Chapter 2

Marsh loungedat the large round table in the center of Under the Table's dining room, sipping a bottle of Gravity Stout and glancing around the restaurant full of friends and family. Jax's girlfriend, February, owned the place, and she had closed it for Marsh and Levi's post-Pride parade bachelor party. At the table on one side of Marsh was his best friend and best man, Brax, who was pretending to pay attention to the hacker speak between his husband, Holt, Agent Farmer, who'd flown up from San Diego, and Jamie Walker, a family friend who used to be an FBI cyber agent and now coached basketball at one of the local Division I colleges.

On Marsh's other side, a leering Agent Cameron Byrne had his dark eyes trained on the heavily tattooed silver fox behind the bar. Dressed in a pink fringe vest, frayed jeans, and rainbow glitter cuffs that matched his rainbow glitter combat boots, Cam's husband, San Francisco's US Attorney, was popping caps off bottles of beer while Jax and Levi slung cocktails.

"If I hadn't seen him at work," Marsh said to Cam, "I'd think your husband was more at home behind a bar than in a courtroom."

"Might still be true," Cam said with a grin. "Same as your husband."

Marsh held his beer bottle out for a clink, Cam tapping back with the neck of his. "Touché." Levi had waited tables all through college and usually played host for his family's get-togethers in San Diego. As for Dominic Price, not only was he a federal prosecutor, but he also co-owned one of the most popular microbreweries in the Bay Area.

"Last call on the Imperial Stout!" Nic shouted to the crowd, and Cam bolted out of his seat. "That fucker was holding out on me."

Chuckling, Marsh settled back in his and glanced around again at the charming space, wishing for a place like it in San Diego. A bright, white shiplap roof arched overhead, jewel tone booths and chairs invited guests to get comfy, and a kick-ass bar provided plenty of live-action entertainment. He wasn't surprised folks gravitated around it. "This place is pretty fantastic."

Brax glanced around, same as he'd done, but with a certain fondness in his hazel eyes. "Would you believe it was riddled with bullet holes four months ago?"

"Absolutely," Marsh said with a knowing grin.

Feb had wandered her way into the Madigans' world—or, more accurately, the Madigans had wandered their way into hers—so yeah, no surprise chaos had erupted. But so too had love for Holt and Brax's hacker-hunter protégé, Jax.

"But you missed one in the bar." Marsh pointed at the round hole on the opposite side of the bar from where Levi was mixing what looked like a Negroni.

"Intentional," Brax said. "Feb thought it gave the place more character."

Marsh laughed out loud. "No wonder she fits in so well."

"Hate to interrupt, fellas," Helena said from over Brax's shoulder. "But Lily is standing guard by the pantry door. She says David needs protection from, and I quote, ‘that asshole.'"

Marsh's gut sank, figuring he knew what this was about, at the same time he bit back a laugh imagining Brax's daughter, tiny fists on her hips, uttering those words. She was as fiery as her red hair—and as quick to pick up words and skills as the rest of her family.

On the other side of Brax, Holt broke midsentence and jerked around in his chair, glaring up at his sister. "And where did she learn that word?"

"No idea," Auntie Helena said with a flit of her fingers before she danced away.

Brax hung his head, shaking it in defeat. "We're so doomed."

Marsh patted his best man's back. "If you didn't know that already where Lily was concerned..."

"Oh, we know," Holt said, moving to stand.

"Stay," Marsh said, already on his feet. "I'll send her your way." He caught Levi's gaze as he wove through the tables, tipping his head toward the kitchen breezeway.

Levi met him there. "What's going on?"

Marsh hated to deepen the divot that had already formed between his brows. Today was supposed to be filled with fun and smiles, but teenage hearts didn't care for adults' timelines. "Boy troubles, I'm afraid."

Lips pressed together, he took only a second to reach the same conclusion Marsh had. "I haven't seen Reese since we first got here."

"Me either." Hand in the small of his husband's back, Marsh led him down the breezeway and around the outside edge of the kitchen where February, Hawes, and Celia were prepping dessert trays with Celia's daughter, Mia.

"Texas!" came a loud, high-pitched shout as soon as they rounded the last corner. In front of the pantry door, Lily looked exactly as Marsh had imagined, red ringlets wild, color high on her freckled cheeks, tiny hands fisted on her hips. "Reese was an as?—"

"Language!" David shouted from the other side of the door, and even through wood and over the kitchen noise, Marsh could hear the tears in his voice.

"He left," Lily declared, standing firm.

"I told him to," David countered.

Marsh crouched in front of Lily and gently palmed her shoulder. One protector to another. "You did good, sweetheart. Thank you," he told the tiny, scary tyke. Definitely a Madigan. "We can take it from here."

She didn't look convinced. Thankfully, Mia knew the way to her cousin's heart. "Hey, Lily, you want to help me with these cupcakes?"

She bit her lip, big brown eyes darting between them and Mia. "You got this?"

"We got it," Levi assured her.

She didn't need to be told twice, the siren call of frosting too tempting to resist. Marsh accepted Levi's hand up and mouthed a Thank you to Mia.

"Can you toss me the candied ginger from in there?" she called.

Marsh nodded while Levi knocked on the door. "David, can we come in?"

The bottle of ginger appeared first, then a tear-stained David. His cheeks were as red as Lily's had been, albeit for a different reason, and Marsh's heart broke for the kid. He tossed the bottle to Mia, then slid inside the pantry, leaving the door cracked this time in case anyone needed them for something else. He leaned back against the shelves while Levi sat cross-legged on the floor next to David.

"What happened?" Levi asked.

"Reese is a freshman next year, and he—" His words caught on a tearful hiccup, and Levi slung an arm around his shoulders, hugging him tight against his side. "He didn't even want to spend the rest of the summer together."

Marsh and Levi had worried this was coming. Reese was two years older than David, and while the rising freshman had clearly been into David when they'd spent time together in San Francisco, he hadn't made much time for David otherwise. David, despite his and Levi's warnings, had gotten attached, though Marsh suspected it was more to the idea of a boyfriend than to Reese himself, given the two didn't have much in common.

He pushed off the shelves and crouched in front of David, hand on his son's knee. "Reese doesn't know what he's missing."

David glanced up, then away, his free arm flopping at his side. "I mean, I knew it wasn't long-term." Sniffling, he reached behind Levi and grabbed a napkin from the stack on the shelf he'd clearly already raided, judging by the mountain of tissue balls at his feet. "It wouldn't last with him at Duke and me at Davis, assuming I get in there. But I thought maybe I'd get a trip to North Carolina out of it."

"We don't need Reese for that," Marsh said. His other best friend, Sean, owned a house with his wife and husband right on the Carolina coast. "We can go to Casa Henby-Paxton whenever you want."

David returned his gaze to them, eyes bright. "For real?"

Snickering, Levi rose and lightly kicked Marsh's knee. "You so got played."

Marsh shook his head. "Nope, I got a trip to Hanover out of it." He reached out a hand to David, palm out for a high five. "Wins all around. We can check calendars for some dates after the wedding."

David's momentary uplift faded. "I don't have a date to the wedding now."

"Which makes you"—Marsh pointed at him—"the most eligible bachelor."

"And you're my best man," Levi said. "You and Brax are gonna have your hands full."

"Yes, we know how well you two get where you're supposed to be on time." His heavy sigh was half annoyed teen and half beleaguered Uncle Brax. If Marsh didn't know better, he would've bet Brax had been in his son's life for longer than just a year.

"Well, then, you two," Marsh said, offering him a hand up, "better get your plan in place." He drew David into a hug, embracing him as tightly as Levi had. "Seriously, kid, Reese doesn't know what he's missing."

"You're right," David said. "He doesn't." With a final honking blow of his nose, he gathered up his tissues and pushed out of the pantry, some of his confidence restored and a mission to distract him. He tossed the tissues in the trash, washed his hands, and called to his partner in crime. "Lily! Triple team time!"

Levi waited until they'd disappeared up the breezeway to release the sigh Marsh figured he'd been holding in since they'd first stepped into the pantry. "His first breakup in the books," Levi said, sounding a little sad but also more than a little relieved.

Marsh held the pantry door open for them, then slung an arm around his waist as they made their way out of the kitchen. "You never liked that guy anyway." Truth be told, Marsh wasn't sure anyone would ever be good enough for their son in either of their eyes.

He didn't have a chance to contemplate that further, though. Jamie and his husband, Special Agent in Charge Aidan Talley, met them halfway down the breezeway with their FBI faces on, even though Jamie was years out of the Bureau at this point.

"What's going on?" Levi asked, straightening from Marsh's side, the both of them clicking into LEO mode as quickly as their friends had similarly shifted.

"Break-in at one of my former player's homes," Jamie said. "In San Diego."