is it that we Southern boys managed to school a bunch of former SEALs today?” Brian asked as if trying to lighten the mood, but did the man not know better than to poke a bear? “If you ask me, you guys don’t look all that rough and tough.”
A devious, all-too-familiar smirk traveled over Chris’s lips. “We’re more of the triathlete variety than the bodybuilding type. And if you’re not satisfied with the turn of events today, we’d be happy to challenge you to something else.”
A.J. removed his cowboy hat and pressed the heel of his hand to the back of his head where the bandage was taped.
Refusing to go to the doctor. Typical Teamguy, his sister had yelled at him over the phone after Caleb narced on Beckett for shooting him.
“We really do need to liven this night up, though,” Brian said after a few more awkward moments passed during which Chris and Finn made a few jokes about the paintball fight today. They’d purposely discussed maneuvers that had gone right over Perfect Brian’s head. “I mean, the bachelor party my best man threw me in Vegas last weekend was—” Brian let go of his words, squeezing his eyes closed as if shocked he’d outed himself. “I mean, the work conference I had to attend that sort of turned into a bachelor thing . . .”
“Come again?” Jesse asked, slowly placing his palms on the table, readying to stand as Shep extended an arm to block him. It was clear Shep knew Jesse was itching to throw down with Brian. A.J. had his reasons for not liking Brian, which were mostly based on his gut, but he had a feeling Jesse knew a bit more, especially since he’d initiated the “let’s get to know the real Brian” bachelor party weekend.
The base of Brian’s neck grew a touch red as everyone at the table stared at him like he was an enemy combatant with an RPG in hand they needed to take down.
“That’s why your best man and other friends declined our invitation to join us this weekend? It’s because they threw you another party already?” A.J. had forgotten all about the knot on the back of his head now. Maybe he’d even join Jesse in fighting Brian. He preferred his gun to hand-to-hand combat, but he’d make an exception in this case.
It’d been weeks since he’d shot someone, why not Perfect Brian?
He could bury the body out back at Caleb’s place, and no one would know.
“It wasn’t planned. I work with my best friends, and we were all in Vegas for work, so we decided—why not have some fun?” An attempt at smiling loosened the scared-shitless expression from Brian’s face.
“Hangover movie kind of fun?” Caleb asked, and he and Shep were on their feet, no longer the guys trying to calm the crowd.
“I swear,” Brian started, “I would never cheat on your sister.” His hand went to his heart. “Nothing happened.”
“What hotel were you at?” A.J. asked.
“What?” Brian gulped. “Why?”
“So I can pull the surveillance and ensure you were a good boy.” A.J. smiled, the bourbon and his ghost-memory encounter earlier taking a back seat to his sudden desire to wipe the nervous grin from the man’s face.
Tahiti. Who goes to Tahiti on Christmas? Men named Brian, that’s who. Okay, so maybe he was letting this Brian give every other Brian on the planet a bad rap, but A.J. had felt there was something off about him from the beginning. Hence the request for the assist from the guys on his team. And had the rest of Bravo been available, he would’ve recruited their help as well.
“You know, Wyatt here is getting married in July, too.” Roman pointed toward Echo One. A.J. took a deep breath, unsure whether to be thankful or not for Roman’s effort to calm everyone down and prevent the exchange of blows. Roman hadn’t been around the Hawkins brothers long enough to know if they were all hot-tempered or not, but Roman knew A.J., so . . .
“Congrats,” Brian said, his eyes widening in a silent thank-you for the help. Not too many friendly faces at the table. “And what kind of bachelor party are you having? Not like this, I bet,” Brian remarked, inching back into the territory of clueless and stupid instead of afraid.
“Not having one,” Wyatt quickly replied.
“Let’s hope work doesn’t get in the way of Wyatt’s wedding,” Chris joked, and the blood nearly drained from Wyatt’s face as he pivoted toward