Trials and Tiaras (Untouchable #7) - Heather Long Page 0,17

cart. Apparently, they queued these fuckers up. My ass barely touched the passenger seat before we were off.

At my laugh, Archie shot me a look. “Go ahead,” he muttered. “Say it.”

“Fucking rich people, man,” I told him, and he scoffed but didn’t dispute it. Still, I braced my foot against the dash as he followed the path through the place like he knew where he was going. “How often have you been here?”

“A few times,” he commented. “Mostly with Grandpa, offered to bring Frankie here with him. So she could play real golf. She actually said yes.”

“Of course she did,” I told him. “She loves mini-golf.”

He grimaced, then laughed for real. “I’m going to buy her a fucking mini-golf place. Or maybe build her one of her own.”

“Yeah, that might be taking ‘fucking rich people’ too far.”

“Ha.” But he didn’t disagree with me.

We passed a few others still golfing, despite the drizzle. Apparently, very little stopped a real golfer. I’d stick to football. Maybe some hoops with the guys. A run.

“You ever play?” Archie asked after a couple of minutes.

“Plenty of mini-golf, none of this.”

“You should learn,” he said, and I didn’t roll my eyes. “If you want. I could teach you when I teach Frankie. It’s not so bad, with the right people.”

Fuck me. “Sounds like fun.”

“It’s not a dental procedure.”

“Fuck off,” I told him with a laugh. “You want someone to go with, I’ll give it a shot. Surprised you’re not asking Coop.”

That got a reaction. “He sucks.”

“Eh…he fucks off a lot. He’s better than he pretends, but he’s not as competitive as the rest of us and it’s easier for him to play that part up.” It kept the rest of us even, especially since we could all be competitive as fuck.

“I’ll take your word for it. We’ll make a day of it. The five of us.”

Okay, maybe Arch needed to make plans like this, and I got it. “Can’t we do something like paintball?” Our Valentine’s Day plans had been utterly obliterated after Frankie delivered that dick’s bombshell and keeping her and Archie in one piece had become the evening’s priority.

“We haven’t done that in…”

“Years, exactly.”

“I can work with that,” he agreed, and I laughed. “I’ll save golf for Frankie.”

The smile that earned was fleeting. Soon, we came over a hill, and there was Standish Sr., lining up his shot. Archie hit the horn on the golf cart just as he went for the swing. Petty as fuck, but it made me laugh when the older man sent the ball careening off in what appeared to be the wrong direction. He and the pair with him turned to look at us as Archie drove straight up to their cart and parked behind it.

He was out of the seat and halfway to his father before I could follow. Yeah, this had bad plan written all over it. I scanned the other men standing with Edward Archibald Standish Jr., and I wasn’t impressed. Both were older, one was paunchy and the other looked flushed, despite the chilly air and damp rain. I could take them.

“Archie,” his father said in a warning tone.

“You better tell your buddies to play on or head back for a drink. You’re busy.” Every syllable carried an element of menace I’d never heard from Archie. Not this icy anger. His rage at Mitch had been white hot, and I’d been right there with him. As it was, I kept one eye on the other men and one on the older Standish. At the moment, I’d be happy to lay someone out. The nervous energy rolling off Arch made me itch for a good fight.

But I also didn’t want to get either of us arrested. Not today. Not if it would mean Frankie and the guys had to come and get us. She didn’t need the stress and fuck knew Archie didn’t.

“Gentlemen,” the older man called. “If you’ll excuse us.” He didn’t offer a reason, and they didn’t ask for one. Instead, they just nodded, waved, and moved on with their bags of golf clubs while “Eddie” slid his club back into his bag before he turned to face Archie. That right cross landed beautifully, and the older man staggered back a couple of steps.

“You just couldn’t stop yourself from trying to fuck up my life and hers, could you?”

“Archie,” Eddie said, shooting me a look, but I planted myself where I had Archie’s back and ignored the drizzle. A trickle of blood escaped from