“No she doesn’t,” Mack protested.
“The hell she doesn’t. Ask anybody in the room.”
More laughter was heard around the bar. Mack grabbed his beer and walked off, grumbling, “Assholes.”
Crash took a hit off his beer.
Cole did the same, and then looked over at him. “How’re things going with Shannon?”
Crash looked over at him. “Fine.”
Cole studied him. “What’s the matter, brother?”
A grin pulled at Crash’s mouth. His brother could read him like a book. Not surprising since they’d known each other since they were kids. “Just hate leaving her alone, you know?”
“You want me to take you off this tonight? We don’t need you, brother. I got enough boys.”
Crash hesitated. “Naw. She’ll probably be fine.”
“Brother, I know you. If you got a feeling about this, it’s for a reason.”
“She’s just been kinda jumpy, you know?”
r /> Cole nodded. “Stay home. We got this tonight.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah.” He nodded toward Crash’s beer. “You should finish that and get back.”
Crash nodded.
Cajun stumbled over.
“You want to play pool, Cajun,” Green asked.
“I’ve been drinking all day.”
“Good, then we’re playing for money.”
*****
Crash pulled in his garage and called Shannon to send the elevator down. After a few moments, it started rattling its decent. When he ascended and threw open the gate, Shannon was nowhere to be found. He strolled through the loft, glancing in the bedroom, bathroom, and finally headed up the stairs to find Shannon sitting up on the roof.
She twisted to look at him when she heard the door open.
“Hello,” she greeted him with a smile.
He moved toward her, coming around the side of her chair. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“What the hell is that?” Crash asked, stopping dead when he saw what she was holding. A skinny, orange tabby cat.
“A kitten. Well, it’s barely older than a kitten.” She held the thing up to her nose. “Aren’t you, Eddie?”
“Christ, you’ve named it already?”
She grinned, cuddling it to her. “Yup. I named him Eddie for Eddie Van Halen. I name all my cats after famous guitarists.”