Jax looked over at Ford, who was watching Tara go with a tight look to his mouth, eyes shuttered.
What the hell?
He was unable to ask Ford about it, because they were now even with Maddie’s table. Jax greeted her and then introduced Ford to Chloe.
While Maddie and Chloe made casual pleasantries with Ford, Jax took in the paperwork on their table.
Yeah, bills. And by the looks of things, lots of them.
The waitress came by to seat Jax and Ford, and they ended up on the other side of the cafe. Tara came out of the restroom, and Ford followed her with his eyes.
“What’s going on?” Jax asked him.
“What? Nothing.”
“You’re staring at Maddie’s sister.”
“Maybe Tara’s staring at
Jax leaned back and studied his oldest friend. “I never said which sister, and I sure as hell didn’t say her name, either.
“I’m a bartender. I know everyone.”
“You’re an athlete who happens to own half a bar. Cut the shit, Ford. What’s going on?”
Ford just shook his head, silent. Since Jax had given up destroying souls for a living, he’d admittedly become more easygoing and laid-back, but even so, Ford was just about catatonic in comparison. He was so chill that sometimes Jax felt like checking him for a pulse.
But nothing about Ford looked chill now. His mouth was grim, his eyes inscrutable, and he seemed shaken.
Except nothing shook Ford.
Instead of smiling, Ford shook his head. Thing was, if Ford didn’t want to talk about something, then Jax would have better luck getting answers out of a rock. He looked at the table where the three sisters sat, Tara on one side of Maddie, looking tense enough to shatter, Chloe on the other, slouched back, a little distant, a little bored, and clearly frustrated.
Between them, Maddie was talking, probably trying to make everyone happy. Ever the peace maker. Even as he watched, Maddie looked at Tara, then over at Ford.
She’d noticed the tension, too.
Ford slumped in the booth a little, face turned to the window.
“Ford.”
“Let it go, Jax.”
“I will if you will.”
Ford was silent a long moment. “You ever make a stupid mistake, one you think you can run from, only no matter how fast and far you run, it’s still right there in front of you?”
“You know I have.”
Ford let out a long, shuddery breath. “Well, chalk it up to that. One I don’t want to talk about now, maybe not ever.” The door to the cafe opened, and a uniformed sheriff strode in. He was built almost deceptively lean. Deceptive because Jax knew that the guy could take down just about anything that got in his path. He’d seen him do it. Actually, he’d seen him do it to Ford.
And okay, also himself. The guy was a one-man wrecking crew when he wanted to be, and the three of them had gone a few rounds with each other over the years.
Sawyer, the third musketeer.
He made his way directly to their table and sprawled out in the chair Ford kicked his way. “Shit, what a day.” He turned down the radio at his hip and looked around. “I’m starving.”
The guy had been born starving. He ate like he had a tape worm, and he eyed the burgers lined up on the kitchen bar, waiting to be served. Both Jax and Ford gave him space. You didn’t want to get any key body parts, like, say, a hand, in between Sawyer and grub when he was hungry.
Jax waved over their waitress, and between the three of them, they ordered enough for a small army. Sawyer didn’t speak again until he’d put away two double doubles. Finally, content, he sighed and leaned back. “So. Why are we staring at the sisters?”
Not much got by Sawyer.
“What do you know about them?” Ford asked him.
“Other than Jax going at it with the middle one on the pier the other night? Which, by the way-nice, man.”
Jax let out a long breath and felt a muscle bunch in his jaw. “People need to mind their own business.”
Sawyer flashed a rare grin and helped himself to Jax’s fries. “Not going to happen in this town. As for the other sisters, I know the oldest has a sweet ass to go with her sweet-ass accent when she’s pissed, and she was pissed earlier at the post office when she found out that we don’t have guaranteed overnight from here. And the youngest, she might be hot, but she’s also crazy. I clocked her at seventy-six on a fucking Vespa 250. When I pulled her over and wrote her up a ticket, she said I was committing highway robbery because there was no way she’d been going a single mile per hour over sixty-five. She chewed out me, my radar gun, and my mama, and I gotta tell you, that girl has a mouth on her. Oh, and apparently I need some sort of guava shit facial because my skin is dry in my ‘P’ zone. Like I care about my P zone. She’s going to be trouble, big trouble.”
“I think it’s a ‘T’ zone,” Ford said, pointing to his own.
Sawyer sent him a look of banality. “Is there something you want to tell us?”
“Yeah, I’m fucking gay.” Ford shook his head, confident in his sexuality. “And
At this, Sawyer raised a brow. Ford loved women. Always.
Jax shrugged. “It’s a sucky day in Mayberry,” he said and took another look at the table of sisters.
Tara was saying something through tight lips to her sisters. Chloe downed her drink and raised her hand for another.
Maddie shoved the stack of papers aside and reached into her purse, pulling out two knitting needles and a bright red skein of yarn. Jax wondered if it was the same one he’d seen wrapped around her the other morning.
Biting her lower lip between her teeth, she slowly and awkwardly worked the knitting needles, murmuring to herself as she did, clearly talking her way through each stitch with heartbreaking meticulousness. It got him right in the gut.
“Earth to pussy-whipped Jax.”
Jax slid Ford a long look. “Pussy-whipped?”
“I thought you gave up that shit when you ran away from Seattle.”
He hadn’t run away from Seattle. He’d walked. Fast.
Sawyer was looking like he’d found a bright spot to his day. “So exactly how many women do you figure have thrown themselves at you since you’ve been back in Lucky Harbor?”
“I don’t know.”
“All of them,” Sawyer said. “But this is the only one to hold your interest, and don’t even try to tell me I’m full of shit.” He hitched his chin to indicate Maddie. “So basically, it’s Murphy’s Law now. Sheer odds say you’re about to make an ass of yourself.” He said this as if it was Christmas morning and Santa Claus had delivered.
“And this makes you happy?” Jax asked in disbelief.
“Oh, fuck, yeah.”
Jax took another look at the sisters. The three of them were talking, but Tara was looking at her watch. Chloe was now making eyes at the busboy’s ass. Maddie still had her brow furrowed in fierce concentration as she carefully talked herself through another stitch.
“Christ, you have it bad,” Ford said in disgust.
It was entirely possible that for once, he was right.
