“Maybe,” Beau says. “Depends on what he did.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I reply, my voice hard just as Adam walks through the door, surveys the room, then walks toward me when he sees me at the bar in the back of the place. He doesn’t look angry. His face is calm, his walk loose and relaxed.
“Doesn’t look mad,” Rhys murmurs, reading my mind.
“Hey, Adam,” I say and shake his hand. “You remember my brothers.”
“I do. Hi, everyone.” He nods at them, then turns to me. “Can we talk?”
“You bet.”
He glances at the others and then at me.
“We can talk in front of them,” I tell him. “They’re a vault, and I don’t have anything to hide.”
“Fair enough.” He sits on a stool to my right and shakes his head at the bartender when asked if he wants anything to drink. “I’d like to talk about Callie.”
“Told you,” Beau says, earning a look from me that says shut it.
“Shoot,” I say and lean against the bar, facing him.
“Look, her dad’s gone, and I’m the only man in her life that gives a fuck about her. You and I have been friends for a long time, and I like you, but I love her.” He stops and frowns, looking down at his hands, and I suddenly respect my friend more than I ever have. “You have a history, Declan.”
“He’s a man whore,” Eli says from across the room.
“Not helping,” I say mildly.
“No, he’s right,” Adam says with a chuckle. “You are. So am I, so I know it when I see it.”
“And you want to make sure that Callie isn’t just another notch in my bedpost,” I say, nodding.
“She’s better than that,” Adam says simply. “She’s better than any of us.”
“Damn,” Ben whispers. “I like him.”
“Honestly,” Eli says as he sets his cue down and walks toward us, “I’ve been wondering what’s going on there too.”
“I think we all have,” Rhys says. “I know I haven’t been in the picture for long, but even I know that you’re not a one-woman kind of guy, Dec.”
I frown, suddenly ashamed of myself for the first time in my life where women are concerned. In the past, I always made it clear that if I was with a woman, it wasn’t going to be long term. We had fun together, and went our separate ways, no harm, no foul.
But it never occurred to me that it could have caused hurt feelings, and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I glance around at the guys I respect most in the world, and then let out a gusty breath. “The truth?”
“No, lie to us, moron,” Beau says and rolls his eyes.
“I love her,” I say, enjoying the way the words roll off my tongue. “Adam’s right, she’s better than any of us. She’s probably too fucking good for me, but I’m so damn in love with her, I can’t breathe.”
“Well, that’s just the sweetest thing,” the bartender says, wiping a tear from her eye, eavesdropping unapologetically.
“Adorable,” Adam agrees, but he’s not smiling. “But that doesn’t really ease my mind.”
“What do you want from me?” I ask.
“I want to know where you plan to take this. Is she fun for now and when you decide you’re not in love with her anymore you move on to the next thing?”
“I should fucking deck you for that.”
“It’s a fair question,” Ben says quietly.
“Look, Callie and I have known each other for about four minutes. It’s early, way too early to put a ring on it. Especially for Callie. She doesn’t trust easily, and she definitely doesn’t make life-changing decisions in just a few months' time.”
“You’re evading,” Adam says. “And you forget that I know her. I agree, if you dropped to one knee and pulled out a rock, she’d run screaming into the night.”
I frown, hating that he’s right.
“But,” he continues, “that doesn’t mean that you haven’t already thought about what you want.”
“I want her. All of her.” I stand and pace to the pool table, then back to Adam. “I am in love with her. Not for a month, or until she irritates me. For good. I plan to make her mine, but damn it, it’s not as easy as just deciding it and expecting her to fall in line. She has a say.”
“You’re damn right she has a say,” Adam replies, smiling now. “And you’ve told me all I need to know.”
“You’re going to make a good dad someday,” Rhys says to Adam. “I hope you have a girl.”
“No kids for me, pal,” Adam replies, then shudders and takes a swig of my beer. “Unlike Declan, I’m a player for life.”
“That’s what I thought, man.” I clap him on the back and motion to the bartender, who’s smiling at me with bonafide heart eyes, for another beer.
“I think we’ve all thought that at some point,” Eli adds with a shrug. “And then you meet the person that turns your life upside down, and you can’t remember why you thought that way in the first place.”
My brother is one smart bastard.
“Not me, man,” Adam insists, less forcefully now. “I’m out of here. Y’all are too mushy for me.”
“We’re not mushy,” Ben says with a frown. “We’re respectful.”
“Hey, I respect women,” Adam says. “They’re the strongest creatures on this earth. I just don’t intend to have to choose among the three billion of them on Earth to be with forever. There are too many to enjoy.”