Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 105868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105868 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 529(@200wpm)___ 423(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
He held up a hand.
Her eyes softened. “Seriously, Ace. You know that expression about falling off a horse? You’ve got to get back on it.”
Ace took another long swallow. “I didn’t fall off a horse. I crashed a plane.” It wasn’t exactly a plane, but he couldn’t tell her more than that. He’d been a pilot in the Navy, and he’d gone down. He hadn’t been back in the air since. Even now, the thought tightened something ugly and electric behind his ribs.
“I just think you’d feel better if you were back in the blue skies,” she murmured.
He snorted. “How often do we have blue skies around here?”
She chuckled. “Not often. But we’ve got a couple good months, including right now. It’s the perfect time to take tourists out to remote fishing areas. Plus, then hunting season’s coming up.” Her pretty eyes glowed. “I’d be willing to entertain a partnership.”
Faint amusement wandered through Ace. “Amka, you’re adorable.”
She frowned. Her petite features scrunched up, and her nose wrinkled in obvious annoyance. The bar’s soft amber lights caught along the curve of her cheek, highlighting an expression Ace knew too well. “Don’t be an ass.”
“Sorry,” he said automatically. He clocked the new pool table she’d acquired just last week, then at the older dartboards. The corkboards were scarred from years of bad aim and good nights. His gaze drifted past a pair of laughing tourists, past a couple of locals hunched over drinks, and then landed on his brother by the fireplace. Damian sat with that loose, coiled posture that never really meant relaxed. “When did Damian come into town?” Ace asked.
She craned her neck to look toward the fireplace. “About half an hour ago.”
“Huh. Thanks.” Ace took his beer and wandered through the tables. Chairs scraped. Someone cursed at a missed shot behind him. The air held that summer-night contradiction, late but not dark, the sky outside still plenty bright. Sam’s Tavern hummed with the kind of life that came from isolation and familiarity, and he didn’t much like all the tourists taking up space. He reached his brother. “D? What are you doing here?”
“What do you think?” Damian just looked at him. He was probably the oldest of the four brothers by maybe a year? Who knew. The four of them had been found in a half-buried home in an even more remote town after an avalanche had taken everyone else out. Just toddlers, they looked alike but had never bothered to check genetically. They were brothers. Their guardian, an old trapper named Hank, had adopted them, and that had been that.
Ace pulled out a chair and sank into it. “Again, it’s an odd night to just show up in town.”
Damian rolled his neck slowly. “When my brother calls me to do a deep dive on a U.S. senator, I figure that’s something we talk about in person.” He had thick, curly black hair and dark green eyes. He’d been an intelligence officer in the Navy before taking over as head of security for the Electromagnetic Vibrational Experiment, or EVE, the mysterious facility outside town that supposedly studied the weather or the atmosphere. Or so they said.
“What did you find out?” Ace asked.
Damian tipped back the last of what looked like scotch in a crystal tumbler. “Why do you want to know?”
Ace twirled the bottle on the table. When had Amka purchased crystal? Now they were getting fancy? “The senator is here in town.”
“I’m aware of that.”
Ace lifted an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
Damian rolled his eyes. “Give me a break. When U.S. senators come into our small town, I know about it. I’m head of security for one of the most secretive organizations in the world.”
Ace snorted faintly. “Really? Strong sell. Tell me more about EVE, would you?”
“No.” Damian didn’t even hesitate.
Ace shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re actually working at that place.”
As kids, they’d made up all sorts of stories about EVE. Even the name seemed kind of ominous. There were people who truly thought the facility could influence the weather and cause hurricanes or tornadoes across the globe. Ace wasn’t sure what he believed.
“I like it there,” Damian drawled.
The hair on the back of Ace’s neck rose. He turned just as Christian stepped inside the tavern, leaned over to kiss Amka squarely on the mouth, and then headed their way. Christian was definitely the quietest of the brothers. Solid and watchful.
“He quit drinking yet?” Christian tugged a chair out with his boot before dropping into it.
Ace exhaled through his nose. “I don’t need to quit drinking.”
Christian’s mismatched eyes—one green, one black—zeroed in on the bandage above Ace’s eyebrow. “You probably need to quit fighting.”
“Not really,” Ace said.
“Fuck.” Christian angled back. “I’m going to take you to Smitty myself.” He’d been threatening that for a while.
Ace took another swallow of beer, letting the cold brew calm him. “Anytime you want to go, let’s go.” Ace could use a good fight, and Christian would absolutely give it to him.