Page 26 of Hungry Hearts

He got over it quickly, probably because Avery Baxter is a fireball and doesn’t take shit from anyone. I felt bad for Sealy, who had his balls in a vice for a bit. I hate seeing my best friend torn up with guilt, but I’m not gonna lie, it was also fun watching the two of them sneak around for so long, not realizing everyone but little brother figured them out pretty fucking quick.

They made nice, but Trey doesn’t like to hear about his sister’s sex life. Can’t blame him.

DOC:Since everyone’s up, let’s start our meeting in ten.

SEALY:Here already.

The office door opens and Nolan walks in, phone in hand. “You really are here.” He helps himself to a coffee and takes the seat across from me. “I’ve been in my office for the past hour.”

“Had I known, I would have sent Ryder across the hall so I wouldn’t have had to listen to the stupid videos he watches on his phone.” Drake closes his laptop.

“You guys are such drama queens. If that’s what happens when a woman shackles you down, no thanks.”

“No shackles. Just handcuffs.” Nolan grins and reaches for a glazed donut.

“Fuck, man.” Trey punches Nolan’s shoulder and pushes him out of the way for the box of donuts, taking it with him to the opposite end of the table.

“That was fast.” Drake rises from his seat and joins us at the table.

“That’s what she said.” I crack myself up.

“I was on my way down as soon as you started gabbing like teenage girls.” Trey shoves a chocolate coconut donut in his mouth, washes it down with coffee, and finishes the rest in two bites.

The man’s appetite scares and impresses me.

“Ry, what’s with the early morning? Is there chatter of some kind you’re hearing at Red?”

There’s no need to elaborate. For two years, the Irish crime lords wrecked their havoc on us. Eddie was a crazy-ass fuckup with a nasty cocaine habit he liked to bring into our drug-free casino. He didn’t like Drake banning him from the Four Aces and retaliated by going after Drake’s girlfriend. Thankfully, Nora wasn’t home at the time. Unfortunately, her roommate was.

Drake fights with numbers and algorithms, not with people, but he’d do anything to keep Nora safe, including locking her in his penthouse. Long story short, he wouldn’t resort to violence, but my buddy Nolan is no stranger to it. Twelve years as a Navy SEAL turned him into my badass BFF.

No one knows exactly what went down, but Eddie and his gang happened to get their hands on some laced cocaine, which put them six feet under. Sorrynotsorry.

Daddy Donahue never believed Drake and the casino had nothing to do with his loser son’s death. As head of security, Nolan gets the pleasure of dealing with most of the lowlifes, and Donahue made the connection.

Life was grand for ten minutes and Nolan started sneaking around with Avery, who then became a target. Nolan and Trey fought to keep her safe, and once again, my badass BFF Sealy did some of his secret undercover covert action, and next thing we know, Daddy Donahue is shark food in the Atlantic.

We had another ten minutes of fun and antics when Ella got roofied in Trey’s club. Insert Overprotective Trey, who we quickly learned was a sucker for a damsel in distress.

Ella’s from backwoods country, but from the noises I’ve heard coming from Trey’s penthouse bedroom, I’d say she’s an animal in the sheets. Something he’s not too happy about us talking about.

These guys clam all up when we want to talk about their sex lives now. Pansies.

While Donahue’s old-school legacy had dwindled in Boston, Ella’s fucked up father and brother from east bumfuck Vermont were into the drug business and they were using Ella as bait and collateral.

Insert the police, FBI, and DEA, and the riffraff is gone, my friends are happily in love, Nora and Drake have a baby on the way, and Four Aces is in the black.

We’re all living the happily ever after.

“So what gives?” Nolan kicks my shin.

Wrapped up in my trip down memory lane and how we all got here, I completely missed what he said.

“Eh?” I shove the rest of the donut in my mouth, catching a glob of the cream on my finger before it drops to my shirt.

“You’re not an early morning person. Trey said you didn’t stay at the penthouse, which means you left your apartment extra early to beat traffic. Slow night with the ladies?”

“For guys who supposedly get laid every night, you sure are obsessed with my sex life. Unless you’re not getting any. Your women bored with you already?”

---