“If you don’t know, not gonna tell you,” she muttered, then louder, “After I get off work, I’ll meet you guys at the game.”
Garrett felt his brows draw together. “Do you wanna go to the game after a shift at the bar?”
“It won’t be long. And anyway, I wanna relieve you from duty. I also gotta get into my house and you’ll have my keys,” she answered.
“Watchin’ the Bulldogs play ball is hardly ‘duty,’ brown eyes,” he informed her. “Go home. Put your feet up.”
“Merry—”
He rolled back from his desk, leaned down, elbows to his knees, eyes to the floor, focus now entirely on his girl so he could reassure that girl.
“Guys’ night out,” Garrett said softly. “I got Ethan. We’ll talk man shit and I’ll feed him and make sure he and his bud are good. I’ll get them home. You finish your shift, go home, relax, unwind, prepare, ’cause I want my girl rested and ready for our Saturday.”
Cher said nothing.
When this went on too long, he called, “Baby?”
He heard her clear her throat before she told him, “I have a spare set of keys in my junk drawer in the kitchen. Ethan can show you. Could you drop them by J&J’s sometime before the game so I can get in while you guys are out?”
“Absolutely.”
She again didn’t reply.
So he asked, “You okay?”
“No.”
It was a whisper and his focus sharpened.
“No?” he asked.
“No,” she said. “Ethan’s gonna love this. Guy time. Man talk. Showin’ you off to Teddy. And I love it, knowin’ I don’t gotta say he can’t have somethin’ he wants because I gotta work and I can’t find anyone to give it to him. So no, Merry, I’m not okay. This is not an okay feeling. This feelin’ is me bein’ fucking happy.”
His throat closed, his chest tightened, and his first reaction was to disconnect the call. But at the same time, his gut had warmed because it felt so damned good just giving Cher that emotion and also doing it knowing she hadn’t had a lot of it in her life.
He powered past his first reaction and told her, “I’ll walk down to the bar in a few to get the keys, babe. Yeah?”
“Yeah, gorgeous. See you then.”
“Later, Cher.”
“Later, Merry…and thanks, honey.”
“No problem.”
He disconnected, straightened in his chair, and rolled back to his desk. He felt Mike’s gaze, so he lifted his to his friend’s.
“Take it we got a ten-year-old for ride-along this afternoon,” he remarked.
“If that’s gonna be a problem for you—” Garrett started.
Mike shook his head. “Ethan’s a good kid. We’re in doin’ paperwork, so he’s not stopping us from doin’ shit we need to do. And not like he hasn’t hung with the guys before.”
That was true. It hadn’t happened often, but on occasion over the years when Cher needed him because there was no one else to help, Colt had brought Ethan in.
Garrett looked across the room.
Colt was sitting at his desk, grinning at something Sully was saying, Sully sitting across from him.
She hadn’t asked Colt.
She’d asked Garrett.
That felt great.
And it made him uneasy.
“Kid’s a good kid,” Mike said, and the change in his tone caught Garrett’s attention. “Woman’s a good woman. I believe in you, brother. Sittin’ across from me is a man who hasn’t had it all. A man who thought he did and lost it but learned different. Who’s watched his friends make poor decisions and bounce back. Who now has a shot at gettin’ it all and is old enough not to be stupid.”
That meant a lot, coming from Mike.
But Garrett wasn’t going to share that.
Instead, he grinned and gave him shit.
“You should be a therapist, Mike. Open your own clinic. Call it ‘Don’t Be a Dumb Fuck Treatment Center.’”
Mike grinned back, returning, “You bein’ my first client, thinkin’ of adding, ‘How Not to Be a Smartass.’”
“That might be a tougher addiction to kick,” Garrett told him.
“You might be right. Though, this line of work, run into a lot more dumb fucks than smartasses.”
“Truth,” Garrett muttered.
Hold On
Kristen Ashley's books
- Holding the Dream
- Dance Upon the Air
- High Noon
- Moon Island(Vampire Destiny Book 7)
- Illusion(The Vampire Destiny Book 2)
- Upon A Midnight Clear
- Son Of The Morning
- MacKenzie's mission(MacKenzie Family Saga #2)
- Loving Evangeline(Patterson-Cannon Family series #1)
- A Billionaire's Redemption
- A Convenient Proposal
- A Dishonorable Knight
- A Headstrong Woman
- A Passion for Pleasure
- Atonement
- Beyond a Doubt
- Beyond Control
- Cavanaugh on Duty
- Colton's Dilemma (Shadow Breeds)
- Conceal, Protect
- Conflict of Interest
- Confessing to the Cowboy
- Dreams Don't Wait
- Explosive Attraction
- Find Wonder in All Things
- Forbidden Fires (Bondage & Breakfast)
- Galveston Between Wind and Water
- Game On
- Gone with the Wolf
- Honor's Players
- Illusions of Love
- Intaglio Dragons All The Way Down
- Just One Song
- Living London
- Lone Wolf (Shifters Unbound)
- Love Resolution
- Lyon's Crew
- Mountain Moonlight
- Need A Want Companion Novel
- Of One Heart
- Once a Bad Girl
- Once a Thief
- Once Again a Bride
- Once and Again
- Once Touched, Never Forgotten
- Once Upon a Kiss
- Once Upon a Prince
- One Desert Night
- One More Kiss
- One More Sleepless Night
- One Night of Misbehavior
- One Night Standoff
- One Texas Night
- Only Love (The Atonement Series)
- Operation Endurance
- Primal Bonds
- Questions of Trust A Medical Romance
- Reflection Point
- Retribution
- Savage Redemption
- Second Chance
- Secure Location
- Someone I Used to Know
- Son of a Preacher Man
- Soul Bonded
- Sunset Seduction
- Sweet as Honey (The Seven Sisters)
- Sweet On You
- Tempting Cameron
- That Carrington Magic
- The Bridgertons Happily Ever After
- The Demon's Song
- The Dragon and the Pearl
- The Lone Rancher
- The Millionaire Cowboy's Secret
- Translation of Love
- Twisted Perfection
- Vision In White
- When Love's Gone Country
- The Lost Tycoon
- Down on Her Knees
- Love, Your Concierge
- A Demon Made Me Do It
- Campbell_Book One
- The Lady of Bolton Hill
- Born to Ride_A Clubhouse Collection
- A Question of Honor
- Blood on Copperhead Trail
- Passion and the Prince
- Top Secret Twenty-One
- Dungeon Royale
- Make Me Bad(Private Lessons)
- My Fair Billionaire
- Writing Our Song:A Billionaire Romance
- Kissed by Moonlight
- Redemption in Love
- The Masterful Mr. Montague
- Diamonds are Forever
- Every Second with You
- If You Only Knew