“He did?” A warmth was spreading inside of me.

  “He did. His boy was falling for his own shy girl at the time so who knows, maybe Zeke decided to take a back seat until everyone was okay, also something I wouldn’t be shocked about. For whatever reason, he decided to finally make his move. I’m happy for it. Happy for him. Happy for you. As long as he doesn’t fuck it up, I think both of you deserve some happy.”

  I was blinking back tears. The warmth was spooning in my chest, making me smile like an idiot at her.

  Taz sniffled. “That was the best speech.”

  “Thank you.”

  Taz leaned forward. “But you know what would’ve made it even better?”

  Heather swore. “Gah. You’re right. Drinks.” She got to work, but eyed Bren as she did. “Sure you don’t want one?”

  Bren shook her head. “I can’t. I—” She stopped herself, cursing under her breath. Her hand had been going to her stomach, and all of us figured out why.

  “NO WAY!”

  “OMG!” Taz was screaming.

  Heather was screaming.

  I was smiling and beaming, but still feeling my own happy. Heather ran around, hugging Bren, who cursed again, but nodded. She admitted, “No. I’m sorry. That came out wrong. I’m not pregnant. Just being cautious.” She fell quiet, but a little smile came out. “I didn’t mean to let it slip that way. We’ve been trying for another one.”

  “Either way, I’m still happy. You guys are trying.”

  They were hugging after that. The drinks got forgotten about, but I’d been pulled out of my own head enough where I could function.

  I went back behind the bar and made up the drinks. Taz noticed what I was doing, and after thanking me, she began squirreling them to the back. By the time Derek showed up, I had everything restocked, but slipped enough cash into the till to pay for the drinks.

  Heather and Bren had gone to the back. Taz grabbed the last drink and hurried behind them.

  Derek stepped around me, frowning. “You okay?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. Just life stuff. Thanks for filling in for me.”

  “No problem, but you’re sure that you’re okay?”

  My phone began ringing at that moment. Zeke calling.

  I told Derek the truth, taking the call as I did, “Honestly? I’ve never been better.” And phone to my ear, I asked in a rush, “Are you okay?”

  19

  ZEKE

  I wheeled into Manny’s parking lot and headed for the bar’s back door. Ava told me to pick her up there, and as soon as I parked, she was coming outside, looking all sexy and cute at the same time. Her face was flushed as she climbed in, shutting the door. “Are you okay?”

  She was all breathy, asking me, but she’d asked me on the phone earlier.

  I leaned over, beckoning for her. “Come here.”

  She frowned but leaned in. I touched my mouth to hers, and goddamn. Pure sunlight. That’s what she was. She hesitated, but after I coaxed her a little, she relaxed into the kiss, and she began tasting me back. I cupped the back of her head, holding her anchored as I took my sweet time saying hello to my girl. I was in love, and the taste was different.

  She was like sunlight and rainbows right after a heavy but needed rainstorm. I could breathe her in for the rest of my life. Happiness. She was mine.

  She pulled back and fanned herself. “What was that for?”

  “Just happy to see you.”

  She softened, her smile spreading a bit more. “Oh.”

  I grinned. “Oh.” She was hella cute.

  Her eyes got serious. “You were arrested?”

  My gut tightened up, but I nodded, shifting back and reversing the Jeep. We had an errand to run before heading back to the house. “I was.”

  “What happened?”

  “The guy was saying some shit he shouldn’t have been saying.”

  “What was he saying?”

  I was pulling out of the parking lot, turning right, and slid my gaze toward Ava’s. “Some shit no man should be saying.”

  “What’s going to happen?”

  I was replaying in my head what Logan Kade told me.

  “He has an open and shut case. They have witnesses. There was no provocation for what you did, no way you could claim self-defense, so at this point, you either need to get him to change his mind or you find something to bring to offer them instead.” He leveled me with a serious look. “You hearing me?”

  “Can I scare him?”

  “I would highly suggest against that, with this case, this guy.”

  “If he changes his mind, would they drop the charges?”

  “I can’t guarantee that, but I can tell you that they are motivated to work with you.”

  “I’m supposed to narc or something?”

  Logan inclined his head, checking his phone. “I wouldn’t use that word, but you have connections that their normal confidential informants aren’t able to access. You can think on that, otherwise buckle up. If you get a judge who hates privileged wealthy pricks, you could get screwed in the end.”

  “What would you do? If it were you? If the guy had been saying shit about your woman?”

  The phone went down, and Logan Kade set some scary eyes on me. “Then I would already be making calls to find anything on this piece of shit I could, and when I had whatever I needed to bury him, I’d pay him a visit. I’d make sure he’d be pissing his pants before I left. Course that’s contingent on if the DA would drop the charges if the guy wanted them dropped. My advice here? Find something on him to trade for you. And whatever you find, make sure it’s something they would salivate for.”

  I relayed to Ava the gist of what Kade said.

  She sat back, frowning. “What are you going to do? Who is this guy?”

  “Roger Mitchell.”

  “Roger Mitchell from my old bank?” She shoved forward, her nostrils flaring.

  “I’m taking that you don’t like him?”

  “He’s a piece of shit. You’re right when you said that. I stopped using their bank last year because of him. Every time I went in, I just felt dirty.”

  “What’d he do?”

  “Every time I’d go in for anything, they’d have to verify through him. He’d come out and handle whatever I needed himself. I hated it. Hated it. The dirty looks. The dirty compliments. I even tried doing the drive-thru, but he stopped that and made it where I’d have to come into the bank every time to either deposit a check or do a cash withdrawal. That’s not right. I love my new bank. I’m like a normal customer.”

  “He did that?”

  She nodded. “I thought that was normal since it’d been happening since I was sixteen.”

  “Sixteen?” I tightened my hold over the steering wheel, imagining it was his neck.

  The good news was that if he was doing that, I was sure he was doing other shit. “That’s abuse of power. If it came down to it, would you be willing to talk to a lawyer?”

  “You think that’s enough to get him to drop the charges?”

  “No, but it’s a start.”

  She nodded. “Yeah. Of course. I’ll do anything you need me to do.”

  There. Right there. It’s another reason I fell for her, and I had plans to tell her. Lots of plans. Elaborate plans, but not yet. We needed to go to battle first. I’d helped with this sort of shit, but it was always someone else’s fight. I’d been in the back, helping, supporting. This time, I was at the wheel. It was my fight.

  It was time I let people know just what I could do.

  20

  AVA

  We went back to Zeke’s house.

  “What are you planning on doing?” I asked as we walked inside.

  Zeke tossed his keys, went to the fridge, grabbed a beer, and stood, studying me. He took a sip before giving me a grin. “I’m going to hack him.”

  I raised my eyebrow. “You’re what?”

  He was nodding, talking to himself now. “Hack him. I bet there’s a ton of shit he’s hiding. I can get into his accounts. Figure it out and somehow give it to the DA in exchange for them dropping charges against me. Yeah. It could work.”

  My mouth was on the floor. “What? That sounds like a horrible idea. You could get added charges if you get caught.”

  “Nah. This will work.” He came over, pressing a kiss to my forehead. “This will totally work. This is a great idea.” He started down the hallway.

  I trailed behind him. “This is a horrible idea.” My phone was ringing, but I silenced it. I had a huge catastrophe here to prevent. “Zeke.”

  He went to the bedroom and started changing clothes.

  I perched on the bed, watching, but decided I should change too. He was pulling on comfy clothes, which okay. I loved comfy clothes. Since moving in with Zeke, that was one thing he’d asked us to do more. Or he asked me to do with him, lounging around, wearing pajamas all day, and goofing off. He explained that everyone did it. It was a basic human premise, to be lazy every now and then.

  It was now my favorite thing to do, but only with him. With myself, it wasn’t the same. I got restless, thinking how much money I could be making if I was working, and ended up heading somewhere to pick up a shift. Thank goodness my bosses all liked when I showed up and didn’t turn me away from fear of overtime or something.

  But he was pulling on some gym shorts and a T-shirt.

  I loved his T-shirts. God. Zeke’s chest could be like a Greek statue, and when he was inside me, raised and holding himself over me, his eyes on me, I about died every time. He had tattoos on one shoulder and chest, a tribal one that wound down his right arm, and it was the hottest thing ever to me.

  I was getting all hot and bothered, just thinking about it right now, but Zeke wasn’t noticing.

  He was padding barefoot around the room, nodding to himself. He was all hyped on his world domination plan, or his enemy domination plan. One that I thought was the stupidest plan ever.

  I pulled on some lounge pants and a tank top and padded barefoot after him as he was going back to the kitchen. He grabbed another beer, some sports drinks, water, and he filled his arms up with snacks. He gave me a lopsided grin, seeing me standing in the doorway. “You look super sexy right now.” He came over, saying, “I need to hack this guy. Save my ass, and then you and me, I’m going to show you the Tour of Europe.”

  “What?” I almost squeaked, my insides clenching at just what that could be.

  He gave my forehead a kiss before dropping to my mouth, and giving me another long and lingering one, one that had me a little short of breath. “Tour of Europe. You’ll see. I get inventive.”

  Okay. Ignoring the sudden pitter-patter in the middle of my chest, I followed him to his office, where he was putting everything around his computer.

  I frowned, seeing he was committed to this plan. “Zeke.”

  He glanced back, frowning right before he turned his computer on. “Yeah, babe?”

  Babe.

  I’d never been someone’s babe. Not even my ex had called me that, but looking at him, my mouth going dry at how good he looked, how earnest he was in breaking the law and seeing no problem in informing me that he was about to do what he was about to do, and now him calling me babe.

  I was his babe. I was his.

  “Did you used to come to Manny’s back in high school and sit in my section because it was my section?” I’d forgotten all about those times until Heather brought it up. Now, it was suddenly real important for me to know.

  He frowned a little but jerked his head in a nod. “Yeah. I told you that I used to see you too.”

  I remembered a time in Roussou. “I thought you were laughing at me.”

  He went still, quieting his voice. “When?”

  “When you and Blaise came to the pizza place in Roussou, to pick up a pizza for Aspen. You laughed at me.”

  “I wasn’t laughing at you.”

  I frowned. “You weren’t?”

  “I was laughing at Blaise. You asked if he was Aspen’s boyfriend, and I thought that was the funniest thing ever because no one asked Blaise random questions like that.”

  “They didn’t?”

  “Most were scared of that hothead. I liked that you were asking about Aspen. It made him feel off-balance, just a bit. I wanted you to ask him more questions.”

  “Right.” I was remembering the rest. “He got into a fight.”

  “Yep.” The pride coming from him was…well, that was just Zeke by now. “That’s my boy. I miss that piece of hothead shit. Wish he’d decide to play over here in the US.” He took a deep breath, sat down behind his desk, and began by pulling up the internet. “The way I see it, you have three choices right now.”

  “What are they?”

  He looked at me, and there was no cockiness, no smart joke, no teasing, no sexual innuendo. Nothing like that. It was just Zeke looking back at me. “I’m going to do this, so you can either pretend you don’t know what I’m doing, and I’d suggest heading out for the night so you can claim you didn’t know. The second option, call and report me. I know it’s wrong, but I’m going to do it anyways.”

  My mouth was dry again, and my heart was beating hard. “What’s the third option?”

  “Pull up a chair and keep me company.”

  I was wrong. It wasn’t just Zeke looking at me. It was my Zeke looking at me. Mine.

  I was his babe, and he was just mine.

  I went over to him and laid a kiss on him. “Kick some ass.”

  He was adorable when he hacked.

  He was quiet the whole time, but hunched over, and squinting. Randomly he’d reach for something to drink or eat, and he kept going. I knew the basics from college. Computers weren’t my forte. If I ever decided to pursue a more specialized degree, I’d need to learn, but so far, I enjoyed doing things with my hands. Zeke seemed in a whole different league, and I knew this wasn’t the first time I’d thought it. But it was the first time I wasn’t scared about it or felt small because of it. I was proud of it. I wasn’t proud of what he was doing, but in this day and age, it kinda felt nice knowing he had these skills.

  It was scary what people could do in the cyber world.

  My phone kept buzzing through the night, so I laid back on his couch and typed back to people.

  Tasmin: Checking in on you. You okay?

  Me: I’m good. With Zeke.

  Tasmin: Good! Back home, and I’m drunk, but had such a good time. You’re officially in the fold now. Do you want to do drinks sometime? Or lunch? Or coffee?

  This was different. Then again, since Zeke and I became Zeke and I, everything was different.

  Me: Lunch would be fun sometime.

  Tasmin: Great! I’ll reach out later in the week. I wouldn’t worry about Zeke. The guys always get into trouble, but they always get themselves out of trouble too.

  Me: That helps to hear. Thank you. Have a nice night.

  The other person was Bren.

  Bren: Hey — sorry if I came across as stern and overbearing. I was just worried, but I know Zeke’s a changed guy.

  I looked at him, as he was currently breaking the law a few feet away from me, then read the rest of her text.

  Bren: I’ve never seen him in love before. Just, I’m here if you ever need anything. I really am here. I don’t usually reach out like this to people so yeah.

  And that was major because I knew she didn’t. Bren was like me. She didn’t have a lot of female friends, or I didn’t think she did. Her crew. Her guy. Her family. Her job. That was Bren to me, but I wasn’t lying when I texted her back.

  Me: I know you care. I’ve always considered myself lucky to get that from you because I know you’re not like that with just anyone. And second, thank you. I really and truly mean it. Having friends is new to me so please excuse me if I’m a bit awkward in this text.

  And then there was Heather’s text, and I was laughing as I read it.

  Heather: I know enough to know that little smart punk is going to do something that’ll probably be illegal, but if you need an alibi, I got you. I know people. Also, delete this text after you read it. Also also, I hope we didn’t scare you tonight. That’s a small preview of the kind of girl squad we can pull in if we need to. You’ve not even met Mama Malinda officially. She doesn’t know about you and Zeke, but when she does, brace yourself. She’s a mountain of mama love. Also also also, just know whatever happens, I’m here for you. Channing’s here for you. My entire family is here for you. This was true since you were fifteen and first began working at Manny’s. Love you lots.

  Heather: If you have more ‘secrets’ for drinks, let me know because you could make a fortune private bartending. I had no idea how killer your drinks are. I’m so proud and rubbing it in Brandon’s face right now because he had no clue either.

  “You okay?” Zeke asked over his shoulder, not looking away from the computer screen.

  I settled back in, knowing I’d respond to Heather tomorrow. “Better than okay. I’m just right.”

  He glanced back, a small grin on his face, and one that had my chest feeling little flutters.

  Oh yes. He was all mine.

  I was going to tell him that I loved him tomorrow.

  That was my last thought before I fell asleep.

  “I got it!”

  I woke to Zeke’s cry, and then to his sudden, “Oh shit. Sorry, honey.”

  I’d been sleeping, and where was I? A couch. I was turned around and looked over my shoulder. He was coming over, his own tired smile on his face. “Hey, babe. I’m sorry to wake you up.”

  “What’s going on?”