Chapter 4

Max

It was five in the morning on a Thursday, and there I was, changing a diaper. If that didn’t say I was a damn good guy, I’m not sure anything could.

“Uncle Max and Uncle Gavin are gonna take you out for breakfast. What do you say, kiddo?” Chloe clapped on cue, like the awesome munchkin she was. In response, I nuzzled my face against her neck and tickled her pajama-covered stomach.

Someday, I wanted this. The house, a wife, a couple of kids…exactly what I’d never had growing up.

I picked up my favorite little kid from the changing table in her room, held her above my head like Superman, and raced us down the hall. Since I’d forgone going out at night for a while, I’d offered to take morning faux-uncle duties. Maybe it’d give the sex maniacs in the room next to mine some uninterrupted time to do what I wasn’t feeling the urge to do—without waking me from a dead sleep.

“Ready, Freddy?” I plopped us onto the couch in the living room and grabbed her jacket off the armrest. No point in putting actual clothes on her when all she’d do was fight me anyway. Toddlers were hellions when it came to being dressed—even the cute ones like Beaner.

On cue, she flailed, silently begging me to dip her upside down. I finally managed to bribe her into letting me put the thing on her with promises of seeing Gavin.

My other best friend lived in the duplex adjacent to ours and had no idea I was gonna wake his ass up this morning. But I knew he hadn’t gone out last night either, so it wasn’t like I’d be waking a sleeping monster. Plus, Gav and I had some talking to do. Mainly me needing to complain about things I couldn’t bitch to Collin about.

Ten minutes later, I was dressed and the two of us stood outside his door. “You knock, pretty girl.” I grinned as she pounded her tiny fist against the glass storm door. Ten seconds later, a sweaty-ass yeti of a man answered, towel around his neck and looking like he hadn’t seen a razor—or sleep—for months.

“Get dressed. We’re taking Beaner for breakfast.” In response, Chloe leaped toward Gav’s leg and wrapped her chubby little arms around his calf.

“Sabotage,” he grumbled, flipping me off over her head. But, like all three of us would’ve done, he squatted down to her level and said with a smile, “Good morning, Chloe.”

The guy wasn’t good with kids. The only time he’d tried to take care of Chloe on his own, he’d wound up covered in her vomit and calling Addie. But that didn’t mean he didn’t love her. And Chloe, for some reason, thought the sun rose and set with her uncle Gavin. Hell, her first real, recognizable word was Avvy, which we all knew stood for Gavvy.

“Sorry. First thing she asked for this morning was your dumb-ass.” No, it was candy, but a little white lie never hurt anybody.

His bearded face went soft as he pulled back from kissing her forehead. “I’m all sweaty from my run, Chloe. Can I take a shower first?”

I rolled my eyes as he tried—failed—to barter with the kid. Again, the guy didn’t have a fatherly bone in his body.

She grabbed hold of his finger and tugged him out onto the front porch, her decision already made. Gavin shot me the devil eyes from over her shoulder, and I held my hands up in defense. “Kid’s hungry.”

“Fine, fuck. Put her in her car seat. I’m coming.”

“Uck!” Chloe repeated proudly, her eyes wide as she watched Gavin stand.

I laughed so hard my eyes started watering. Gavin, on the other hand, turned pale and pointed a finger at her, then me, then her again, his mouth opening and shutting each time. Chloe giggled like she knew exactly what she’d done. I picked her up, propping her on my hip.

“Chloe, you can’t say the bad words Uncle Gavin says, all right?” I laughed again, knowing damn well she wouldn’t understand.

Gavin moved forward and tucked some of her curls behind her ear. Then he glared at me, his jaw tight. “Give me five minutes.”

Fifteen minutes later, we wound up at Stringers, a newer mom-and-pop-style restaurant near O’Paddy’s Bar. It was commercial and cold, and the food tasted like ass, but it was the only breakfast joint in town where we could just sit—other than a McDonald’s and the local waffle house we’d gotten kicked out of last fall, thanks to Colly and his need to fight the world and everyone in it.

Gavin grabbed Chloe out of her car seat and set her on the sidewalk between us. I held one of her hands, Gavin held the other, and as we walked inside, the rising sun at our backs, the few eyes in the restaurant at this hour turned toward us.

“Christ. Everyone’s staring,” Gavin grumbled under his breath, rubbing his hand over his mouth.

I snorted and grabbed a couple of menus, yanking the two of them behind me. “Come on, sweetheart,” I said, louder than necessary. “Our baby girl needs to eat.”

Unlike me, Gavin was very uncool with situations like these. Not to mention he didn’t have a funny bone in his body. He was like Collin’s clone in some ways. But Collin had an occasional laid-back side, while Gavin was usually all moody and gruff. Except when it came to Beaner.

In the booth, Chloe sat in a booster seat next to me, kicking the underside of the table. Gavin’s gaze was drawn to the menu. He was burying his head behind it when our waitress approached.

“What can I get you two?” She looked at me, then the top of Gavin’s head, before she smiled at Chloe.

“Coffee for us, milk for the cutie here.” I winked at the waitress whose name tag read Bridget. Her pale cheeks flushed, making the freckles pop off her nose. She poured us both a cup, never losing her grin.

“Max.”

I blinked, meeting Gavin’s stare from across the table after she left. “What?”

“You all right?” He looked from me to the retreating waitress and back again. “Because she just eyed the hell out of you, and you ignored her.”

“I’m fine. Just not interested.” I leaned back in my seat to wrap my arm around Beaner, hoping Gavin didn’t question me. Unlike with Addie and Collin, I couldn’t hide the reason for my sudden abstinence.

“You’re always interested.”

I was. But not today. Or yesterday—or for the past seven days. I shrugged, not wanting to get into it.

“At least tell me why we’re here when you could easily have cooked better food than this at home.”

I leaned forward to pour some sugar into my coffee. “It’s Lia. I wanna talk about her, and I can’t do it at home with Collin around.”

“You could’ve just come over to my place.”

I rubbed my foot up and down his shin. “And miss out on a secret rendezvous with my lover?” I winked. He jerked his foot back, cussing under his breath as he nailed his knee against the bottom of the table.

“What about Lia?” He narrowed his eyes.

“I…” Fuck. This was a hell of a lot harder than I’d thought. “Do you know how she’s been this week? Addie ain’t got a clue, and Collin’s been too bent out of shape to care about anything.” Aside from picking her up from County, driving her home, and fighting with her along the way, I hadn’t seen or spoken to Lia since. Which really wasn’t much different than the way things had been, but still.

“Why do you ask?” He smirked, probably already knowing the answer.

“Just answer the question, would ya?”

He ran his fingertip over the rim of his coffee cup. “Far as I know, she’s fine.” He frowned, always observant. “You gonna tell me why you’re suddenly asking me about Lia when you’re the one who’s been keeping tabs on her for the last five years?”

Again. How could I answer without spilling the whole truth? That I missed what she and I had before she started dating Travis. That every time I closed my eyes at night she was there in my dreams. Oh, and that I was ninety-nine percent sure I was in love with her.

“You can’t tell Collin what I’m about to tell you.”

“Oh Jesus.” Gavin leaned back and ran a hand through his hair, reaching over to grab the fork Chloe had been slamming against the table. I was so lost in my head, I hadn’t noticed. “I can’t not tell Collin. You know the rules.”

I bit down on my tongue. Never keep secrets, no matter how bad they are. That was the motto the three of us lived by. Yet this was different. At least to me it was. Because the secret I was about to tell was not my own to spill. At least not to Collin.

Gavin kept going. “She pregnant?”

“Pregnant?” I jerked my head back, just as the waitress brought our food to the table. She cleared her throat, but I ignored her, too caught up in Gavin’s words. “Who’d get her pregnant?”

“Travis maybe?”

My fingers tightened around my fork at the thought. “No. They broke up.” Not that the pregnant thing couldn’t have happened before they broke up. But I knew Lia was smarter than that.

“Really?”

I nodded. “Yep.”

“Then what’s up? Why’re you so worried about her?”

I sighed, hating that I had to go behind Lee-Lee’s back about this, but if I wanted Gav’s opinion, he needed to know what was up. “I bailed her out of jail early last Saturday morning.”

“What?” Gavin froze, and the spoon he was holding dropped onto his plate.

“Yup.”

“What happened?” he asked.

I cut up Chloe’s pancakes, then put her eggs on another plate so the two wouldn’t touch. “She found Travis screwing some girl in the alley at Jimney’s. Lia punched his nose, he pressed charges, and I had to bail her out.” I shoved the plate in front of my niece, picking up a bit of her eggs to entice her with. She curled her nose and turned her head, always the picky eater. “I’m worried he’ll keep bugging her is the thing.” Or worse.

“What are we gonna do about it?” Gavin leaned back, arms folded.

“Don’t you mean what am I gonna do about it?” Done with trying to force nasty food down Beaner’s throat, I relaxed in the booth with my coffee, scowling as I picked it up.

He shook his head. “Lia’s like my sister. Not gonna let some douche bag mess with her. We’ve got to take care of this together.”

I laughed. “You sound like a gangster.”

“Funny.” He flipped me off.

“Seriously.” I set my cup back down on the table, not even hungry for the steaming pile of garbage in front of me. “I can handle this on my own. I plan on stopping by Jimney’s. Hoping I can talk to her a little more. Make sure—”

“When?” Gavin shoved his plate away too, then stole a slice of uneaten toast off Chloe’s napkin. She’d hardly touched anything, other than the eggs, which were all over the table now.

“When what?” I opened a wet wipe the waitress had left behind.

“When are you going to Jimney’s?”

I shrugged. “Tonight, most likely.”

“Then I’m there with you. Both of us. If she’s got issues and Travis shows, we’ll take care of him together.”

I wanted to argue, to tell him he didn’t need to go out and pick fights. His hot head tended to take over, and with all the issues he’d been having lately—like the fact that he’d been put on leave because he’d punched another EMT—I didn’t need him doing time, any more than I needed Lia to. Still, I knew he was lonely, fighting his own demons the best he could. And because I had a hell of a hard time disappointing people, I couldn’t tell him no even if I should’ve.

“Fine. But you gotta promise to keep your head on straight.” I pointed a fork at him just in time for something warm to hit my cheek. I blinked, turning toward Chloe. Her hands were filled with leftover eggs, mischievous eyes pointed at me.

“Uh-oh.” She giggled, knowing damn well what she’d done.

I couldn’t help but grin, just as the flash of a camera went off. I lifted my head to find Gavin leaning back in his seat with his phone in hand.

“Collateral.” He smirked, pocketing the phone a second later.

I shook my head. “Cocksucker.”

“Ock, ock, ock.”

Both Gav and I jerked our heads toward Chloe. She giggled even louder this time and bounced in place. I groaned. “Collin’s gonna beat us bloody.”

Gavin choked back a laugh and said, “He’s gonna do more than that.”