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“What?” Riot exclaims, looking extremely worried for Ryan despite the fact that Ryan is obviously fine because he’s here.
Ryan grins, “It’s not my fault that I sleep naked, and there wasn’t any time to put pants on before bullets started flying.” He shrugs, “Anyway, it worked in our favor.”
“I’ll say,” Alaric chuckles and then looks at the rest of us to explain, “they just stared at this naked man coming at them with a cigar hanging out of his mouth, covered in tattoos and piercings threatening their lives because they’d woken him up, and seemingly unconcerned that he is naked. They were so shocked that he managed to take out five of them before they even knew what was happening.”
Ryan smiles fondly, “Ah, the good old days. I don’t get to do shit like that as often as I’d like to anymore.”
“We’ll figure it out,” D replies, gripping his friend's shoulder.
“I’m pretty good at getting people out of tricky situations. Would you like me to have a look into it?” Peter offers.
Ryan smiles, “I know you are. I know how many guys you helped at that school before these lot came around, but for now, I’m going to decline. It’s messy and complicated and won’t be a quick fix. I’m good where I am for now, but I will keep your offer in mind if that’s okay?”
Peter nods, “Of course, I’m sure all of us will help if you need us to.”
“If I call you in, I’m going to need all of you.”
“Understood,” Trick replies.
Chapter Eight
“Why do I feel like you guys have a lot more war stories that are just as amusing?” I ask, changing the subject and earning a grateful smile from Ryan.
“Oh, we do,” D smiles, “but we don’t want to tell you all in one night. We need you guys to keep wanting us old men around.”
Alaric scoffs, “Hey, leave the old men comment just to describe you. I’m not old.”
Creed chuckles, “Looks like he hit a nerve.”
The rest of us burst into laughter as Alaric narrows his eyes and flicks Creed the finger.
“How long are you guys staying for this time?” Luc asks them.
The three men share a look, and D answers, “We’re going to leave on boxing day, probably fairly early. We’re stopping off to see Maria, and then we’ve all got to get back to our individual jobs.”
Jynx meets my eyes as we share a conspiring smile. She looks over the three of them from standing in Rip’s arms and says, “Maria, huh?”
“I don’t know why you’re saying it like that,” Alaric replies, his eyebrow raised.
“Sure you do, you all do,” I add, laughing when they all glance away.
“Okay, that’s enough of that. Where’s the cocktails?” Ryan adds, trying to change the subject and not very subtly at all.
It always amuses me that these incredibly powerful men turn to absolute mush whenever Maria is mentioned, and it’s damn sweet too. Jynx and Waverly, Maria’s daughter and Jynx’s other best friend, filled me in on their suspicions on one of the phone calls we managed to have when Jynx and I were together. It was actually only the second or third time that Waverly and I had spoken; Jynx introduced us over the phone, though, of course, we’d known about each other for a long time.
None of us really know what’s holding the three of them back, although Waverly is reasonably sure that it’s her mom who’s doing it. Her father did a real number on Maria, and I imagine it would be incredibly hard to trust again after that, even these three men who would clearly put their lives on the line for her.
She’s not ready, and she may never be, but the three of them have never wavered. They’re always there for her, and she is for them as well, just not in the complete way that I know they hope for.
The rest of the night is spent laughing, drinking, dancing, and just generally enjoying each other's company. The drunken antics are kept to a minimum, shockingly, and by the time everyone leaves in the early hours of the morning, the house is looking reasonably okay considering, and that’s why I love my family and friends; they’re always respectful. Of course, there are a few things that will need to be done in the morning, but it’s not a lot, and I was going to do that regardless. Plus, we’re now all so exhausted that no one wants to do anything like load the last of the dishes in the dishwasher or anything like that.
It gives me something to do in the morning, so I’m not just wandering around and doing useless tasks while trying to keep occupied.
**********
The parents should be arriving in an hour, and everyone else is at their own homes getting ready to come up tomorrow, so it’s just us and the parents today, or at least it will be when they arrive. For now, we’re all up early, although a couple of the guys have headaches and are a bit slower. They’re chugging coffee as if their lives depend on it, and I’m trying to be sympathetic, but it’s not really happening, and I keep letting a smile slip through and getting narrow-eyed glares from them, which just amuses me more.
I decided to have my coffee in a travel mug so that I could clean the house and still have hot coffee. The only problem with it is that I keep forgetting where I’ve put it and finding it in odd places, including in the pantry next to the dried pasta, which was an odd one.