Be My Hero (Forbidden Men #3)(50)

When she merely stared at me with a challenging sneer, I shrugged. "Well, good for you. I'll see you later." As I tried to step from the apartment, she cried out my name.

"Damn it, if you're just going to a friend's house to work on a car, can't you at least take him with you?"

I glanced at Fighter. Drool covered his chin and slimed the toy he was steadily gumming. A smile lit my face. I'd love to take Julian, get him out of this place for a while, and maybe let Eva meet him all the while relieving Tristy for a couple hours. But I really did plan on working on Reese's car.

"I can't take him to a grease-filled garage. I'm probably going to be under a car most of the night. That's not exactly a safe place for a baby."

Tristy sniffed and turned away, dismissing me. I was tempted to invite her along so she wouldn't feel left out. But the last thing I wanted to do was let her and Eva mingle. Resigned, I repeated, "I'll see you later."

After blowing a kiss toward the baby, I was free and jogging down the stairs toward the front exit of the building. When my phone rang as soon as I started my engine, I groaned. Someone sure wanted to delay me from seeing my Tinker Bell, didn't they? When I saw it was Ten, I answered with a growl, "What?"

"Man, we need your help. Big time."

Fuck. "No," I said instantly. "I'm not working your shift for you tonight."

"Then swing by my place and check on Gamble, will you? Hamilton and I are worried shitless about him. This thing he's going through with his girl really has him messed up, and both Hamilton and I have to bartend tonight, otherwise we'd stay with him."

I didn't answer immediately. My conscience warred with itself. I wanted to see Tinker Bell so bad my pulse wouldn't slow down. But the very fact that Ten had called me with his concern said a lot. Worried about Gamble, I cursed under my breath.

"Just how bad off is he? Like . . . homicidal? Suicidal? Or just ready to kill you?"

"Hardy, har, har." Ten sniffed. "I'd say he's definitely something, though. He wouldn't think twice about participating in an extreme act of crazy right now."

"Shit," I ground my teeth in frustration.

"Hey, if you're that busy, I can call Lowe and ask him."

"No," I muttered. "It was Lowe's place I was headed to."

"Really? So you're all close and shit with Lowe but you never hang out with me after hours? Dude, how insulting."

"He wanted me to look at his girlfriend's engine."

Immature Ten snickered. "I would've checked out his woman's engine, no problem."

"Her car engine, you moron."

"Well, whatever," he muttered back. "Take Gam with you. That way both you and Lowe can keep an eye on him."

I couldn't think up a reason why that would be a bad idea, so I agreed and using Ten's half-assed instructions of how to get there, I started toward his and Gamble's place.

Gam answered his door, looking like complete shit. I could understand why Ten and Hamilton were so worried about him. He was never this out of sorts.

It was surprisingly easy to talk him into coming along with me, which was a plus, but the whole detour set me back almost an hour from seeing Eva.

I tapped my fingers impatiently on the steering wheel of my Barracuda as we neared Mason's place. But the closer we got, the further away she felt.

Needing a distraction, I glanced over at Gamble who was staring blankly out his side of the car with his elbow resting on the window frame and his forehead buried in his palm.

"So what's up with you and Professor Girlfriend?" I asked. "I'm guessing you guys split since we've all had to rearrange our schedules for you and now I'm stuck on suicide watch."

Noel glanced over at me and scowled. "You're not on—look, I'm not going to do anything to myself. I'm fine. But yes, we're . . . " He had to pause as his face drained of color. "Over. It's been a week, but I'm past it."

Yeah, right. He was past it, my ass. "Then why are Larry and Curly still worried about you?"

"Because they're pussies?" He lifted his hands and shrugged. "How the hell should I know?"

I rolled my eyes. It was harder to get information out of him than it was to draw blood from a stone. "Well, what happened?"

He began to tap his fingers against his knee, much as I'd been tapping mine against the steering wheel. Must be some kind of chick-induced habit. When he turned to stare out the passenger side window again, I groaned. He was not helping me with my own distraction in the least.

"Might as well tell me," I said. "I'm going to bug the piss out of you until you do."

He let out a belly sigh and glared over at me. "Some anonymous person sent a picture of us together to my coach, and she got axed."

"Well, f*ck," I breathed quietly. "Why didn't you get into trouble, too?" When his face paled even more, I swallowed. "Or did you?"

Bleakness filled his eyes. "The picture only revealed her face. Mine was cropped off."

I frowned, instantly confused. "Wait. Then how did they even know it was a student she was banging? If they couldn't see you, she could've been f*cking anyone."

Noel pushed up the sleeve of his shirt to show me a tattoo I didn't even realize he had. "Back in October, about a dozen of us got these the night before our big national championship game. It was the only clear thing you could see of me in the shot."