“I don’t get nervous anymore.”
Kellan groaned. “If this is yet another retelling of how the Mighty Flynn Maguire coldcocked the scum of the earth two daysago with nary a shaking finger or loose bowel, I don’t want to hear it.”
“Loose . . . you mean being so scared he’d shit his pants?” Rafe unsuccessfully tried not to smile. Even wiped his palm acrosshis mouth, but the stupid grin came back anyway. “Dude, that’s insulting. Funny as hell, but still insulting.”
Flynn kicked out a chair and sat down, hoping Delaney showed up soon so he wouldn’t have to listen to Kellan bitch much longer.For God’s sake, had he sounded as pissy at the world as Kellan did? Been as annoying? No wonder Rafe had ordered him to pull himself together.
Not that he could’ve even figured out where to begin without Sierra.
Kellan didn’t have his own Sierra. Just an unending hard-on for their government handler. So Flynn would go easy on him. Calmly,he said, “Look, I haven’t been the one boring you with the story. Don’t blame me.”
“No, just everyone else in this freaking town.” Kellan paced the length of the conference room. At least, they were callingit that because they didn’t deserve to be in an interrogation room. The door was unlocked. “The guys at the plant wouldn’t stop talking about The Legend of Flynn Maguire. At Coffee & 3 Leaves, Norah wasmentioning making a drink with your name.”
“Nice. I hope it’s a triple-shot espresso with a shake of cinnamon.” Delaney couldn’t pitch a hissy fit over that hint ofnotoriety. Could she? Maybe he’d ask Norah to just use his first name . . .
His brother’s work boots drummed another path down the concrete floor. “It’s like being in high school all over again. I’mleft to trail in your glorious wakes. Being the third brother is not as glamorous and fun as I’d hoped.”
Rafe half leaned, half sat on the edge of the table with his arms crossed. He wore black jeans, a black tee, and a massivesmirk. “Nothing about our lives is as glamorous or fun as you hoped. Hell, nothing could be. Did you want to be a celebrity attorney and get movie stars off with a warning when they’re caught peeing in public? Hopeto get some front row Bulls tickets out of it?”
Instead of mouthing off again, Kellan stilled. His voice dropped—along with his head. “I hoped I’d get the chance to forgemy own path. I was starting to, anyway. But now we’re all lumped together again, starting from square one. You and Flynn arefreaking heroes to this town. You keep saving people.”
Kellan may have chilled out, but his words lit a fire under Rafe. He popped off the table, rigid as if about to get a prostateexam. “Sorry that our kiboshing criminal acts is bugging you. Next time I see a burglar, I’ll text you to hurry over, andthen go grab a hot dog while I wait for you to show.”
Now they were toe to toe. Both with bunched fists. Flynn was damned if he’d let his brothers start a fight in the jail that would automatically get them tossed behind bars.
Man, was this transition ever going to get easier? For all of them? At the same time?
Was that too much to fucking ask?
He pounded his fist on the table to get their attention. “Hey! Simmer down. Let’s not mix it up with a sheriff ten feet away.Of course K’s feeling left out. We told him that we’ve been doing this huge, secret thing behind his back for more than a dozen years.Of course he’s upset. But can we put a pin in that for now, given where we are? Do the whole group therapy thing another day?”
His outburst turned Kellan’s sullen sneer into a bona fide grin. “Flynn’s being the calm and reasonable one? You dog, youslept with Sierra, didn’t you?”
Yet another thing he refused to discuss inside a jail. Sierra was too innocent to even be brought up in conversation in thisplace.
Spreading his fingers wide as if grasping for calm, Flynn said, “To get back to my original point. I’m not nervous anymore.When I’m in here,” he rushed through to the rest of it, gesturing at the one-way glass, “surrounded by handcuffs and cells and guys in uniformsthat used to break me into a cold sweat. Now it seems . . . ordinary.”
“Yeah.” Rafe shifted back from Kellan. Crisis averted. He turned in a slow circle, hands tucked in his back pockets. “Notscary, either. For years we worried about getting dragged in to meet with cops. Now it’s just a break in our routine.”
“Does that mean we’ve turned into good guys?”
Rafe grunted his dismissal of the idea. “Not unless the floor dropped out of heaven and everyone better than us is suddenlydown in hell.”
“Can we get back to my question?” Kellan elbowed Flynn as he sat down next to him. “About sex?”
“Don’t you ever think of anything else, Mr. Maguire?” Delaney’s frown was the first thing Flynn saw. The rest of her body,dressed in a formfitting black dress that showed off all sorts of sexy, was just along for the ride. She looked pissed. Ofcourse, she always looked that way when Kellan baited her. The only difference was that this time he hadn’t known she wasin the doorway.
Kellan rose from his seat. He always played the full gentleman card, even when stuck in a jail with their marshal. Or, moreto the point, especially then. “I think about you all the time. But that’s all wrapped up in thoughts of sex, so I guess the answer is no.”
She closed the door behind her with a noticeable bang. Hard enough that the gust of air blew her blond hair into her face.Her eyes narrowed. “Maybe if you stimulated that big brain of yours, instead of just what’s in your pants, you’d find a jobthat suits you
