Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 126098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126098 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Slick’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yes, now tell Maria to buy some goddamn vermouth and some olives so I can have a proper drink before I shoot up the place.”
Slick grinned at her. “Will do.”
Abby settled back into her chair.
“Are you in the mafia?” Easy asked her and Tex rolled his eyes.
Abby gave him a sidelong glance. “Yes, because the mafia, unlike the Army Rangers, promotes women into their ranks and lets them wear high heels while they pack revolvers in their designer handbags.”
Hawk and Shooter laughed.
“Was your dad in the mafia?” Easy persisted.
“My dad was a mechanic.”
“That’s another word for hitman,” Easy pointed out.
Abby sighed. “Jesus, I thought I watched too many movies.”
Tex smiled. “You don’t have a TV, Vegas.”
She shrugged. “Well, when I get one, I’m buying a lot of movies. Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Gilda, Chinatown. All the classics. But right now I need a kitchen table and crank shaft.”
Easy perked up. “I’ve got a shaft-”
“Stow it,” Tex commanded and Easy sank back down in his chair.
Abby took a slug of her gin. “Please tell me I wasn’t the highlight of this evening’s entertainment. Is there a band or something?”
“No band,” said Hawk. “Just a jukebox.”
Abby eyed it skeptically. “Any Frank?”
“Frank?” Easy asked.
“She means Sinatra,” Tex declared.
“I don’t think so,” Easy told her.
Abby sighed. “No martinis, no Frank, no band. I’m beginning to miss the Strip.”
“What?” asked Easy. “You miss strippers?”
Abby laughed. “Strip. The Strip.”
“Oh. You know any strippers?”
Abby sipped her gin. “I know a lot of everybody.”
Slick arrived with a glass and set it down in front of Abby. “Here you go, Vegas,” she said proudly.
Abby looked down and gasped. “Olives!”
“I snagged them from the kitchen. I don’t know what a good substitute for Vermouth is, though.”
Abby wrinkled her nose. “Ugh, don’t try. I got desperate once and used white wine. Disaster. Thanks, Slick.”
“No problem, hon.”
“You drink a lot,” Easy observed.
“Don’t judge me,” Abby replied.
“I’m just saying.”
“Whatever, how many beers are you on?” she asked. When he didn’t reply she said, “Mmm hmm. Gotcha. You and your hollow leg can leave me alone.”
The table got silent until Easy shoved his chair back and stormed away. Abby watched him go, shocked. She turned to Tex. “What happened? Did I-”
“It’s not your fault, Abby,” Tex said gently.
“But what did I do?”
“I’ll go talk to him,” said Doc, standing up.
Abby looked stricken. “I don’t understand.”
Tex stood up and took her hand. “Come on. Come dance with me, I’ll explain.”
Tex led Abby to the dance floor during a slow song and slid his hands around her waist, pulling her in close. “It’s nothing you did on purpose,” he assured her. “And Jimmy knows that. He’ll be alright. He’s got a prosthetic leg, Abby.” Abby gasped. “It was an IED on our last tour. Jimmy and Chris got hit. Jimmy lost his right leg below the knee.”
He watched tears brim around her eyes. He pulled her in and laid her head on his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t know. It’s no one’s fault.”
“I should apologize,” she said in a shaky voice.
“No, no. Like I said, you didn’t do anything wrong and he knows that. Once the sting goes away, he’ll be fine.”
He danced with Abby and calmed her down a little more and when the song was over they rejoined the men at the table. Abby opened her mouth to say something to Easy but Tex shook his head. She closed her mouth and picked up her drink.
A few minutes later, Slick came by. “You need another one, hon?” she asked Abby.
“No,” Tex answered for her. “She’s done for the night.”
“Don’t judge me,” Abby insisted. “I can take a cab home. And I’m not even drunk yet.”
“You’re not getting drunk,” Tex informed her while handing her empty glass to Slick. “And I’m taking you home.”
“Yes, Sir,” Abby grumbled. Hawk, Doc, and Shooter laughed uproariously. Even Easy chuckled slightly. “What?” she asked them.
“Nothing,” Tex assured her while glaring at the men. “We’re just, you know, ex-army. ‘Sir’, and all that,” he replied while glaring daggers at his brothers.
Tex declined a final beer as well while listening to Abby tell the guys about the strange goings on in Las Vegas hotels. Men running naked, covered only by a pillow, to the ice machines and rooms accidentally being listed as vacant causing Ozzie and Harriet on their very first trip to Sin City to walk in on an all-male threesome.
He waited for her to finish her story and then picked up her purse from the back of the chair. “It’s time to go, Abby,” he told her.
Thankfully, she didn’t argue. She said goodbye to the guys, took her purse from Tex, and allowed him to guide her toward the door. He held the door to the Hummer open and helped her inside. He crossed the front to swung in beside her.