Page 11 of On the Run
A blond guy wearing a patch on his leather vest that read “Bobo” lifted a beer in salute, and a couple of brothers made noises of agreement.
“I can bring a pasta salad!” Lorenna McKetcham called from a table just behind us. I turned to find the rest of the Mahjong Society nodding excitedly. “And Bernie’ll do her thing with her ambrosia! And Sosie makes a punch so strong you’ll be giving us ladies a second look, Beale!” She lowered her voice and added as an aside, “Not really, Sosie. Sexuality doesn’t work like that, so don’t get all excited.” In her loud voice, she said, “D’you know if they’re registered anywhere, boys? Or maybe I’ll just make them a condom wreath! Those are always a hit. But get back to me, okay?”
I gave her a taut smile and raised an eyebrow at Rafe, who grimaced.
There was no such thing as a small, intimate gathering on Whispering Key. If there was a party, the whole circus showed up.
“Silvio!” Dale called. “You down for Beale’s party?”
I widened my eyes and shook my head vehemently at Rafe, demanding that he do something about it, but he shrugged.
“Party?” Silvio asked. He looked up from the drinks he was prepping and gave me a quick smile before disappearing to the other end of the bar. “I’d love to.”
“I’ll make sure you’re added to the Facebook group,” Dale told him with a nod. “Hey, Mac, you boys got a Facebook?” He hopped off his stool to go plan a nonexistent party with a bunch of bikers, and I ran a hand over my face with a groan.
“You need to make this stop, Rafe.”
“Or maybe you need to go with the flow,” he countered.
I peered at him. “Who are you, and what have you done with my control-freak brother?”
“Come on. Isn’t your whole Universe-thing about being open to possibilities? To finding yoursoul mate?”
I shook my head. “Don’t joke about that.”
My soul mate, when he found me, was going to be sweet and, I imagined, a little shy. Possibly, but not necessarily, a virgin like me. Almost definitely a Capricorn, to be compatible with my Virgo traits. The sort of person more interested in waking up early to take the boat out and watch the sunrise than in catching it on his way to bed after a night of dancing. In short, the patient, careful, thoughtful lover I’d been waiting for.
And I wouldn’t have to go way outside my comfort zone to find him, because that was the antithesis of what a soul mate was.
“I’m very open to finding my soul mate, Rafael. I— ah,crap,” I muttered, pushing off the stool. “My bracelet!”
I’d been worrying my fingers over the beads, when suddenly the bracelet was gone and my wrist was naked. I must have flicked the clasp open somehow, but that had literally never happened in the four years I’d worn it.
I dropped to my hands and knees to search for it in the dim light.
“Hey, Rafe!” Dale called. “Take a gander at the television. Don’t that look like—?”
“No one,” Rafe said firmly a short while later. “It looks like no one. I have no idea who that is.” Which was funny since he prided himself on knowing every freakin’ answer to every freakin’ question Alex Trebek asked.
“Silvio, turn up the volume? I’m tellin’ ya, the guy looks an awful lot like—” Dale sounded bewildered.
“I think I’d know if that looked like someone I knew,” Rafe insisted, a little louder and a lot more strained than usual.
“Beale!” Dale yelled. “Get up here and look at this CelebTV Breaking News thing. I can’t hear who it’s s’posed to be, but this guy’s the spittin’ image of Rafe’s brother-in-law.”
Oh, jeez. No wonder Rafe sounded annoyed. Aimee’s brother ranked slightly above Aimee herself on Rafe’s List of Shit That Would Not Be Discussed.
“Busy,” I called.
I patted around the very sticky floor but couldn’t feel anything, and it was way too dark to see. What I did find was that, although my standards of cleanliness might be low, Blu Smoke’s were lower.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and turned on the flashlight.
“Jayd Rollins isnotmy brother-in-law anymore, Dale. And that’s not him, anyway.”
“But Rafe—”
“Leather pants look the same on everyone!”
