Bringing Home the Bad Boy (Second Chance #1)(30)

The girls cleaned up while Ash palmed two beers and stated that “the deck beckoned.” After the first cold sip, Evan found himself in agreement.

Leaning on the railing, they watched the dark lake for a while. The party boat from the other night had either migrated to a different area, or the guys had gone home already. Hard to tell.

“How’s Jordan doing?” Evan asked, not bothering to hide his smirk.

“Asshole.”

Evan tapped the bottom of his beer bottle against the top of the neck of Asher’s, pleased when the pop rang true and foam spilled out over the edge in a virtual cascade.

Ash tipped his bottle, drinking down what hadn’t ended up on his T-shirt. When he lifted the edge to wipe his chin, he pointed at Evan. “You’re lucky the library signing is around the corner, or you’d pay dearly for that.”

“That I’d like to see.”

Ash let him have the jab, leaning on the railing and going quiet for a moment. Then he muttered, “Your girl’s somethin’ else.”

He was talking about Charlie, and probably talking about her because he’d hit on her. “Cozy up to Ace and library signing be damned, there’ll be hell to pay,” Evan said, watching the water.

Ash turned so his back was on the railing. “Yeah, yeah. You already threatened me.”

“Not me. Gloria.” Evan turned his back to the railing, too, and both of their attention went to Glo and Charlie in the kitchen.

“Gloria,” Ash repeated.

“Watches you like a hawk.”

“Charlie watches her,” he added. “Especially whenever Glo is talking to you.”

The girls did dishes side by side amicably. No sign that one of them might pull a two-pronged fork or drown the other in the dishwater.

Ash swirled the beer left in his bottle. “I may have helped that along by telling her you and Glo fight like you’re married.”

“Siblings.”

“Siamese twins,” Asher joked.

“Accurate.” Evan chuckled. “Terrifying, but accurate.”

“She didn’t like it, Ev.” His tone was so serious, Evan turned to face him. “She didn’t like it when I cozied up to her in your kitchen.”

Neither had he.

“And you didn’t like it, either. She’s into you, man. All I’m sayin’.” That statement hung on the air until Ash said, “You touchin’ me up while I’m here or what?”

Shit. He nearly forgot.

“Yeah, let’s do it.”

Evan led the way to the corner of his studio where he’d set up his chair beneath ample overhead lighting, and a few lamps in case he needed more.

Asher pulled off his T-shirt and revealed his tattoo-covered chest and the cross on his left arm. Evan pulled out a pair of surgical gloves and arranged the still-in-plastic needles, eyeing the uneven lines on the edge of the cross.

“What’d I tell you about going to these new guys who open shops and go out of business a year later?” Evan asked.

“Hey, I was drunk.”

“Any respectable guy will not tattoo clients while they’re hammered.”

Asher gestured to himself. “Celebrity.”

Evan shook his head as he selected which color ink to use. “Shut up and hold still.”

A few hours later, artwork done and his arm wrapped in plastic, Asher sat on the patio next to Evan, who had a pad of drawing paper open on his lap.

While he’d done his ink, Ash had brought up Swine Flew and they’d talked over a few ideas that had Evan’s muse sitting up and begging. Never one to lose the moment when the bitch started to obey, he snagged the first sketchbook he’d laid eyes on and a few graphite pencils, and darted outside.

In the background, he was vaguely aware of Charlie and Gloria going in and out of the house, opening wine, and chatting about something or the other. Asher had commented back once or twice. Not Evan; he was in a zone.

The lighting was shit out here, but the night was clear and the wind light enough not to blow the paper. Since relocating might mean breaking the flow, Evan worked with what he had. The flicker from a citronella candle on the small side table, and Ash hovering over the sketchpad putting in his two cents.

Evan had drawn several different incarnations of Swine’s outfit, headgear, and expressions. At last his buddy pointed to his most recent one and said, “That.”

“Fucking finally, man.” And that wasn’t an understatement.

“I’m going,” Glo announced out of nowhere.

After hyper-focusing on the cartoon superhero on the page before him, Evan had to blink her into focus. “What time is it?”

Asher lifted his phone. “One.”

“Lyon.” He’d zoned out drawing and had no clue where his kid was. Way to go, Downey.

“I tucked him in,” Charlie said.

All the air left his lungs in a rush. She’d saved his ass again.

“He came out, man, didn’t you hear him say good night?” Asher palmed Evan’s shoulder and shot him a quizzical look.

“Yeah,” Evan lied. Because he hadn’t. His imagination had hooked onto a cloud of thought and dragged him away from this world and into another. This one’s the only one that matters, baby, he heard Rae say in his head.