her tray and Bel finally got a look
at the curves that had earned the woman a car payment’s worth of tips last
night. Impressive, even in the demure black skirt and white blouse of her
uniform. But she also saw tendons standing out on alarmingly thin wrists as she
gripped her tray. Noted the bloodless press of her lips and the doggedly
down-cast eyes. The woman hustled toward escape, giving Will the kind of wide berth
you’d give a growling dog.

His
hand flashed out like lightning, faster than a drunk guy could be expected to
move. He snagged her elbow and hauled her back.

“No,
no. Come on, wait,” Will said. “I’m an idiot, right? Of course. How could I
forget?” He pulled a thick fold of cash from his pocket, peeled off a couple of
bills, tossed them on her tray. “Women like you don’t do anything for free.”

“Oh
my God.” Drew moaned more than said it. “Shut up, Will. Now.”

Will
ignored him. “How much, ah,
friendliness
will that get me?”

“
Enough
,”
James said, and the single word cracked like a whip, freezing all the players
like actors on a stage. That slow drawl, the easy slouch and the sunny grin
disappeared like smoke leaving behind a man Bel hardly recognized. A man whose closed
face, knotted fists, and set shoulders spoke of economical, effective violence.

A
soldier
, Bel realized on a slap of
shock.
A warrior
. This was a man who’d made his fortune being faster,
tougher, stronger than the world’s most talented athletes. And she’d mistaken
him for a golden retriever? Her powers of observation really were crap these
days. She needed to work on that.

“That’s
enough, Will,” he said again, his voice quiet and hard. “We’re leaving. Now.”

He
seized Will’s elbow with one of those uncompromising fists and pointed him
toward the exit, but the woman slapped a hand in the center of Will’s chest. James
paused with grave courtesy while she stared at the money on her tray as if
she’d never seen anything like it.

“Thank
you,” she said to James. “It’s been a while since anybody defended my honor. I
appreciate it. But I’d like to say something.”

James
nodded and released Will’s elbow. He stepped back, giving Bel her first good
look at the woman’s face. God, she was young. Twenty-two, maybe twenty-three,
tops. But that wasn’t what had Bel staring. It was the girl’s face. Good lord,
she was
gorgeous
. No, not gorgeous, Bel corrected herself. Beautiful. The
classic sort of beautiful that inspired sculptors to sculpt, painters to paint
and overgrown frat boys with too much money to drop hundreds of dollars on
tips. She’d kept herself so contained, head bent, eyes down, voice quiet. But
now with twin spots of color raging along her milk-pale cheekbones, with her crystal
blue eyes spitting fury under that golden chop of hair she was magnificent.

And
she was going to shred Will.

Bel
melted back into the crowd, gave the girl some space.

“Forty
bucks,” the woman said, still fingering the money. “Wow. Forty whole dollars.” She
tucked her tray under her arm and propped a hand on her hip with a calculated
slink. “For this kind of money, I might bend over nice and low when I set down
your drink. I might laugh at your stupid jokes and smile at your tired,
lame-ass pick up lines. As if I haven’t heard them all a million times already
from every other asshole in the room. I might even ignore it if your hand
happens to land on my ass once or twice. Because, hey, I’m not proud. I do what
it takes to survive, and that means putting on the uniform—however much or
little of it there may be on any given night—and doing the job. Because unlike
you, I don’t have a filthy rich brother to finance my life of leisure.”

Will
cocked a brow with a weary mix of disdain and calm curiosity. But the skin
stretched taut over his cheekbones and Bel wondered if the little waitress knew
how accurately she’d aimed that last arrow.

“But
let me be clear on this,” she went on, “because I am sick and tired of jerks
like you mistaking what’s for sale here. Forty bucks does
not
buy you my
interest. It doesn’t buy you my respect and it doesn’t buy you even an ounce of
my honesty.”

A
man with a careful comb-over, a starter paunch and an air of anxious authority
appeared at the edge of the silent circle of spectators. “Audrey,” he said, a
warning edge in his tone. “Is there a problem here?”

“No,
Jeff,” Audrey said, her fierce gaze still pinned to Will. “There’s been a
slight misunderstanding about what’s on the menu, but I’m clearing it up.”

“Now
Audrey, is that any way to treat our guests of honor?” Jeff sent the Blake
brothers a worried smile. “I apologize, gentlemen. Our staff is well-trained to
accommodate special requests. I’m sure we can provide whatever you need.” He
turned a pointed look on his waitress. “Why don’t you take a break, Audrey? I’ll
see to these gentlemen.”

She
snapped her mouth shut, struggling visibly to reel in her temper and save her
job. Bel bit her own tongue against the desire to defend the poor girl. Will
was being an ass and nobody, regardless of their station in life, deserved to
take crap served up from a faulty sense of entitlement. But her job was to
improve James’ public image and getting entangled in a high profile kerfuffle
with the wait staff her first night on duty wasn’t going to help matters.