Knox, I noted, didn’t bother to say hi. He merely glared at me before looking away.
Stupid Nash and his big, stupid mouth.
“No one really knows. He’s like Chandler from Friends,” Naomi said.
Sloane studied me from under her pom-pomed hat. It was black to match her mittens. “You always look like a badass video game heroine ready to kick down a door or grab a sexy gun-toting guy and bang him into oblivion.”
Naomi sprayed a fine mist of coffee into the chilly air while I laughed.
“Uh, thanks? I think.”
“Tell her about the dress,” Sloane insisted.
“We put you in scarlet,” Naomi told me. “It’s very bombshell.”
“You’ll definitely get laid at the wedding in it,” Sloane insisted.
“Is everything okay with you?” I asked her.
The librarian groaned dramatically and threw her head back. Which gave me an unobstructed view of Lucian Rollins approaching from behind her. His cashmere coat flapped in the wind like some kind of vampire cape. His gaze wasn’t friendly. Especially not when it landed on me.
“Ugh. I need sex,” Sloane announced, unaware that her nemesis was nearly within earshot. “Everywhere I look, I see potential sex. Naomi has this annoying, permanent orgasmic glow, and you look like you could walk into any room and leave with a guy in under five minutes.”
“Then why aren’t you hate-banging him?” I pointed and we all turned to stare at Lucian, who looked like a model in jeans, a sweater, and a ball cap.
“Damn it! Naomi, you said he wasn’t coming!” Sloane hissed.
“He didn’t tell me he was. I have no idea why he’s here,” she insisted.
“The man spends so much time next door and around town I’m starting to doubt that he has an actual job,” Sloane complained.
“Next door?” I asked.
“Apparently Sloane and Lucian grew up next door to each other. Sloane bought her house from her parents when they moved, and Lucian kept his mom’s place,” Naomi explained.
“God knows why,” Sloane muttered.
“Maybe he’s here to have sex with you. Like some kind of dark sexy fairy granting dirty wishes,” I teased.
I noticed Knox didn’t bother greeting Lucian when he joined him. Looked like the pissed-off-ness was contagious.
“I’d rather go to the gynecologist and the dentist on the same day,” Sloane said. “Besides, I have a date.”
“You have a date?” Naomi shouted the question loud enough that all the men turned and stared at us.
Lucian looked like he was about to set the world on fire with his dark smolder.
“Thanks, mega mouth,” Sloane muttered. “Yes. I have a date.”
“A date or a hookup?” I asked at normal volume.
Lucian’s hand closed into a fist, crushing his to-go cup and exploding coffee everywhere.
I grinned as he settled that dark and dangerous gaze on me. Oops, I mouthed smugly.
“Nothing to see here,” Naomi said, making shooing motions with her hands. At least that was what I think she was trying to do. It was hard to tell with her double-fisting beverages. “Go about your business, gentlemen.”
Knox shot his fiancée a wicked wink, then gave me a chilly look before turning his attention back to the field where the team was warming up.
“Uh, what’s up with the silent treatment and steely stares?” Sloane asked.
“You’re just trying to change the subject. Who are you hooking up with?”
Sloane looked over both shoulders and then gestured for us to lean closer. When we’d formed a vodka-breathed huddle, she cracked a smile. “I’ll give you a hint. He’s got a mustache and a badge.”
“You’re going out with Nolan? Nolan Graham? U.S. Marshal Nolan Graham?” I demanded.
“He’s really cute,” Naomi said.
“He’s a great guy,” I added.
“You two dated, right? Any red flags I need to know about before letting him go for the gold after the third date?” Sloane asked me.
“We had a very brief fling a few years back. He’s a genuinely nice guy and he’s a good dancer.”
“Maybe he’ll be my date to the wedding,” Sloane mused.
The men were staring at us again. Make that glaring. Lucian looked like he couldn’t decide if he hated me or Sloane more. Knox’s expression was best described as resting pissed face.
“Okay, I get that Sloane and Lucian have this hate fest going on, but what’s with you and Knox?” Naomi asked, frowning at her husband. “He didn’t say something mean and offensive to you, did he? He’s supposed to be trying to get better at that.”
I looked down at my drink. “As far as I know, everything is fine.”
“Oh, look. Here comes Nash. I thought he had to work.”
I nearly fell out of my chair and spilled my Bloody Mary whipping my head around.
“Damn it,” I muttered and slumped lower in the chair when I spotted him. He was dressed in his uniform, towing Piper on a pink leash, and looking even more furious than Knox and Lucian combined. Nolan strolled along a few yards behind him, his phone to his ear.
“Ladies,” Nash growled. His gaze landed on me and I made zero attempt to cover the fury he inspired in me.
“Morning, Nash,” Naomi chirped.
“Hey, Chief,” Sloane said.
“Thought I told you not to come around my family,” Nash said to me.
Oh, goody. We were gonna go there. In public. With witnesses.
“I’d think long and hard about starting that conversation right now. Unless of course you want to air all the dirty laundry,” I said, firing poisoned eyeball daggers at him.
Everyone stared at us as if Nash and I had just turned into a live-action telenovela in front of them.
“I said leave her alone, not be a dick to her,” Knox snapped.
“I don’t need you to defend me. Especially when you’re not even speaking to me,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, I’m gonna need an explanation immediately,” Sloane said.
“I’m glad you came to your senses,” Lucian said to Nash.
“Fuck off, Lucy,” Nash snarled. “And fuck you too, Knox.”
Amanda sidled over. “I smell drama. What’s happening?”
“Everyone is mad at everyone else,” Sloane said. “Will someone please explain what crawled up y’all’s butts so I can choose a side? Spoiler alert: Team Not Lucian.”
Lucian turned his steely eyed gaze on her. “I don’t have the energy for you today, Sloane.”
Naomi put her hand out to keep Sloane from launching herself out of her chair. “Listen, I can only handle one pair of feuding friends at a time.” She turned to me. “What’s going on with you and Nash? And you and Knox. And Lucian and, well, everyone.”
They all turned to look at me. The women eyed me expectantly. The men looked at me with varying degrees of scowling faces. One of the team moms was aiming her phone in our direction, probably recording the whole thing.
Stef chose that moment to wander up with a coffee cup the size of a bucket. He stopped short when he sensed the standoff. “What’d I miss?”