Grinning wide, the guy sauntered our way, nothing but muscles and tattoos.
All night, he’d been throwing back shots like they were water.
Celebrating hard.
The same way he did everything.
Ian lifted his glass as he approached. “To Mack, the biggest, burliest, oldest motherfucker I know. Happy birthday, man.”
“Eat rocks, asshole. You mean the baddest motherfucker you know.” Mack lifted his thick arms out to the sides, his beer sloshing over the rim.
“Ah, pretty sure he meant oldest, my friend,” I said, unable to stop the grin from riding my mouth. “But since it’s your birthday, I’ll let you go on believing that,” I continued with the raise of my glass. “You know, since you’re going senile and all.”
“You just wish you could be me with all my wisdom.” His blue eyes gleamed, a chuckle on his lips. “And I thought we’d already established not to go knocking the years, considering you’re right behind me.”
He was right. The years went by faster than we expected. On instinct, my gaze moved back to where Faith was dancing with her friends.
Courtney grabbed Faith’s hand, moving with her, the two of them free and completely letting go.
Swore I got lost in it, in the years separating us. Through all the experiences we’d each had. I had to wonder if even a single one of them mattered to me without her.
I was jarred out of the trance by Ian’s hard chuckle. “You going soft on me now, brother?”
My attention whipped back to him. “Never.”
“You sure about that?”
He took a pull of his whiskey, his attention trained on Faith, who tilted her head toward the ceiling and . . .
Laughed.
She fucking laughed.
My heart twisted in my chest, beating wild at the sight.
Ian pointed at her with the hand he had clutched around his glass. “She’s always made you that way.”
“And what way is that?”
“A believer.”
“And why do you make it sound like that’s a bad thing?”
“It is if it makes you do stupid things.”
Everything clenched. She had. That belief making me both strong and weak. But Ian was wrong to think any of the choices I’d made had been Faith’s fault. The choices I’d made were on me. Were on Joseph.
Mack sobered. “How’s she holding up?”
“She’s the strongest person I know.”
A sigh pilfered from his mouth. “I hate this, man. Having no leads. These assholes keep getting in and out without leaving a trace. Right under our fucking noses.”
Mack gave a harsh shake of his head. “The call we got on that office downtown last weekend yielded nothing. The only thing I could take from it was they were looking for something specific and came up empty-handed, and that did not make them happy. Entire place was trashed. But that’s where the clues ended. This is no hack job. Whoever is behind this knows what they’re doing.”
Unease rustled through my consciousness. “But we already knew that, didn’t we, that these assholes know what they’re doing? Joseph couldn’t have been involved in this for as long as he had without his dumb ass getting caught.”
“We assumed it, yeah, but how the fuck can I prove it when every name we have runs dry? It’s driving me crazy.”
Pointedly, he swung his gaze to me. “You tell her yet?”
Dread clotted the blood sloshing through my veins. Cold ice sliding down my spine, freezing everything, because I knew what confessing everything would do. “Just can’t stand for her to go through any more,” I told him.
And I knew this was going to gut her.
“You can’t protect her from everything.”
“Can’t I?” I tossed back out, my eyes narrowed as I watched her, those legs so damned long and that body so damned tempting.
I wanted to cross the room and take her in my arms.
Pull her against my chest.
Put my hands and my mouth all over her body.
Let every asshole in the room who was salivating over her know she was mine.
Seemed it was me who she needed protection from. Knowing I was going to shatter that all over again was torture.
And still, I couldn’t slough the determination I could feel like a steel lining beneath my skin.
Mack released a low rumble of amusement. “For someone who was just coming here for a short time to make sure she was safe, make a little amends for the guilt you’ve been wearing, you sure seem to have your foot firmly planted in the door.”
Soft, Ian mouthed again.
I shot him a glare. “Such an asshole.”
He quirked a brow. “You say that as if it might offend me.”
He said it like a joke, but there was no missing the truth behind it.
A low chuckle rumbled from him, and he leaned back against the wall where I was standing.
“Seriously, Jace . . . you’re slipping. I can feel it,” Mack cut in, drawing attention back to the situation.
“Nothing’s changed. I’m here for one reason, and one reason only,” I gritted, refusing the hope that threatened to climb into my spirit. The love that wanted to grow. God knew, that love was dangerous for us both.