No Quarter (NOLA's Own #2) (9 page)

On our hands and knees, we sorted out the wiring before moving the monstrosity into its regular place.

“So, where did you meet that wall of muscle who calls himself your man?” he whispered, glancing at his office door for said wall of muscle.

I laughed. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“I figured you went out last night, brought home the biggest man you could find, and exchanged sex for his services today.”

That cracked me up.

“Where did you guys meet then? You’ve been single for as long as I’ve known you.”

“We actually met a long time ago at a concert. He just came back from touring.”

“He’s an Army guy? With
that
hair?”

Snorting, I replied, “No, man. He’s the lead singer for NOLA’s Junk.”

“The heavy metal band?”

“You’ve heard of them?”
I’m impressed!

“Hell yeah, I have! They have that song, ‘Louisiana Baby.’ Almost every radio station plays it nonstop.”

“Why, Gavin, I’m shocked!” I laughed. “I thought you only listened to club beats.”

“It’s a really popular song. Even people who don’t like metal listen to it. It’s not like their other stuff. It’s mellower. Wow. That’s
his
voice?”

“It is.”

“He can fucking sing, man.”

I grinned. “That he can. I’ve been listening to his voice since I was sixteen. They’re my all-time favorite band.”

“So…you’re dating a pretty famous dude then.”

“I suppose I am.”

“You met him years ago, you say?”

I nodded, tugging on a trapped plug cord. “When I was eighteen, yeah.”

“Is he the reason you never really dated anyone?” he asked quietly, his eyes flitting over at the door again.

“Yeah,” I whispered.

“How come you never told me? I kept trying to set you up with my friends! Tall ones, too!”

Busting out laughing, I said, “Aw, you picked out the tall ones for me?”

“I did,” he replied sourly, unwinding more cords. “Shit, this thing has a lot of feed.”

“I never really told
anyone
, Gavin. Alys and Lili were there when we met. They were pretty much the only ones who knew how I felt about him. It sounded crazy in my own head, you know? What would I have told you?
‘Sorry, I don’t date because I’m waiting for a world-famous rock star to come home and sweep me off my feet once more.’
”

“Yeah, you could’ve gone with that. And you should’ve mentioned that he’s a freakin’ giant. None of my guys are
that
big. Shit, I’ve never met anyone so huge in my life. And the man is
fit
, too!”

“Yeah, he really is. He says he works out, but I’ve never seen him do it.”

“Maybe you’ve been his workout plan recently,” Gavin remarked. “But you seem really happy, Kenna. You of all people deserve it. You’ve been through so much these last few years. It’s about time something awesome walked into your life.”

“Thanks.” And I meant it.

“You still holding up, what with your grandma…”

“Yeah, I am. Much better than I ever thought I could, to be honest.”

“I guess it’s because he doesn’t give you much time to think,” he said with a smirk.

“Something like that.” I grinned.

We started pushing the bench into the spot Gavin usually kept it, grunting with exertion.

“You guys need a hand with that?” Phil’s body filled the doorframe as he ducked his head to enter the room.

“Yes, please,” I panted.

Gavin and Phil maneuvered the bench into place, and Phil plopped his ass down on it.

“Sheri and Jason are on their way with Molly’s Po’Boys. I told them to get enough for everyone. They should be here pretty soon.”

“Sweet!” piped Gavin, moving to his desk and un-bubble-wrapping his diploma and certifications. “This is moving a hell of a lot faster than I thought it would. We’ll have the afternoon completely free.”

“You good here, Gavin?” I asked.

Phil was giving me a panty-combusting look, and I didn’t want my crotch to burst into flames in front of my coworker.

“Yeah, just have to hang this shit on the walls—”

“Cool.” I about-faced out of the room, Phil and his laughter following me.

Back in my office, I finished setting my own bench up. Phil managed to move his giant self behind me, and he wrapped his arms around my waist. As he buried his face in my neck, giving me those tonguing kisses I loved so much, Lucy popped her face around the doorframe.

“Dr. MacGregor?” she squeaked, averting her gaze.

Face blazing red-hot, I attempted to wriggle free, but Phil only held on tighter.

“What’s up, Lucy?”

“There’s someone here who says you’re expecting him? Are you treating anyone today? Because the guy’s face—”

“Oh, that’s Sheri and Jason,” Phil told her, finally releasing his constrictor hold on me. “They brought us food.”

“Wait—is that
Jason Jones
?” she asked in shock.

“Yup,” replied Phil.

“What happened to his face?”

“I ran into Phil’s fist.” Jason’s voice floated into the room from behind her.

Lucy jumped and yelped, her hand pressing over her racing heart.

Phil laughed. “Yeah, he did.”

Looking around the corner, Jason said, “We got lunch. You guys comin’?”

His face wasn’t looking so bad. Most of the swelling had gone down, and the bruises around his eyes, while still a dark purple, were fading into a greenish-brown tinge around the outer parts.

In the waiting room, Sheri was unpacking plastic cups and packets of white sugar, placing them on the coffee table. She looked up at me and smiled her megawatt smile. “I got unsweetened iced tea.”

“Thanks, Sher-Bear,” I replied, returning her smile.

She looked so good—and not just because she was wearing her new wide-legged jeans and a sky-blue T-shirt that made the color of her eyes pop while covering up her boobs. She had a light about her that she’d had since Friday morning. She looked radiant and healthy-looking, not the gray wounded soul I’d once met. Frank openly stared at her, slack-jawed, from his seat in the armchair.

“Hey, Frank,” said Phil, his tone full of laughter. “That’s Jason’s girlfriend, Sheri. Sheri, that’s Frank and Gavin.”

She turned her smile on them, and Frank went slightly cross-eyed.

“You’re
Jason Jones’s
girlfriend?” Lucy asked faintly, taking the armchair opposite of Frank.

“Yep,” she replied, her smile softening.

“What’s a Jason Jones?” Frank whispered to his brother.

“I think it’s like a Phil Deveraux,” Gavin whispered back, grinning.

Frank just looked confused. Phil cracked up and flopped onto the couch, pulling me onto his lap.

“Stop it,” I hissed. I scooted off to sit on the floor between his knees.

Leaning over me, he whispered, “What’s the problem?”

“I work here, babe. These are my coworkers, and that behavior is inappropriate in front of them, okay?”

Dropping a kiss on top of my head, he replied, “All right.”

Sheri handed everyone a sandwich and a cup of iced tea before sitting between Jason’s knees, on the floor next to me.

“Oh, Lucy!” I said before biting into my sandwich. “Before we leave today, I need to be taken off the schedule for—when are we leaving?” I turned to Phil.

“We leave Thursday the twenty-eighth, in the mornin’. We’ll be back Sunday night.”

Turning back to Lucy, I told her, “I’ll be back to work on the first of November.”

She set her sandwich down on the coffee table.

“Not
now
, Luce!” I barked at her, thinking that maybe Phil was rubbing off on me more than I cared to admit. “After you finish your lunch.”

She grabbed the sandwich and started eating at top speed.

“After you
enjoy
your lunch,” I emphasized.

“Yes, Dr. MacGregor,” she replied, slowing down her intake.

“Dude, you’re datin’ a
doctor
.” Jason snorted, his broken nose giving off a slight whistle.

Phil chuckled. “I know. It’s fuckin’ badass.”

“So, what do you guys do?” asked Frank.

Phil reached for his second sandwich as Jason looked at Frank in surprise.

“Jason”—Phil threw his thumb in the guitarist’s direction—“is a stripper—when his face is in fine form, that is. Mostly bachelorette gigs ’n’ shit, but he’s not too proud for the gay parties.”

Jason laughed loudly. I noticed he was picking off small pieces of his sandwich and carefully chewing tiny bites of fried seafood goodness on the side of his mouth where his teeth weren’t wired into his head.

“Really?” asked Frank.

Gavin’s eyes met mine, and then he quickly looked away to keep himself from bursting into laughter.

“No,” replied Phil, grinning.

“Quit teasing him,” snipped Sheri. “They’re musicians, Frank. Jason is the guitarist, and Phil is the lead singer for NOLA’s Junk.”

“Thanks, baby,” said Jason, patting her shoulder. Glancing at Frank, he told him, “She’s a feisty one, and she doesn’t let anyone make fun of the band—not even
the band
.”

“Isn’t that the ‘Louisiana Baby’ band?” Frank asked, looking impressed.

“Yep,” replied Phil. He shoved the second half of sandwich three into his gob and reached for sandwich number four.

“Wow. I hear you guys on the radio all the time. It’s an awesome song.”

“Thanks,” said Jason.

Gavin was watching Phil with morbid fascination as he methodically demolished his fourth sandwich. Leaning down so that his face was level with mine, he whispered, “Where does it go?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

Sheri giggled, and Phil poked the back of her head with his finger.

“You guys know it’s number one on the charts? Like,
all
the charts, not just the rock ones,” Frank said, looking more awestruck than impressed now.

“Really? That’s pretty fuckin’ cool,” stated Phil, reaching for sandwich number five.

Of course, he knew it was number one on the charts. They all did.

“So, what now? Are you guys are done?” asked Frank.

Jason chuckled and whistled. It was really fucking hilarious. Even Sheri bit her lip and scrunched up her eyes in an effort not to laugh at him.

“Naw, man. We go back into the studio after the New Year. But we’ve been working nonstop for the last six years. We just got back from two world tours, in between a couple of European circuits while recordin’ three albums. We’re kinda holing ourselves up for a little while,” said Jason.

“No shit,” breathed Frank. “How does it feel, being back?”

“It’s been a long time comin’,” Phil replied.

I felt as though he were talking to me.

“It’s great, bein’ home. I never wanna leave. But we got the Twisted Festivus next summer. That’s two and a half months of touring the US right there,” said Phil.

“Yeah, but I think it’s gonna be some time before we want to leave the continent again,” said Jason.

Phil shoved the rest of his sandwich in his face, brushed his hands off on his dark brown Dickies shorts, and started to rub my shoulders.

“Full?” I bit the inside of my cheek.

“Meh. It’ll hold.”

Gavin choked on his tea, and Frank whacked him between the shoulder blades.

“What do you wanna do now, Baby Girl?” Phil asked warmly.

“I wanna go to the lake,” Jason said.

“Funny. I wasn’t aware your name was Baby Girl,” snapped Phil.

“Whatever. We haven’t been since we were kids. Let’s go. It’s fuckin’ hot as balls outside. Gotta do it before the weather turns only kinda warm.”

“That sounds like fun,” I said, laughing.

“All right.” Phil shifted behind my back, and his lips pressed to my neck, making me erupt into goose bumps.

So much for not exhibiting that sort of behavior in the workplace,
I thought dryly.

We cleaned everything up while Lucy took me off the schedule for the days we would be in Los Angeles.

“I’ll be in an hour earlier tomorrow, Dr. MacGregor, to let Charlotte in to set everything up,” Lucy told me. “Is there anything else you’d like me to do while I’m here?”

“Not particularly. You can always lock her in and go get yourself breakfast.”

She shot me a startled look.

“Jeez, Luce. I was joking.”

We all said good-bye and headed out to the parking lot. It was almost one thirty, and the day was gorgeous and steamy. Jason had the right idea, heading out to Lake Pontchartrain for some afternoon sun and swimming. I hadn’t been there in years.

Twenty minutes later, we turned into Ormond, and I made Phil drop me off at my place, telling him I’d walk over in a few minutes.

He leaned over and sweetly kissed me. “Hurry up. I miss you already.”

We made it to the lake by three o’clock, which turned out to be a swimming hole with a small sandy beach, heavily forested with mangroves. It was a secluded spot where Phil and Jason used to hang out with the guys back when they were teens. There were many such places all along Lake Pontchartrain, beyond the eyes of the public and lifeguards. What bugged me was that there very well could be alligators lurking around here. The guys didn’t seem too bothered by that.

“It’s clear and sandy. You can see all the way to the bottom. If a gator comes up, you could see that, too. We don’t go beyond the sandy bit. That’s just askin’ for it.”