Page 4 of Legends: Easton (Legends of Fire Creek #3)

“Here you are, ladies! One pitcher of my very special margaritas. Enjoy.”

Easton’s smile was wide as he placed the glass pitcher in the middle of the table.

His announcement was met with a round of cheers from the group of friends out for a girls’ night at the Fire Bar and Grille.

Usually, groups like this came on Fridays or Saturdays, but this one said Tuesdays made for a better girls’ night for them.

He’d liked the ladies as soon as he served the first drink. Firmly established in their thirties, professionals, and some of them with families, they weren’t a rowdy bunch, but they knew how to have a good time. They started at the bar and included him in their storytelling and laughter.

A few regulars tried to hook up with one or two of them but were shot down. That’s when the ladies opted to move to a table, and he’d continued to serve them instead of asking a waitress to take over.

Easton stepped back, caught the eye of the one redhead in the bunch, and winked at her. A pink flush spread over her cheeks as she gripped his hand to keep him from walking away.

“You are just too sweet. And hot to boot. If I wasn’t married…”

Her slurred words tumbled from her mouth as her body swayed in his direction.

He’d already warned them that their girls’ night would be done after they polished off the latest pitcher of margaritas.

He’d also told his employees to make sure they had a safe ride home before they left.

He wanted them to have a good time and possibly become repeat customers, but he didn’t want them to regret their good time the next day.

He wondered how they managed to work after a night out on the town, but his job wasn’t to question their decisions. It was to ensure they had a good, safe time.

Easton expertly pulled his hand from the redhead’s so he could nudge her arm to sit her upright in her chair.

“Honey, it’s probably good for me that you are taken.

I have a feeling you’d break my heart into a million pieces.

” His Southern drawl thickened as he poured on the charm, knowing the harmless flirtation would lead nowhere.

“Well, Mr. Bartender, you can bat those sexy eyes my way. I’m not taken, and I’m not a heartbreaker.” A blond in a black jumpsuit smiled boldly in his direction, and the entourage fell apart in a fit of giggles.

Easton took that as his signal to get back to work. “Whew, I’ve got to get out of here. This table is too tempting.”

“You should stay.” The redhead drew out the last word, and Easton tried not to wince at the whining tone to her voice.

“Can’t, sweetheart. My break just started, and my family is over there waiting for me. You ladies keep having a good time, and when you’re ready to call it a night, our bouncer will walk you out. If anybody bothers you pretty ladies, you just call me. I’ll take care of it personally.”

He walked off before one of them could stop him. He was used to flirtatious customers, and his ability to charm them was one of the reasons why the bar kept a steady clientele in the small town of Fire Creek.

He enjoyed the job. It suited him. He was required to play many roles, depending on the needs of the customers, and he’d gotten adept at reading people’s moods to know what they required of him.

He made his way to a table in the back, his eyes landing on the people who knew him better than he knew himself. Tonight was a rare occasion in that most of his makeshift family was at the bar at the same time.

The faces of those he cared about watched him as he approached — his brother Jackson and his wife Reagan, his brother Luke and his fiancé Melody, his brother Ben, and their mentor and Reagan’s father, English Barlowe.

The only one missing was their long-time family friend, Becky Lathan, who had chosen to stay home and babysit Reagan and Jackson’s son, Jax.

As he made his way to the table, Easton realized his family had seen his interaction with the ladies. From the frowns on the women’s faces, they were none too happy. Easton wasn’t sure why they had a bug up their ass about it, but he would soon find out.

“What?”

He posed the question to Reagan and Melody. Easton adored the women, considering them the sisters he’d never had, but they sometimes took their role a bit too seriously.

“No.” Reagan shook her head. “Just no.”

Melody nodded in agreement. “You shouldn’t flirt with those ladies that way. They’re going to get the wrong idea. That’s how people get stalkers, you know.”

Easton rolled his eyes. “They’re harmless. Nothing ever comes of it. It’s just some innocent fun. That’s all. Kind of like the first time we met, Mel.”

Melody had come to the bar several months ago for a blind date, and Easton spotted her right away. She was too pretty for him not to notice, plus living in a town where everybody knows everybody, he easily saw she was a newcomer.

When he found out she was alone for the evening, he used an old trick to make sure no one picked her up — he had her wait with one of his brothers, in this instance Luke, so Easton could talk to her as he worked.

Only he saw the spark of something between her and Luke, and being the loving brother he was, he stepped back to let them explore their attraction.

Or at least, that’s the version of the story he liked to tell, and his efforts paid off. The two were set to marry in a couple of months.

“Save it, E.” Reagan waved a fried mozzarella stick in his direction before dipping it in marinara sauce. “It’s all fun and games until someone takes it the wrong way.”

Melody picked up the lecture when Reagan bit into her appetizer.

“We just want you to be happy. You need to find someone to settle down with. Someone who can chase away all the crazy women who try to stake a claim. Actually, you and Ben both need to find someone. And Reagan and I have to approve since they’ll become part of our girls’ circle. ”

Ben choked on a bite of his teriyaki wings. “Wait. How did I get roped into this?”

“We want you to find someone who makes you happy too,” Melody explained.

“We are happy.” Easton slapped his brother on the back. “Right, bro?”

“Right,” Ben agreed.

Their responses wouldn’t thwart Reagan and Melody’s attempts to marry them off, and Easton loved them for trying.

Easton deep down wanted the kind of relationship they had with his brothers, but he doubted it would happen for him.

He wasn’t one someone could love long term. His biological parents never had.

His mother had chosen drugs over him, overdosing before he was old enough to walk, and his father had left him on his own years ago.

His foster families never had, which is why he ran away every chance he had.

His family was the only exception, and Easton wasn’t optimistic that the exception would extend to a love match.

Luke draped a possessive arm around Melody’s shoulders, dropping a kiss on her hair. “You might as well give it up. These two are going to be bachelors for the rest of their lives.”

Melody punched him playfully in the chest. “That’s what everybody said about you, and then you met me.”

Easton couldn’t disagree with Melody’s assessment. Luke was the grumpy one of the bunch, his sour attitude as much a part of his persona as his unique blue eyes. He’d never been one to buy into the games men and women played, and he’d never had any inclination to settle down.

But when he met the savvy, friendly, and beautiful Melody, he didn’t stand a chance. And Easton enjoyed watching his brother fall for the lovely woman.

Jackson took a swig of his beer. “I never thought I’d be a married man either, much less a father.”

“Much less be married to me.” Reagan snuggled deeper against Jackson’s side.

“None of us saw that one coming.” Easton chuckled, and the others joined in.

Jackson and Reagan’s love story didn’t begin as mundanely as Luke and Melody’s. The boys didn’t know about Reagan’s existence or her relation to English until their mentor needed her. So much about their family was revealed during that dark time.

The boys — as the whole town referred to Easton and his brothers — never knew English was once married and had a daughter, who had been estranged, until Becky told them.

Someone from English’s past found him and beat him into a coma, meaning the boys had to locate Reagan because, as his biological family and medical proxy, she was the only one who could make decisions about his care.

Reagan and Jackson clashed the first time they met, but because the threat against English also extended to Reagan and her mother, they were forced to work together until the threat was eliminated.

The two fell in love in the process. Some might find it weird for English’s daughter and his ward to now be married, but it made sense for their small family.

“Ease up on E and Ben,” English spoke up. “There’s nothing wrong with bachelorhood. Not as many headaches that way.”

All eyes shifted to the family patriarch. Since his divorce from Reagan’s mother, English had remained a bachelor, pretending to be content with his solitary lifestyle. The family knew better though, and Reagan, in her characteristic straightforward manner, was the one to call him out.

“Puh-leeze! We all know you’d give up bachelorhood in a second if you thought things would work out with Becky.”

“You’re talking nonsense.” English’s face reddened with embarrassment.

Easton grinned. “As much as I appreciate you having my back, Reagan’s right. We all wonder when you’ll get your head out of your ass and make an honest woman of Becky. Hell, she’s probably wondered the same thing. It’s as plain as the nose on your face how the two of you feel about each other.”

“No offense, English. You know I love you, but I agree with everyone else.” Melody shot him a sheepish look. “We think you and Becky would be great together. I don’t understand why you two don’t go for it.”

English scowled and fell silent. Easton admired his restraint. Instead of fighting a losing argument, he chose to retreat and let the conversation drift to other things. And the group would move to other topics, but the one of English and Becky would come up again.

They all knew the story of how their mentor met the woman.

Becky was with a guy who used and abused her.

He beat her and kept her on drugs to keep her pliant.

She stayed too high to do anything but what he wanted, including pimping her body out to his buddies.

Her ex took her to the Fire Bar one night, and the boyfriend hit her in front of English.

He tossed the guy and his friends out of the bar and offered Becky help in escaping her boyfriend and getting her life back on track. He drove her to rehab that night.

Once Becky got clean, English gave her a job at the bar and found her a place to live. She never laid eyes on the abusive boyfriend again. When the boys came to stay with English, Becky helped him learn how to be a mentor and a father figure to teenagers who came from unstable and abusive homes.

Easton pushed away from the table, deciding he’d had enough family time for now. “Time to get back behind the bar. You guys need refills or something else from the grill?”

Melody tilted her head, her eyes pleading. “Don’t go back yet. We never get to all hang out anymore. We’re always busy with work, or you guys are off on a case.”

With the noise of the bar and the location of their table at the back, Melody didn’t have to worry about being overheard.

Few people knew of the boys’ work outside of their business enterprises.

They preferred to keep that part of their lives off the radar, taking their cue from English.

After he settled in Fire Creek, their mentor used his training as a CIA operative to help people in trouble who had exhausted all avenues for assistance.

The boys used the training they received from their time in the Army to continue the work English started. They took his handle from his CIA days to call themselves the next generation of Legends.

As word-of-mouth spread about their work, the boys stayed busy with cases, sometimes working on them together, most of the time taking care of them alone. Though the work was important to them, they did miss evenings spent hanging out together and having a good time.

“Sorry, Mel. Duty calls.”

He hoped his easy smile would earn him some understanding. He loved spending time with his family, but he also loved his job. He didn’t want to leave the responsibility of running the bar on a busy night to his staff when he was there and able to work.

“Oh, no.” Reagan waved her finger at him. “You’re not fooling anybody. You’re going to flirt with those women some more. I’m telling you, Easton, you’re playing with fire. Promise you’re going to let the waitstaff handle that table. Promise you’re not going to go home with one of them.”

“Not even the single one? Because I think she’s a sure thing. A man has needs, you know.”

His teasing caused Reagan’s eyes to narrow threateningly, and his grin only widened.

“Don’t worry about me, sis. I know how to have a good time without leaving the ladies with the wrong impression.

They know upfront that it’s only a temporary arrangement, and we all walk away satisfied.

I’ve never had a stalker, and I don’t intend to get one any time soon. It’s all good. I promise.”

Easton walked away before Reagan or Melody could take up their arguments again. He loved them for their concern, and he wasn’t mad that they wanted to interfere. Other men might be annoyed to have women try to dictate how they live their lives, but he didn’t mind.

He liked having people in his life who cared. Bouncing around from foster home to foster home, he’d never had that growing up. The closest he’d come was with the social worker who affectionately referred to him as “rabbit” because he ran away from every foster home he wound up in.

When he first came to stay with English, he expected to eventually run away from him too. But he didn’t. Somewhere along the way, he decided to stay with the gristly man and the stubborn boys who lived above the only bar in a podunk Southern town.

And he’d never regretted it a single day.