Rising (Anderson Special Ops #2) - Melody Anne Page 0,13

Erin’s coming over,” Brackish hissed. “Try for a single second in your lives to act like men instead of little boys.”

“Impossible,” Sleep said with a laugh.

All five men turned as Erin stepped up to their table. Her cheeks instantly flushed as she looked at her notepad. When she glanced up again, she had eyes for only one of them — and it pleased Brackish a lot to see it was him.

“Hello again,” Erin said. “Did you guys come to clean out my kitchen one more time?” Of course, she was referring to their last visit when they’d consumed an entire loaf of bread, along with enough eggs, bacon, hash browns, and gravy to feed an entire family reunion.

“The food is good, Erin, but . . .” Sleep stopped and gave a wicked grin to Brackish.

“Stop,” Brackish said, murder in his eyes for his friend.

There were a few seconds of silence as the men spoke without words. Then Erin shocked the heck out of Brackish, as well as the other men, when she gave a flirty smile, brushed her hair back, placed a hand on her hip, and spoke.

“Come on, Ben,” she said, using the name he’d given her as an alias, “what are you trying to keep your buddy from saying? Do sticks and stones really hurt more than words?”

“Ha,” Eyes said as he laughed, the other men joining him. “You tell him, Erin. He’s such a baby sometimes.”

“Really?” Brackish asked with another glare before turning back to Erin. “I’m just trying to protect you from these heathens. You never know what will come out of their mouths.”

“I can handle men. I’ve been dealing with all sorts of personalities my entire life,” she said, not fazed at all. Brackish’s heart skipped a beat at her words. He wanted to know exactly how she handled men, that was for damn sure. She gave him another smile then set down menus. “I’ll give you boys some time.” She turned and walked away. Brackish enjoyed the view.

Silence greeted her departure. It wasn’t rare for them to sit for hours without saying a word. They could do it for days if need be. But it was rare they were silenced by a spitfire woman who was managing to charm each one of them — Brackish most of all.

Green broke their stupor. “Well, she can flip my eggs any day of the week.”

Brackish’s head whipped around as he glared at Green. All of them burst out laughing. Life was full of crazy. It was nice to have friends who would not only have your back at the expense of their own life, but who were also willing to run you over for their own amusement.

“She’s not flipping anyone’s eggs but mine,” Brackish said. He was certainly marking his territory and each of the men nodded, understanding this was Brackish’s woman — if she chose to accept. They might flirt, they might goad, and they might make him uncomfortable, but they’d never betray trust by going after a woman one of them liked.

Eyes began talking about food when the door of the café swung open, bringing in the cold midnight air, and sending a shiver down Brackish’s spine. Without looking up, he knew trouble was walking in the door.

“Heads up,” Brackish whispered.

That was all it took for the other four men at the table to turn from jovial friends to combat-ready veterans. They all shifted as five men stepped through the front door. They quickly recognized the man in the lead.

It took a second to assess the situation. The lead man was the one they’d asked to never come back to the diner the month before. He was just as drunk now as he’d been that night. The others wore cocky grins. One of them had a bottle of Jack Daniels in his hand, two held blunt objects, another held electrical conduit. Each man was red-eyed and drunk . . . very drunk.

“Hey lover boy, I’m back. I’ve been waiting for you to show your face again. I told you I was gonna get a turn with the pretty waitress. I’m here to take it,” the drunk yelled out.

The diner only had four other tables that were occupied. Smoke looked at the people cowering in their seats in obvious fear. They knew how bad these kinds of situations could turn.

Erin stepped from the kitchen, her face going white as she looked at the men who had malice written on their drunken faces. The lead drunk turned