Any Day Now - Lani Lynn Vale Page 0,1

club that I worked in and grabbing one side of the keg.

Together, we hefted it into place.

Then I got to work hooking up the connections.

“Okay,” Avery started again. “I’m just going to blurt out my idea, okay?”

I gave her a droll look before starting to line the glasses up the way I liked them.

Just as Avery was about to open her mouth and start explaining, the door to the bar opened and then banged shut, and I grinned.

“Hi, Lynn.” I smiled. “You’re early today.”

“Meeting someone,” my dad’s friend, Lynn, and the owner of The Underground, Kilgore’s—or the outskirts of Kilgore’s—newest strip club, said.

Actually, it was an old club.

One that apparently Lynn had won off a guy in a poker game, decided he would like to turn it around, and had restored it to its vintage glory.

When he’d opened it a few months ago, I didn’t think he expected it to do as well as it did.

The door banged again, and Bruno walked in.

Bruno was someone I didn’t know all that well, but when I looked at him, I got the distinct feeling he was of the same caliber as Lynn and my father were.

My father was ex-CIA and a whole lot of other things. Lynn was a whole lot of other things—those were my dad’s words, not mine. But really, I didn’t actually know what Lynn did.

I’d heard quite a bit about him over the course of my life, and I still hadn’t quite pinpointed what it was that he did—or didn’t—do.

Bruno was much the same.

And someone I tried to avoid at all costs. Not because he was creepy or anything, but just because he was kind of scary, and I tried not to get noticed because getting noticed led to my brothers and my dad poking their noses into my life when I didn’t want them to.

Both Bruno and Lynn walked into Lynn’s office and shut the door, leaving me once again to look at Avery who was still not telling me what she wanted.

“I’m not getting any younger here,” I said. “And are we doing lunch or not?”

I usually worked from ten to twelve at the bar after classes, getting things ready for that night. Then I grabbed lunch, went to two more classes, and then got some studying time in and one of my online classes taken care of before I went to work from eight to twelve.

Avery and I met for lunch on Tuesdays.

She was in one of my classes at the college, and we’d hit it off quite well.

Now we were good friends, and we ate lunch and chatted when we could fit in the time.

Tuesdays were usually my only days that I could do that, though.

My schedule was busy as hell—at least for the next six weeks.

I was drastically rewriting my schedule next year.

I would not be taking anything over twelve college credit hours.

I just couldn’t hack it.

First, I didn’t want to attempt something so difficult. It was an awful idea to try to fit this many college classes in.

Secondly, I liked sleeping in. I also liked Saturdays and Sundays. Both of which were being consumed by all the schoolwork I couldn’t finish during the week.

Third, I missed my family. I wanted to see them more.

And lastly, I kind of liked bartending. It made me exceptionally happy to see the disapproving faces my brothers made.

“Let’s head out now,” Avery said. “I’ll tell you in the car.”

I rolled my eyes but grabbed my purse, called out a goodbye to Lynn through the door, and headed out until my shift this evening.

“Do you have to work this Saturday?” she asked casually.

I shook my head. “No. I don’t work Saturday or Sunday. That was the deal with my brothers, remember?”

She snickered.

I’m glad someone found it funny.

I sure didn’t.

“It’s sweet that they love you,” she said. “And Saturdays and Sundays are freakin’ crazy here… or so I’ve heard.”

“You should come,” I teased.

Avery gave me a droll look.

“Do you honestly think that I could get Derek to take me here?” she asked.

Derek was her man.

Derek also was a member of the Kilgore SWAT team, and a really sweet guy that loved his wife.

What he did not love was his wife in danger.

Not that I blamed him.

I was only risky with my own life. Not anybody else’s.

“No,” I admitted. “So… why does it matter if I have Saturday off?”

She bleeped the locks on her car door, and I dropped inside the passenger seat.

“I…” she sighed.

“Oh, spit it out, Avery.” I