“I’m getting too old for this shit. Bar brawls with bikers, armed robbery on a Sunday, this is getting to be too much.”
I saw Rome wince a little but the older guy just clapped him on the shoulder and shook his head.
“I’ll finish up with the cops; you go check on the Southern Casanova.”
I took his hand in mine and led him across the parking lot. He nodded at a couple of the regulars and looked down at me.
“Thanks for dropping everything and racing over here. I couldn’t get ahold of Brite. I was worried something happened to him. Asa only said he was robbed and then hung up. Every worst-case scenario I could think of started running through my head.”
I bumped his shoulder with my own and grinned up at him. “But instead of going off the deep end, you called me and asked for help. That’s all you can do, big guy.”
He looked like he was going to say something back but ended up grunting in surprise when Ayden shoved Asa in the chest with both hands so hard that he actually stumbled back a few steps into us. Jet swore and wrapped his obviously angry bride up in a tight grip.
“Ayd, cool it. There are cops everywhere and I don’t need to spend one of my few days home getting your fine ass out of jail.”
She was breathing hard and her light eyes were glowing in a way only pure fury could provide.
I grabbed Asa’s elbow and turned him around to look at me. His mouth was pulled down tight in a frown, and he was meeting his little sister glare for glare.
“Hey now. What’s all this noise about?”
He pulled away from me and shoved his hands through his tousled blond hair.
“Ask her. It’s not bad enough I just had a gun shoved in my face and had to hand over the entire till to some asshole in a ski mask, but Miss Perfect Timing has to show up and accuse me of being in on it.”
Jet swore, Rome frowned, and Ayden stood stubborn, with her arms crossed over her chest.
“I know you better than anyone, Asa. I know it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility.”
“Ayd.” Jet’s tone was warning, but he was running soothing hands up and down her arms. “Maybe not the time or the place, yeah?”
She shook her dark head and continued to glare at her brother.
Rome looked at Asa out of the corner of his eye.
“What exactly happened?”
Asa sighed and started to pace back and forth in front of us. I knew he had a shady history, a spotty reputation at best, but this seemed pretty terrible. I didn’t want to imagine he could have anything to do with it, but Ayden’s stony expression made me have my doubts.
“I was setting up the Bloody Mary bar just like I do every Sunday. There were only a few regulars sitting at the bar and Brite told me he had to run a couple errands, so I was on my own. I went in the back to get a case of vodka, and when I came back to the front a guy in a black mask, wearing a flannel shirt and jeans, was behind the bar messing with the register. I was confused, so I asked him what he was doing there, and when he turned he had a freaking Glock pointed at my face.”
As he told his sister the rundown he refused to look at anyone but her. It was like he was trying to force her to believe him, even though it was doubtful she would.
“He told me to get on the other side of the bar. He emptied out the register and took off out the front door. It happened in like a minute.”
“He didn’t say anything else?” Rome’s voice was gruff and I could tell he was struggling with the robbery happening while he wasn’t there. He cared a lot about this place, cared a lot about Brite. This was a surefire way to get all that guilt he struggled with on a daily basis churning up inside of him.
Asa shifted those glittering gold eyes in our direction. “He said, ‘Payback’s a bitch.’”
I looked up at Rome, who was now scowling.
“You know what that means?”
He grunted. “Did you tell Brite that?”
Asa nodded. “Yeah, and he told me not to mention it to the cops.”
“What? Why?” Rome wrapped his hand around the back of my neck and dropped a kiss on the top of my head.
“I think he knows who was behind it.” Rome switched his attention to Ayden. “Lay off on your brother, girly. People change, sometimes not always for the better, but they do change. You’re never going to be able to move forward if you’re always thinking the worst of each other.”
He flicked his gaze down to me.
“Give me a couple minutes to talk to Brite and we can head out. Rule dropped me off.”
I chuckled a little. “You’re going to ride in the Cooper?”
He groaned and walked away without another word. I’m not going to lie: I watched his ass the entire way until Ayden’s voice broke through my reverie.
“Asa.” Her tone was half conciliatory and half resigned.
Asa held up a hand and shook his head. I thought he looked sad, or maybe reconciled to the fact that Ayden was only ever going to see him one way.
“Just don’t. I appreciate all you have done for me, that you could have just left me in that hospital, that I will never, ever be able to repay you, Ayd. But I’m not always going to be the bad guy. I like it here. I like this bar, and believe it or not, I respect the hell out of Rome. He is a good guy. I wouldn’t want to do anything to screw him over. I know you think I’m only capable of looking out for myself, but almost dying gave me a slightly new outlook on life. Having your little sister save your ass endlessly gets old.”
Ayden seemed stunned into silence, so Jet tried. “Asa, man, come on. You guys can work this out later.”
The blond head shook in the negative.
“No. Obviously there is nothing left to work out.”
He turned those liquid-gold eyes on me and I could practically feel the sincerity shining out of them.
“I’ll be out by the end of next week.”
I sighed. “You don’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I do. Besides, you’re going to need room for that baby at some point.”
Well, crap. Why hadn’t I thought of that? Rome and I hadn’t talked about that part of our future. It still seemed so far off; besides bigger boobs, mood swings, and the barest little rounding in my belly, I didn’t look or feel that different, so I guess it was easy to forget I had a baby I needed to be preparing for. We switched back and forth between his place and mine, but neither was really an ideal environment for a newborn. I mean my house was great and had the room, if it wasn’t currently all occupied.
“I’m sorry.” Ayden’s voice was strained and sounded tiny. Jet just held her closer and muttered soft words into her dark hair.
Asa gave her a sad smile. “I’m sure you are and I am, too, but I can’t be around you if you always think I’m going to be up to something.”
She gave a broken little laugh. “You always are.”
“I always was.”
With that, he turned around and walked over to where some of the grizzled regulars were still gathered. I watched as they all shook his hand and clapped him on the back. Clearly, just like they had done for Rome, they had welcomed Asa’s lost soul into their fold.