But that had been a long time ago, when his family and mine had still been feuding. Although the shots we took at each other had mostly been pranks, I’d been obligated by long-standing tradition to hate Asher Bailey and his brothers. Six years ago, that had all changed, and somehow, Asher and I had become friends.
Although it wasn’t all that weird. My sister Annika had crossed feud lines to marry a Bailey. But that was another story.
He took a seat next to me. Hayden came over to take his order. I didn’t know where Hayden was from, but he hadn’t lived in Tilikum long enough to remember when the Timberbeast had been Haven territory.
“What can I get you?”
Asher gestured toward my beer. “One of those.”
“Coming right up.”
“What are you doing in here tonight?” I asked.
“Grace and the kids are out with her mom. I saw your truck outside, so I figured I’d stop in.”
Hayden gave Asher his beer. Asher thanked him.
We lifted our glasses to each other and took a drink.
“What’s new with you?” He set his beer down.
“Not much. Just ripping apart a house.”
“How’s that going?”
“Shitty, but that’s typical. I had to pull out a bunch of drywall earlier this week that I hadn’t been planning to replace. But at least we got rid of the smell.”
Thinking about the house made me wonder. Did I forget to lock up when I left? That wasn’t usually something I’d do, but I had the weirdest feeling that I’d left the back door unlocked.
“It still amazes me that Grace remodeled our house on her own while I was gone.”
“Grace is a badass.”
He lifted his glass. “Cheers to that.”
I clinked mine against his. “What about you?”
“I had a job interview yesterday.”
“You thinking of leaving the gym?”
“For this? Yeah. Chief Stanely wants to hire me on at the TFD.”
I raised my eyebrows. That was some news. Asher had been planning to be a firefighter before he’d been sent to prison. Once he’d come home, his record had made him ineligible. “No shit?”
He nodded. “The state changed the law. I’ve gone long enough without re-offending, Chief can hire me. He blindsided me with that news last weekend.”
“Not wasting any time, is he?”
“I have a lot of training to catch up on, so he’s trying to get the formalities out of the way.”
“Your brothers must be excited.” Three of Asher’s brothers were career firefighters with the TFD, including my brother-in-law, Levi.
“They assumed I was fucking with them at first.”
“Naturally.”
The door opened again and I glanced back to see my brothers Luke and Zachary waltz in. Zachary nudged Luke and gestured to the table with the girls—because of course he did—before coming over to the bar.
“Hey, Asher,” Luke said. “I hear the fire department is lowering their standards.”
“How did you know about that?” I asked.
His brow furrowed. “Everybody knows.”
“I didn’t know.”
“That’s because you don’t talk to anybody.”
I shrugged. Fair point.
“Congrats, man.” Luke slapped Asher on the shoulder. “I don’t know how Chief Stanley is going to handle another Bailey on his crew, but that’s his problem.”
“He’s handled Gavin all these years,” Asher said. “That must make him some kind of saint.”
“That’s a fact,” Luke said. “Gavin is nuts.”
Asher chuckled. His youngest brother came by his reputation honestly.
“As charming as this all is,” Zachary said, his voice thick with sarcasm, “I have more important things to do. Catch you dickheads later.”
He went straight for the table with the girls, sauntering over with his hands in his pockets. Z was all confidence with women. It was probably well-placed. I doubted he had much of a problem getting laid.
Asher shook his head, like he was mildly amused. He’d been a family man for years. Picking up girls in a bar had to be the last thing on his mind. It was part of why we got along. I didn’t have a wife and kids—nor did I want them—but I wasn’t any more interested in that scene than he was.
Luke leaned a little closer and lowered his voice. “You know, there’s a table full of hot girls over there.”
“So?”
“I’m pretty sure the blond one in pink has been eying you since we got here.”