waitress arrived with their food. Things got dicey when she mixed up the order, though, and gave Del’s cheese omelet to the Russian. They straightened it out before everyone suffered.
“You were saying?” Derek prodded, smiling over a pile of scrambled eggs.
“Nothing.”
Malcolm leaned forward all serious-like. “You are not yourself today, Mack. Talk to us. Book club is about more than books. You know that.”
He did know that. He’d just never been on the receiving end of their psychological machinations. He liked it better when he was dishing out smart-ass advice instead of needing it.
“Come on, man,” Del said. “What’s up?”
“I promise not to make fun of you for whatever it is,” Gavin said.
Del smacked Gavin upside the head. “Shut up and let him talk.”
No use keeping it a secret. Liv would tell likely tell Thea about the bar fight eventually—though he doubted she had already, because he’d made that mistake before—and Gavin would just be pissed that Mack hadn’t said anything. Still, Mack hesitated before leaning back in his chair and blurting it out. “There was a fight at the bar we went to last night. Liv got hit in the face.”
Gavin’s fingers tightened on his fork. “Is she all right?”
“Fine. It was an accident. The guy didn’t mean to do it, but . . .” Mack gave in to his own strong emotions and pointed across the table. “You didn’t warn me what she was like.”
“Who? Liv?”
“Yes, Liv. Who the fuck do you think I’m talking about?”
“I’m not sure what I needed to warn you about, except that she’s cranky most of the time, and you already knew that.”
“You could’ve told me that she’s a pain in the ass.”
“Everyone knows that,” Gavin said with a smirk.
“Yeah, but now she’s a pain in my ass.”
Gavin shrugged again and spoke with his mouth full. “You’re the one who insisted on partnering up with her.”
“I don’t get it,” Del said cautiously. “Did Liv cause the fight or something?”
“No, but . . .” He made a frustrated noise. “Do you want to know what she did? I’ll tell you. All hell is breaking loose, and she jumps up on the freaking bar, and when I tell her to get down, does she listen to me? Hell no. She takes a flying leap right into the goddamned middle of it!”
Gavin nodded. “That sounds like Liv.”
“And then, then she had the . . . the . . .” Dammit, he couldn’t even find words. “The balls to yell at me when I carried her out of there.”
“Wait,” Gavin said, a smile starting to tug at his lips. “You carried her?”
“As in, you picked her up and carried her away from the fight?” Hop prodded, getting back into the conversation.
“Yes. Which part of that don’t you understand?” Mack slumped in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “And did you know she makes fun of romance novels? She hates them. Did you know that?”
Gavin, Del, and Derek all exchanged an unreadable glance. Next to him, Malcolm and the Russian both pulled out their wallets. Mack did a double take. “What is that? What’re you doing?”
“Getting ready for the bill,” Malcolm said. “Continue.”
He couldn’t continue, because he wasn’t going to admit to what happened next. Gavin and Hop were taking the whole fight thing well, but they might not be so nonchalant if they knew that Mack had pressed Liv against the wall, kissed the ever-loving shit out of her, and was now going out of his fucking mind wanting to do it again.
“Is that . . . all?” Gavin finally asked after a long pause.
“Yes. No. I don’t fucking know.”
And then it happened again. Just like at Gavin’s house, the guys traded bemused glances and then lost it. Their laughter shook the goddamned table and drew stares from every other person in the restaurant.
“Shut up,” Mack grumbled, poking at his egg-white omelet.
“Shit,” Gavin panted, trying to catch his breath. “I did not see this one coming.”
“See what coming? What the hell is so funny?”
Malcolm clapped a beefy hand on his shoulder. “Mack, for someone who has read every manual out there, you sure are clueless about your story sometimes.”
“Fuck off. What are you talking about?”
“Liv, dumbass,” Del laughed. “You and Liv to be more precise.”
The sense of total exposure sucked the air from his lungs. “No. Hell no. Look at me. She drives me crazy.”
“Exactly,” Malcolm said. “Look at you. You’re a mess.”
“You guys are full of shit.” Mack started shoveling heavy forkfuls of