Page 129 of On Thin Ice

Right. Because Morgan was enough of an asshole on a good day to decide to take a swing. And because he was also Morgan fucking Reynolds.

“It’s three in the afternoon,” Jacob said, glancing down at his watch. “He got drunk at three in the afternoon?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Finn said with resignation.

“This isn’t . . .he hasn’t done this before, has he?” Had Morgan been hiding an addiction? Jacob swore he would’ve been able to tell—they’d spent enough time with him recently that if he wasn’t sharp, wasn’t in charge of all his faculties, Jacob would’ve picked up on it right away.

But actually, Morgan had seemedsharperthan usual.

“No,” Finn said. “I’ll give you two guesses why today and the first one doesn’t count.” He sighed heavily.

“Finding out about us,” Jacob said.

“Yep. I know . . .I know it’s asking a lot. But . . .can you go get him? He might take a swing at you, too, but you know how to deal with him.”

He always had.

Jacob just really, really didn’t want to. But he also really,reallydidn’t want to ignore that pleading tone in Finn’s voice. They’d done this—he’ddone this, with his eyes wide open to the possible consequences—and now they were here, and it seemed unfair to ignore them just because Morgan was a handful and a half.

“Okay,” Jacob said. Paused. “What about the no blood rule?”

Finn groaned in the back of his throat. “If he takes a swing first, you’re free to defend yourself. I’m not gonna make you a martyr here. Besides . . .I like your face. A whole lot.”

“I like yours, too,” Jacob said.I love it, in fact.

“Good.” Finn sounded relieved, and that was all the payment Jacob needed to do this probably awful thing. “Text me when you drop him off at his place, okay? I’ll probably be on the ice, but I’ll get it when I’m done.”

“Yep,” Jacob said. “What bar is it?”

Finn recited him the address, and ten minutes later, he was parking around the corner from the nondescript squat brick building. It wasn’t the swanky, A-list type of place that he knew Morgan liked to frequent. In fact, it looked downright dive-ish.

When he pulled the door open, Morgan was at the bar, the only person in the bar in fact, laughing uproariously at something the young female bartender had said to him. She was short, at least a foot shorter than Morgan, even with him perched precariously on a stool, and had spiked lavender hair, a nose ring and a whole chain of bright pink studs running up each ear.

If she recognized Jacob, she didn’t show it. She only looked relieved as he walked in. Clearly, whether she knew he was Jacob Braun or not, she had correctly guessed that he was here to collect Morgan.

“Finally,” she said, half-groaning, half-laughing under her breath. “Morgan, someone’s here for you.”

Jacob braced as Morgan turned around.

He was definitely as drunk as promised, and the booze did nothing to obscure or temper the anger that spilled out of him when he saw Jacob.

“What the fuck areyoudoing here? Where’s Finn?”

“You’re welcome for coming down here to save this poor woman from your inebriated and pathetic attempts at flirting,” Jacob said, bracing himself again.

“It’s alright, I’m a lesbian,” she said, shooting Morgan a fond butI’m-over-itlook. “Plus,” she added, her mouth quirking up, “he’s old. Tips well though.”

Morgan made an outraged noise. Jacob wasn’t sure if it washiscomment Morgan was just now reacting to, the words finally filtering through all the booze he’d drunk, or that the bartender had called him old.

Well, it was his turn. Two days ago, Morgan had called Jacob old half a dozen different ways, each one less complimentary than the last.

“Come on,” Jacob said, approaching Morgan more carefully now as he got closer. He didn’t want to spook him or maybe make him decide he’d been saving up all his punches for this one golden opportunity.

“Where’s Finn?” Morgan repeated somewhat belligerently, setting his jaw.

Jacob almost said,I know it’s strange but your son has other, better things to do than pick your drunk ass up. But he didn’t, because he liked the bartender, and he didn’t want to cause more trouble for her.

“Practice,” Jacob said, because that was both the truth and the one thing that might pacify Morgan about Jacob’s presence.

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