Close Cover (Masters and Mercenaries #16)(36)

Will looked down at her. “No one talks like that.”

“Tell that to Warrant and much of the 80s hair metal movement, and then you can explain why a strip club calls itself Cherry Pies,” Bridge shot back.

“You know it’s really false advertising,” Mitch pointed out. His eyes had gone a bit soft, a sure sign he was either thinking about his family or musing about a class action lawsuit. “I’m going to bet there’s not a single virgin in that place. Well, not females.”

Will seemed to know it was time to take control. “I don’t care about virgins. I care about why my sister was dropping her freaking clothes.” He went a little pale. “Holy shit. How did this happen? One job. I had one job.”

“Oh, god, he’s going to talk about the pole.” Bridget had her hands on Will’s arm, stroking him. “This baby is a girl and he fears the pole more than anything.”

“I wasn’t on the pole.” She was absolutely certain she’d gone beet red. “Remy, please tell them I wasn’t on the pole.”

“She was behind the bar where the topless waitresses hang out,” Remy explained helpfully. “Apparently they worked her eight hours without a break, and when I found her she was being accosted by a heinous drunk who ended up causing her to fall into the cold buffet. They proceeded to shoot glitter so hard out of the venting system that she’s still got a little glow about her even after we scrubbed her forty times. Mitch, some of that had to have gotten into her lungs. There’s your lawsuit. Anyway, when I got hold of her again, she was walking to the train station because she turned her car in months ago and didn’t tell you. She preferred to turn it in rather than allow it to be repossessed. Your sister was walking down the dark street, clutching forty ones to her chest like they were her lifeboat, and she was covered in glitter that likely would have shone in the moonlight like a Bat signal for rapists or other criminals.”

She turned on her lover, her hands in fists at her sides. “You are not helping the situation.”

Remy managed to look as innocent as a two-hundred-plus-pound ex-soldier could look. “I am explaining the situation to your brother. I’m explaining how I’m not the bad guy here. I’m the guy who picked you up and put you in my truck. I’m the guy who fed you that night and got you a new job the next morning. I’m the guy who drops you off and picks you up and makes sure you’re safe and happy because I’m the guy you chose.”

“I’m still stuck on the fact that Cherry Pies has a cold buffet,” Bridget said. “Was there shrimp?”

“I don’t want to talk about shrimp,” Lisa said with a shudder. She might never be able to look at a crustacean again.

“Sorry, I’m kind of hungry. Pregnancy cravings.” Bridget looked up.

“We are not going to a strip club for shrimp. We are civilized. We’ll find a Long John Silver’s.” Will turned to Lisa. “You turned in your car?”

She hated this. She hated everything about this. The pity in her brother’s eyes was far worse than losing her car. Lila would never be in this position. Laurel would have figured a way out of it. Only Lisa was the loser in the family. She was the one who hadn’t known what she wanted to do with her life, the last to make it through college. The first to fail. “I couldn’t afford it.”

“That is no excuse,” Will replied and she knew she was in for a long lecture.

Remy moved to her side. “No excuse? Her pride is no excuse? If you had been in the same situation as Lisa, would you have turned to your sister-in-law and asked her to pay for your car? I don’t think so.”

Laurel shook her head. “He wouldn’t. I wouldn’t. Will, you raised us to be proud and not live beyond our means. We married really wealthy people. We don’t have to worry about money. Lisa is not in the same boat as the two of us.”

“I would have paid for the car,” Bridget said.

“That’s not the point.” Laurel held her hand as though trying to give her strength. “Lisa wants to make it on her own. You taught her that, Will.”

Will’s jaw tightened and he eyed Remy. “She let him help her.”

“I’m sleeping with him. He should help me. Not for the simple fact that I’m sleeping with him but because he cares about me. And he’s not handing over cash. He helped me get a job. He bought food and I cooked it. It’s a more even exchange.” Lisa looked at her brother. He was way more like a father when she thought about it. He’d had a hard burden at a young age and handled himself and them with grace that most teenage boys wouldn’t have had. He’d kept them all together, but he needed to understand that she made her own decisions now. “Look, Will, I love you, but I’m a grown woman who makes her own choices, and I’m choosing to be with Remy for now.”

“You don’t have all the facts,” Will said, his voice tight.

“Will, please think about this for two seconds,” Bridget warned. “Do you want to start a war over this? Because what happens when you force her to choose? Believe me, I know what a family looks like after that. She might choose her family, but your relationship with her will never be the same. And she’ll be far more likely to rebel than you can imagine. Think about everything that’s at stake.”

There was some weird subtext conversation going on that she didn’t understand, but Bridget and Will could be like that at times. They had a whole shorthand no one else got.