May Contain Wine

by Vale, Lani Lynn

  “We can just go into the ladies’ room,” Ashe suggested. “And we can lock the door.”

  “Let’s go,” Avery said as she placed her glass down, then thought better of it and picked it back up again. “I think Derek will feel better if I’m not in here with him. He keeps looking up to check on me and gets a punch somewhere to his body.”

  I could understand that. Louis kept looking back here, too. As if he was multitasking. Taking care of the man that was trying to hit him with a bar stool and keep an eye on me.

  We all moved as one toward the back hall.

  Luckily, we only ran into one problem on our way. A bitchy looking woman was on her way out of the bathroom, and I suggested to her to come back in. She refused and left, but only after she flipped me off for good measure.

  I rolled my eyes and filed inside, second to last.

  When I got all the way in and turned, it was to see Ares get yanked back by her hair by the same bitchy woman that was leaving as we were going inside.

  Ares moved quickly, turning around and shoving her fist straight into the woman’s throat.

  The woman went down hard, just to have another woman follow through with her friend’s act.

  Only, I was there before she could grab for Ares’ hair, throwing a punch that had the woman staggering back.

  When they were both stunned, I backed up quickly, leaving them in the hall, and slowly closed the door in their faces.

  Which was about the time that I realized you had to have a key to lock the door.

  “Shit!” I cried out, pulling my purse open.

  “Oh, no,” Ares said. “You have the kit, right?”

  I gave her a roll of my eyes. “Of course I do.”

  “What do you have?” Ashe asked curiously.

  “My lock picking kit,” I said, shrugging.

  “You know how to pick locks?” Ashe asked. “You know that’s illegal to just carry around, right?”

  I did.

  Which was why I didn’t exactly advertise that I had it.

  “Yeah,” I said as I pulled it out of my purse and went to work on the lock.

  Seconds later, I had the thing locked, and I was shoving the picks back into my purse.

  When I turned around, it was to see everyone staring at me.

  “Umm,” I hesitated. “What?”

  Ashe grinned. “How did you learn how to pick locks?”

  I gestured vaguely over my shoulder. “Them. The boys dared me to learn. And I ordered a kit over the internet using my dad’s card. I think my dad thought it was funny, so he let me keep it. Until I started to unlock all his locks. Then he didn’t find it nearly as amusing.” I sat back with a grin.

  “Since we’re in here and all…” Ashe said just before going into one of the stalls.

  “Sometimes I feel like I missed so much not growing up with y’all,” Avery said as she hopped up into place onto the bathroom counter. “It’s like a secret handshake, or an inside joke, only it’s all the time.”

  “Amen,” Ashe said. “Ford and I were just talking about this the other day. I mean, we grew up and spent a bit of time with them.” The toilet flushed and Ashe came out moments later and walked straight to the sink and washed her hands. “But you’re right. It’s like reading the fourth book in a series. I mean, I know what’s going on, but there’re still a few things that I’ve missed along the way.”

  I thought about all the years that Ares and I had growing up with the bunch.

  “You have to understand,” I said. “Our dads were like brothers. And our mothers like sisters. We spend holidays and birthdays together. Sometimes there’s not even an occasion. It’s still like that, even with none of them being on the SWAT team. Most of the kids were all around the same age, too.”

  The children of Michael, Miller, Foster, Luke, Bennett, Nico, and Downy were all within a couple of years of each other.

  “We used to play for hours and hours together,” Ares said. “They’d go to the strip club and spend their time there getting their required training in every week, and us kids would just run wild.”

  Ashe finished washing her hands and reached for a couple of paper towels before leaning her butt against the sink and staring at us.

  “I hope that we have that.” She patted her belly. “I want that for my kids. I mean, we had it, Ford and me. Our parents were both Dixie Wardens. So there was the tight-knit group there. But y’all are something else. It’s like y’all know what’s happening before it even happens. Like out there. You made eye contact with Louis, and you just knew he didn’t want you to be in there anymore. So you moved us in here.”

  I grinned. “I actually looked at Ford and did that. Though, Louis definitely made the ‘get the fuck out of here’ look toward me.”

  “That’s what I mean. You knew exactly what he wanted with just a look. It’s a great thing to have,” she said softly. “I think that the both of you together is an awesome thing. I think that given time, you’re going to have everything with him.”

  I felt my heart soar, then immediately take a nosedive.

  “He broke my heart when we were younger,” I said softly. “I was always a sickly kid. I mean, I enjoyed my childhood and all, but the moment that I started my period when I was around twelve, things started to go weird. Like, I’d just get absolutely exhausted for no reason. Down in the dumps, sometimes I couldn’t crawl out of bed exhausted. It was not a normal thing for a young kid my age, that was for sure.”

  “I always knew when her period started,” Ares said. “One day she’d be fine. And the next, she’d be in her bed and we’d only be able to watch movies all day because she didn’t have the energy to do anything but prop herself up in bed.”

  I grinned, remembering all the times that I used to spend in my bed with Ares.

  “Needless to say, things finally started to level out when I turned fifteen or sixteen. I can’t remember which. But I do know that Louis was the first one to donate blood to me. He learned that I needed a transfusion, and all of a sudden, it was him that had to donate. Did you know that almost all of the SWAT kids have O negative blood?”

  “Except me and Caro and the rest of the Saint kids,” Rowen supplied. “I have O positive, and Caro has AB negative.”

  “It’s really weird that y’all know this,” Ashe said. “And who are the ‘Saint kids?’”

  “Michael ‘Saint’ Perez. He and Nikki’s kids. They’re all the ‘Saint kids.’”

  “You know,” Avery said. “It’s kind of odd that there’s another Saint on the team.”

  That was true. Michael had retired from being the Saint on the SWAT team only for another Saint to take his place.

  “Though this Saint is an actual Saint. That’s his name. Saint Nicholson.” I paused. “Saint Nick.”

  There were a few snickers.

  “I called him that the other day,” Ares said as she pushed the trash can out of the way and hopped up onto the other side of the counter. “He was not amused in the least.”

  I grinned. “I did, too. And the funny thing is, Caro was with me a couple of weeks ago when I came to visit my dad. She said ‘Hi, Saint Nick’ and he didn’t correct her at all. Only gave her a solid stare and that was it.”

  “So, Saint and Caro. Bourne and Delanie. Booth and Dillan,” Avery said as she pulled her feet up onto the counter and wrapped her arms around them. “Who else are we missing that’s going to get together at some point?”

  “Nathan and Reggie,” Ares said. “Did you know that Nathan used to be a professional baseball player?”

  Avery nodded.

  “Reggie is Michael’s niece. Nathan and Reggie grew up together a lot like we did. They’re more like you and Ford used to be before y’all decided that sex was more fun than fighting,” Ares continued at Ashe’s silent questioning look.

  Ashe snickered.

  “There’s definitely something there,” Rowen agreed as she disa
ppeared into a stall. “When they’re in a room together, it feels like stuff is going to start spontaneously combusting.”

  The toilet flushed seconds later, and Rowen went between Avery and Ares to wash her hands.

  Seconds later, as she was drying off her hands, there was a hard bang on the other side of the door, followed by a man’s curse. “It’s locked.”

  We all turned to stare at the door.

  There was no way that they were going to get in here.

  “I know I saw them go in there. These bitches will have to do,” someone else muttered.

  Seconds later, the sound of the back door closing had me scrambling for my phone.

  I immediately called Louis.

  “Little busy, baby,” Louis panted.

  “There was a loud thump on the bathroom door. And we knocked a couple of girls out when they tried to fight us. They were lying outside the bathroom door. Then we heard a couple of men talking about the women having to ‘do.’ They went out the back door,” I told him urgently.

  Louis sighed. Seconds later, that sigh was followed by a meaty thump denoting Louis likely knocking someone out. “I’ll get them, baby.”

  Then he was gone, leaving me staring at the door in concern.

  “We’re not leaving,” Ashe said.

  I shook my head. “We’re not.”

  Just as I was about to get worried, there were several quick taps and then nothing.

  “That was probably Louis saying he got it. Not to open the door,” I murmured.

  The quick knocks were quickly followed by the sound of the door opening to the back, and then nothing.

  Sirens could be heard in the background now, too.

  “This was fun.” Avery sighed. “I get a babysitter, and this happens.”

  I grinned. “If it makes you feel better, I have an online class that I skipped for this.”

  “What’s the online class for?” Ashe asked curiously.

  “Advanced education. I have to have so many hours to renew my nursing license,” I explained. “And I might or might not have procrastinated, and now all the hours are due in the next couple of months.”

  “It sounds exhausting,” Rowen murmured.

  “It is exhausting,” I agreed. “That’s why I didn’t do it. Why I waited so long. I spend all freakin’ day at the school. The only time that I have free is when I get home and the weekends. And I’ve been trying to fit all of my magazine articles in when I have free time.”

  “Tell me about Hero Magazine. How did it come to be?” Ashe asked curiously.

  I grinned.

  “Well, it all started as a blog. When I was sickly as a kid, I started one. I had nothing better to do. I used to find fun articles on the internet about police officers, firefighters, paramedics, and military. Then I’d write a bit about them, my thoughts about the matter, and then post the articles on my blog. Eventually, it turned into people sending me articles that they thought I’d enjoy. Then it wasn’t me sharing other people’s articles anymore. It was me writing my own. I’d converse with people all online, share their stories. When the magazine started happening? Well, that started with an investor. He was a retired Navy SEAL. He liked my blog and offered me a magazine.”

  “Who just offers someone a magazine?” Avery asked.

  I grinned. “An eighteen-year-old at that. But I think he really liked all the positivity I showed when it came to our armed forces and our first responders. The SEAL’s name was Lynn. Lynn is what I would call an enigma. When he came to me about the magazine, it was in hope that my positivity would spread. That people would read these articles and begin to love them again.”

  “So he fronted the money, and now you write the articles?” Avery wondered.

  I nodded. “Well, I did write the articles. I still do, actually. But now Lynn and I hire out a lot of the stuff. I told him in the beginning I wasn’t really interested in the whole business aspect of it. It’s my brainchild and all, but I just write. I travel a bit to talk to those I write about. But Lynn handles all the other stuff. The expenses. The ads. The everyday bullshit that comes with owning a business. But he keeps me apprised as much as I want to be apprised.”

  “Which isn’t much at all,” Ares said. “She gets a fat check every month, and probably wouldn’t even notice if it wasn’t there.”

  That was true.

  But that money went into a savings account that I absolutely did not touch. Not ever.

  Honestly, I wasn’t sure why.

  I mean, I could use that money to pay to fix up my house. Or I could buy a new car seeing as my old one was dead to the world.

  Though, my insurance was going to handle it, that I knew.

  In the meantime, while they were debating how much to give me for an electrical problem that cost more to fix than the entire car was worth, I needed a ride.

  I could just go to the car dealership, pick one out that I liked, and buy it.

  But I didn’t.

  I didn’t spend any of the money that I made for my magazine.

  Because… I didn’t feel like it was my money.

  I was honestly still thinking about the best way to donate it.

  I’d donated a few times to just causes here and there, but I hadn’t found one that I knew needed my help the most.

  “Hey, did you hear that the SWAT team is getting another police dog?” Ashe asked. “Ford told me today. KPD was awarded another grant to get one. A few of the guys are going out this weekend to my father-in-law’s place.”

  “Really?” I asked. “Who’s getting it?”

  I mean, it had to go home with somebody, didn’t it?

  “Maybe it’ll be like a class gerbil at school,” Ares said. “They all take him or her home for a bit at a time.”

  “The cats will love that.” Ares snickered, looking at the door worriedly.

  A thump followed her comment, then there was a whole lot of shouting and not a little bit of cursing.

  “Wow,” I said. “That’s some inventive language.”

  “Agreed,” Ares said. “I…”

  There was such a hard slam into the wall that I winced. “Oh, boy.”

  “That was a concussion if I’ve ever heard one.” Avery looked worried now.

  The shouting and yelling continued until finally, it all just went silent. Then a round of ‘oh, fucks’ and ‘son of a bitch’ and ‘motherfucker’ was heard from the men that were in the hallway.

  “Who do you think just got here that has everyone freaking the fuck out?” I whispered.

  “Ten bucks says it’s the old SWAT team.” Rowen snickered.

  “Ten bucks says it’s just Luke.” Ashe shook her head. “He’s really in a bad mood lately. Everything is stressing him out. It helped that they got the new SWAT team going this year, though. And the dog thing was at the suggestion of Trance one day. Luke ran with it, too. So that also solves another one of his problems with Mocha being retired now for way too long. The council was going on and on about how they couldn’t ‘afford’ a new police K-9 right now. But then the school called yesterday, pissed as hell, about not getting their weekly sweep of the school for going on a year now. The new principal.”

  I grimaced. “He’s an ass… but I think he’s a competent ass. He’s much different than Principal Bailey.”

  “Piece of shit,” Ares muttered.

  I snorted and gestured to the wall where there was now whining coming through.

  “This is going to be a long night,” I said. “Watch them arrest every last one of them and then we’re left in here to deal until they’re ready for us to come out.”

  “You could always lock pick it back open,” Avery suggested.

  I yawned and moved so that I could lean against the wall. Seconds later, I slid down the length of the wall and then rested my forehead against Ares’ leg.

  “I have a meeting in a few weeks with a new group of service dogs.” I yawned
again. “Well, the organization that runs the adoption process. Hey, do you think that Delanie would be willing to house some dogs and work with them? I need to talk to her.”

  “I’m sure that Delanie would be willing to do anything when it comes to dogs,” Avery murmured. “I took some photos for her last week so that she could put them on her website. She dotes on those dogs. And she was talking about expanding. I don’t see why she couldn’t expand using military working dogs.”

  “They’re coming to me this time,” I said. “They’re actually not too far from Kilgore. About two hours. They live in Souls Chapel. Have you ever heard of Souls Chapel?”

  “I’ve heard of the motorcycle club that calls that place home. I heard my dad and a few of the other Dixie Wardens MC talking when they were thinking about opening up another chapter in Texas. They were worried that the other motorcycle club would get pissed. They’re actually called the Souls Chapel MC. And from what I understand, there is a man that runs something to do with dogs down there,” Ashe said. “Luke considered calling them. They didn’t think that these dogs would be the kind of dogs that Kilgore PD would need.”

  I grinned. “Laric, the guy that runs the dogs, did tell me that these dogs were the ‘bad ones.’ Or the ones that couldn’t find homes because they were considered too traumatized or too rough. They need to go to homes where there’s only ever going to be an adult couple and the dog. No other dogs. No other cats. No other animals at all.”

  “Oh, wow,” Rowen said. “That’s… that’s kind of scary. Are they that rough?”

  Meaning, were they rough enough that the dogs probably should’ve been euthanized instead of finding homes? That was what I wanted to find out.

  “I don’t know,” I admitted. “That was why the story intrigued me. Also, it’s why I think Laric agreed to do the magazine article. He wanted to give his dogs a fighting chance. And I’m sure there are those couples out there that could take in a dog that needs some work and special attention.”

  “You definitely have me intrigued,” Avery muttered.

  “You about to fall asleep down there?” Ares asked, gently nudging me with her foot.

  “I don’t know who I was fooling,” I said through tired, heavily drooping eyes. “Then again, as long as I was moving, I was doing pretty good. But yeah, sitting still like this? It’s making me extra sleepy.”