help. Fine with him. They were ordering drinks by the case. He just hoped they tipped Lisa and Cassie accordingly.
“I have a question.”
John glanced up from cutting limes and into the flushed face of a short blonde. If she’d been sitting with one of the groups, he hadn’t noticed her. She looked young, and he wondered if he should card her. “Yes?”
“I’d prefer to talk to Cassie,” she said, her voice lowering.
Ah, he got it now. Someone was hedging their bet. “She’s not available.”
“It’s kinda important.”
“Sorry, it’s me or nothing.”
“What about Lisa? Where is she?”
“Taking a smoke break. She’ll be back in ten minutes.”
“Oooh.” She seemed genuinely distressed, biting at her lip, her cheeks growing pinker. But he wasn’t fooled by her act. “It’ll only take a few seconds.”
“I’m not calling Cassie out here, so if you really need something, I suggest you spit it out.”
She took a deep breath. “The machine in the ladies’ room is broken. I need a tampon.”
John blinked, stared at the woman for a moment, then looked over his shoulder. “Hey, Cassie.”
Everyone, without exception, laughed. Even the bald guy who dug in his pocket and had the twenty promptly plucked from his fingers. A side bet, obviously.
“You’re good,” he told the grinning blonde, who then turned and bowed to her audience.
Behind him, he heard the storage door creak...at the exact moment the front door opened.
It was Tommy.
A little unsteady, he looked as if he were drunk. Or barely awake. He stopped just inside, panning the room, his smile growing with the infectious laughter. When his gaze came to John, all humor left Tommy’s face. “Get the fuck out from behind my bar.”
13
ALERTED BY THE SUDDEN silence after laughter that had made her grin, Cassie dropped her pen as the words came through the door.
Her entire chest felt as if it had imploded. Her fury at Tommy was only equaled by her concern. The last thing anyone needed was a fistfight in the middle of the bar. But knowing her brother and his hair-trigger temper, it could happen.
She was off her chair in an instant, barely noticing her book fall to the floor. Once the door opened, it was like staring into a nightmare.
“I’m helping Cassie,” John said, his voice low and serious. She could hear the razor-thin restraint. “She’s in back. Studying.”
Before Tommy could respond, she stepped out, keeping her distance from John. The situation was too volatile and her goal was to stop things right now. The bar was packed, and Tommy... One look at him told her he’d been drinking. God, she wanted to strangle him. But later. “I’m right here,” she said. “Everything’s fine. Thank you, John, for lending a hand, but we’ve got it covered now.”
His shoulder muscles flinched, as did his jaw, but he never took his eyes off Tommy. John’s arms were loose at his sides, his body ready for anything.
Tommy wasn’t nearly so grounded. His rage made his face a dull, dangerous red. He’d worn his prosthesis, but everything about him was unsteady. Fisted hands were halfway raised, and she could tell he was working himself up. “You goddamned officers think you can do anything you please. Walk into a man’s bar and take over. Thinking you’re better ’an me, better ’an all of us. What the hell are you doing in here anyway? Slumming? I saw that Corvette of yours. Too good to park in the lot, huh? Don’t want anyone mistaking you for one of us. God forbid someone thinks you’re enlisted.”
“Tommy,” Cassie said, as strongly as she’d ever said anything in her life. “Stop it. Now.”
“You think you can get into my sister’s pants by helping her at the bar? You think she’s stupid? You’re so obvious it’s pathetic. Well, I’ve got news for you. She wouldn’t look at you if you were the last man on earth.”
“That’s it,” John said, tossing the towel from his shoulder to the bar. “You want to know what I’m doing here? Picking up your slack, that’s what. You knew Cassie needed to study, but you couldn’t be bothered to come in to your own goddamn bar and give her a break. I’m doing what you should have had the decency to do. She’s got one more test, one more. And you couldn’t even return her phone calls.”
Tommy took a step toward the bar and almost lost his balance, but two of the regulars jumped to grab him. “Let me go,” he said, his voice quavering with anger.
The men