Page 43 of Lifeline

“Let’s go,” Jake proclaimed as the lumbering beast squeezed out of the truck, Reno crawling over the seats to follow him despite the protests from Colin and Mika. If I wasn’t mistaken, Mika had taken a kick to the side ‘accidentally’ during Reno’s exit. I hopped down in time to see Mika ‘accidentally’ shoulder-check his brother into a parking sign on the way to the front doors.

“Children!” Colin called after them, but there was no mistaking his smile as Carter hopped out and joined us to follow the other three.

“So, when is the appropriate time to start referring to you as Mom?” I wondered.

“I kind of already do, in my head,” Carter grinned, which grew wider when Colin gave him a side-eye.

“Say it aloud and I’ll start referring to Xander as ‘daddy’ when he’s not around,” Colin said with a snort.

“Ew!” Carter complained, darting inside with a loud complaint to the rest of the group to get their support because that was ‘not right!’

“You do realize that sort of threat only works on them, right?” I asked as I stepped into the bar. And again, it was…a bar. There were square tables at the back which were being pushed together by Jake and Reno, while Mika stood at the bar to order. There was a line of booths along one wall, and a large bar opposite. I supposed the space in the middle was meant for dancing, but either that wasn’t the standard clientele’s preference or they just hadn’t warmed up yet because it was vacant despite a dozen or so people in the place, excluding our group.

“My oh my,” I said as I approached the bar to stand beside Mika. “Look at the straight-edge kid, getting off the straight and narrow.”

“Shut the hell up,” he muttered, but I could see my joke made the corner of his lips threaten to curl up. “What the hell do you drink nowadays?”

“Depends, are we starting off strong or easing our way in?” I wondered.

“The rule, apparently,” Colin said as he leaned on the bar next to me, “is that everyone has to start the night off with at least a shot and a drink, beer or cocktail. After that, the DD has to behave themselves and stick to weak beer, only three a night. Everyone else drinks to their heart’s content. Now, whether you’re required to participate in more rounds of shots is, uh…they’re not clear on that.”

“Huh?” I wondered.

Mika smirked. “Some, Jake and Reno for instance, insist there should be a required round of shots every hour we’re out. The rest of us believe we should all be allowed to drink however much we want after the opening salvo. Expect there to be a loud argument about it at some point.”

“So,” Colin said, eyeing me. “What is your shot of choice for an opener?”

I glanced at Mika. “You know what it is.”

“Do I?” Mika wondered, then grunted. “That hasn’t changed? Seriously?”

“Nope.”

“Sheesh, most people end up with a horror story by this time in their life and swear off it.”

“Not me.”

“So it seems,” Mika said with a snort. “Alright, that’s a tequila for you. Colin?”

“Hey, a man of taste, same for me,” Colin said. “And if it’s gotta be a drink, I’ll take a G and T.”

“Tequila sunrise,” I said, and when they glanced at me, I shrugged. “I’m a man of consistency.”

“Sure,” Mika said, and the doubt in his voice made Colin snort as he clamped a hand on my shoulder and directed me to the tables the guys had pushed together.

“We miss anything?” Colin asked as we found our seats. I couldn’t prove he’d sat in a seat that forced me to leave the spot between Reno and myself open…but I didn’t trust him for a minute. It wasn’t a secret that he was a sneaky son of a bitch, but without him being smug or obvious, I was stuck with a suspicion.

“We found out that apparently, our new guy doesn’t think what he does counts as writing,” Jake said, jabbing a finger in my direction as if it wasn’t obvious who he’d been talking about.

I stared at Carter. “You really told everyone?”

He didn’t look the slightest bit bothered by my glare. “What? It’s what you said.”

“And you’re the one who’s making a bigger deal out of it than it was,” I pointed out as I dropped into my seat with a huff. “Sheesh, can’t tell y’all nothin’ without it being a whole thing.”

Reno nudged Jake. “He’s starting to sound like you.”

“There’s no one in the world who sounds like him,” I said and laughed when Jake looked like he was trying to figure out if I was insulting or complimenting him.