Page 13
The bar was rocking.
Quin was in the zone, slinging beer alongside two bartenders and a bar back, making cocktails and delivering food.
They were having a special tonight on Brazilian cheese bread and feijoada with rice.
A lot of the bikers had never even heard of it, but they just called it black bean stew and ate bowl after bowl of it. Quin approved, because it had all been cooked ahead of time except for the rice, and Thiago had shown his cook the most amazing microwave rice cooker that could do a huge batch of rice to perfection in about twenty minutes…
His mate sat at the corner of the bar where it met the back wall, watching everyone and everything. He was nursing one caipirinha, just cruising along like he did most nights that he wasn’t on a missing persons case around the city.
There was, unfortunately, still a lot of work for Thiago to do, and thanks to Rian, he was developing a good relationship with the LEOs and the local office of the Feds.
A ripple ran through the bar as the front door opened, and two very slinky, pretty omegas walked in, followed by a chonk of a Pallas kitty with a scowl on his face.
Oh, Eyre and Adrian looked amazing. Eyre wore a torn-up T-shirt with the Star Wars rebellion flag on the front, leather jeans, boots, and lots of eyeliner. Adrian wore dark jeans and a green henley, but he looked so damn happy that he glowed, drawing attention from all corners.
And Isaac…well, he always looked grumpy.
His brothers and Cyrus followed, looking utterly out of place in their pressed and creased jeans, Rian in a big sweater of some stupidly expensive Aran knit, Symon in a silk shirt and sports jacket. Only Cy blended in, his jeans, boots, leather jacket, and T-shirt hitting just the right notes.
“This going to be some weird corporate bar now?” Lazy Jack asked him, banging his beer on the bar.
“Watch it, man. That’s my family.”
Jack gaped, and he wiped his hands before ducking under the bar bridge and going out to give hugs and grin at Eyre and Adrian. “Sexy. Isaac, try to smile.”
Isaac bared his teeth. “I need a beer. I was on a roll, about to beat the game, and Cy made me come out tonight.”
“Quelle horreur.” He winked. “You guys want a table? I assume you’re here for Brazilian night?”
“Of course.” Rian winked. “Thiago made the feijoada, right?”
“Last night. Yeah. And there’s cheese bread and rice.”
Cy moaned. “I am so in.”
Thiago came to join them, kissing all three omega’s cheeks and shaking hands with his brothers and Cy. “Let’s clear off that big round table in the back, guys, and we’ll join you for a bit.”
God, his mate was hot. Those golden green eyes and that hair that defied description with its jaguar markings was just… And the way Thiago moved was like the hottest sex song on earth.
He got a glinting grin, a little brush of their bodies together, Thiago clearly hearing his thoughts.
They moved a couple of snoozers from the back table, and after he got drinks and put in the food order, Quin went to join his family, proud of them for just coming to see him and not being weird.
“So, it’s odd to come to your bar and not be looking for bad guys,” Rian told him.
“I know!” Adrian’s fingers skated over the table, his own jeans, Symon’s legs. A hacker’s hands were never still. “But it’s cool just to come have a drink, right, Eyre?”
“Super cool. You need a dance floor.”
Quin snorted. “Then most of my clientele would leave.”
“Yeah, we don’t want that,” Cy teased.
“Bite me,” he told the big cougar.
“I don’t think so,” Thiago growled.
They all laughed at that, but it was Symon who raised his glass, toasting them all. “To us. A family. Weird as we are.”
“To us,” they all echoed, and he shared a special glance with Thiago.
A family. And for the first time in a long time, Quin felt as if he actually belonged.
Their mates had changed their lives.
And he couldn’t wait to see what happened next.
End