Page 147 of Shattered Veil

Shawn clenched his jaw and released it. “Are you good?”

“Look at my face, man—”

He grumbled, “Kinda hard not to—”

“I’m as good as I can be,” I assured him. “I’ve just…I’ve had a hell of a week, or—or less than that, I don’t—I’ve lost track of time at this point. I don’t wanna talk about it. Okay?”

His green gaze bored into me for two long, time-sucking breaths, and though he didn’t seem to want to cease his questioning, he replied, “Okay. Fine.”

“How about you tell me about what’s going on with you,” I offered.

“You think I have anything to say about my life?” Shawn finally broke into a weak laugh. “You’ve been gone. I thrive off your gossip, James, and I’ve been severely deficient in that. My life is…” He hesitated before he joked, “Pretty damn boring unless I’m going to strip clubs with you.”

His mention of Cassie without even saying her name brought a smile to my lips.

And to give him the shred of gossip he desired, I said, “She quit, y’know.”

Shawn squinted at me. “Don’t tell me that was your doing. It’s her job, Jay—”

I cut him off, “Different circumstances, damn—I’m not that toxic.”

His eyes shot to the ceiling. “I doubt that you actually are. Just sayin’ in this particular instance, you seemed a little blinded.”

“Yeah, yeah—”

“By the glow-in-the-dark lights.”

I groaned, “Shawn.”

“Brooks,” he insisted, as he always does. “And, in fact, those lights were so blinding that you broke. A. Man’s,” he whispered the last word, “Fingers.”

“Which he deserved,” I countered quietly. “Don’t act like you don’t agree—”

“I do, I do,” he relented.

“And I’m assuming that he still fuckin’ works here,” I sneered. Shawn nodded while I muttered, “Point—my point…not that I was wanting to in the first place, but strip club trips are not in the cards for me in the future, ’kay?”

He chuckled, “I figured that already, man.”

“And,” I admitted in a somber tone, for I knew it would bring a frown to his face, “I don’t want to talk about my last week ’cause it’s been a lot—including anything with Cassie.”

My assumption about his inevitable expression was correct.

“Jay, please!” he whined.

“We’re good, we’re together,” I succinctly spoke. “’Kay?”

Shawn griped, “That’s not enough.

“Beer, though?” I offered. “In Salem?”

As if his saddened expression had never existed, he smiled wide.

“Yeah?”

And I returned it. “Yeah.”

Cassie and I arrived at Henry’s together, the atmosphere pleasantly quiet with only a handful of other patrons sitting at the counter. She gave Garrett a friendly wave. He stopped his motions from behind the bar, buzzed blond head lifting as he saw her greeting in his periphery. He happily waved back…and I tried my damnedest not to bark to defend my territory.

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