“Someone pretty much covered the east side of the building with graffiti. And not the artistic kind,” Tyree explained, anger lining his usually calm voice.
The Fix was located in an historic Austin building that took up the corner of one block on Sixth Street. Which meant that it had an entrance on Sixth Street, but also a long, limestone wall on the east side that had a few windows and went all the way back to the alley.
“We’ll find them and stop them,” Eva said, her hand closing over Tyree’s arm. “Brent’s on it.”
“I’ve had someone spray over the vulgar bits,” Brent said. “And Reece has called a contractor to come blast it off. But I want to make sure we have a better plan in place to catch taggers. Bonus points if we can implement something to prevent it.”
“Maybe it was a one-off,” Beverly suggested.
“I hope so,” Brent said. “But I’m planning for the worst.”
As he spoke, the front door burst open and Elena hurried in. Tall and slender with a stunning face and short dark hair, Beverly thought that the younger woman could easily be a model. The daughter of Tyree and Eva, she had features from both of them, and the combination was absolutely beautiful.
“What’s wrong?” Brent asked, almost simultaneously with Eva.
“I need to talk to you,” she said to Tyree. “And to you,” she added to Brent, who frowned. “It’s about the bar and the historical commission and it’s important.” Her words spilled out, falling over each other.
“Of course,” Brent said, taking her arm as he shot a glance toward Tyree. “We can talk right now,” he added, signaling for Jenna and Reece to follow.
Griffin frowned, wondering what was going on. He was about to ask if Cam had a clue when the door opened again, and this time Megan bounded in. “Is it true? Jenna just sent me a text and—Oh my God!”
She glanced between him and Beverly, zeroed in on their clasped hands on the bar, and practically sprinted across the bar. “About damn time,” she said, making Beverly laugh.
“I couldn’t agree more,” she said. “And yet at the same time, my timing sucks.”
Griffin frowned, not liking the sound of that. “What do you mean?”
“I have to leave for LA tomorrow first thing tomorrow morning. Crypto Games premiere, remember? I’ll be stuck there about a week with interviews and publicity and photo ops and all that good stuff. I’m not knocking it—I mean, it’s the job, and it’s great—but the timing sucks.”
“Doesn’t have to,” Megan said. “Griff’s got family in LA. And since he’s a writer, he’s portable. You should go, too,” she added, turning her attention to him.
Beside him, Beverly shifted on her stool, facing him more directly. “That’s an amazing idea. Would you? Do you want to? You could even come to the premiere with me,” she added, making his pulse kick up and his mouth go dry with horror. “It would be fabulous for you to be my date, and we—”
She swallowed, obviously realizing what she was suggesting. “Actually, just having you in town would be fabulous. The premiere thing was me running off at the mouth, and I wasn’t thinking about—”
He pressed his hand over hers, silencing her as relief flooded him. “I’d love to come,” he said sincerely. “But I think I’ll skip the premiere. After all, I already had a private screening with the star. I can’t imagine it would get any better than that.”
And then, as much to hide his anxiety as because he wanted to, he leaned over and—with Cam and Mina and Megan watching—he drew her close for a long, slow kiss.