15. Lee

CHAPTER 15

LEE

Lee grabbed his phone as his alarm went off. He rolled to his feet and stretched lightly, toggling to his messages. Reading Mac's reply had him gritting his teeth. Crazy? What did that mean? Super busy? Jerky customers?

Ugh. He tossed his phone on the bed and got dressed. He pondered the idea of popping over to the diner, thinking Mac might be there if he was taking the evening off to be with him and Drew.

He checked the time, calculated in rush hour traffic, and figured as long as he was in and out in fifteen, he could put eyes on Mac and ensure he was okay. Lee had noticed the diner had an online takeout system. He quickly placed an order, grabbed his bag, and headed for his car.

The pleasant mid-seventies temps were the most tolerable thing about having to be at the training facility in the morning. When he slid behind the wheel, his car hadn't quite reached scorching interior levels yet. It was a somewhat easy ten minutes to the diner. He'd already received a notification on his phone that his food was ready. And a smiley face text from Mac.

Lee hustled in, thankful that the tight lot only contained a handful of cars that morning. Mac greeted him with a broad smile and a cup of coffee made just the way he liked it.

"Someone's been paying attention," Lee said with a grin, his mouth already curling around the lip of the mug.

Mac shrugged, a faint flush of pink touching his cheeks. "Pete's boxing your food up now."

"I've got a few minutes to spare. I… uh…"

"What?"

It was Lee's turn to blush. "When I saw your message this morning, I felt like I had to come see you. Had to make sure you were okay."

Mac's smile grew ten times. "That's a-dork-ably sweet of you. And Drew. He texted he'd be by to check up on me later this morning, and I hadn't even mentioned last night to him."

"Aww. He likes you."

"I know he does. He loves me, but not like… you know."

Lee widened his eyes. "Do I? Best friends… but nothing more?"

Mac shrugged again. "We tried, but it felt weird."

"When was this?"

"High school."

Lee rolled his eyes. "Ages ago. You're grown men now. You could try again."

Mac scratched his neck. "I suppose so, but if it didn't work out, where would that leave our friendship?"

"I see your point." Further conversation stopped when Amy, his waitress from the other day, brought his food over with some disposable cutlery and the bill. "Guess that's my cue." Lee eyed the check and pulled out a twenty to cover the meal and tax, plus he stashed another ten in the "college fund" tip jar. Thanking Amy, he took his meal, then turned to Mac. "I'll see you later?"

"I'll be there."

"Good. Hope you have an easy day."

Mac's laughter chased him out along with the returned sentiment. Lee rolled his eyes. Practice? Easy? Not likely, but maybe fun if Yowie had something insane up his sleeve.

Lee was pissed. Cutter had lied. Coach kept them late, wanting to try some specific plays. By the time they finished and he'd taken a quick shower, he'd gotten stuck in rush hour traffic. It was hard to believe any place could have worse traffic than North Jersey and the Big Apple.

He hadn't been home but a few minutes when there was a knock on his door. He cursed a blue streak. Streams of fuck, damn, and shit fell uncharacteristically from his lips.

"I hear you," Drew shouted through the door. "You want me to give you ten minutes and come back? I can do it. You just need to come get this food and get it in the fridge."

Lee scrubbed his face, drew in a deep breath, and slowly blew it out. "No. I'm coming. Just give me a sec." He took a couple more cleaning breaths before pasting on a smile and opening the door.

Drew leaned against the wall, scrolling through social media… Troopers' social media.

"Put that away and come in. Sorry. I just got home."

Drew picked up one of the grocery bags and handed it to Lee before grabbing the other one himself. "Cutter said you'd be done by four. What happened?"

"I'm here!" Mac shouted before Lee could shut the door.

He held it open as Mac hurried along the hallway from the elevator. "Hey. Glad you could make it."

"Told you I would."

"You did. How was the rest of your day? Not as crazy as last night, I hope."

"Last night?" Drew asked, his gaze bouncing back and forth from Lee to Mac. "What happened last night, and why didn't you say something when I stopped by earlier?"

Lee glanced at Mac as he shrugged. He'd assumed the two would have talked that morning. "Don't know, but Mac promised to tell me. Us."

"I brought cake," Mac offered, deflecting the topic. "What are you making for dinner? Drew's a great cook."

"Yeah, na-uh. That ain't gonna fly with me, Macaroon. Both of you get your butts in here." He pointed at the kitchen stools. "Sit and start talking while we prep."

Lee thoroughly did not laugh at Mac when he offered flavored or plain waters, apologizing that he'd hoped to hit the liquor store before getting home. Macaroon… If anyone was adorkably cute it was these two. "Practice ran long and then I got stuck in traffic. Had I realized how late I was going to be, I would have let you both know."

Both men waved off his apology. "Don't even worry about it," Drew answered. "Mac is barely ever on time."

"Fuck you, D," Mac threw back.

Drew snickered. "Anytime, baby. Any. Time." He pursed his lips and blew Mac a kiss.

Lee panned slowly to Mac. "Grown men," he muttered, knowing Mac would catch the reference from their morning chat.

Mac groaned at the reminder. "Leave it alone, please."

Lee held up his hands as he leaned back on the stool. "Just saying." A low growl ripped from Mac's throat, and Lee grinned manically. His dick hardened, too. Fuck, that was sexy.

"What the hell? You're only supposed to growl at me." Drew crossed his arms, glaring at Mac for a moment before he burst out laughing. "Spill the T. Tell us what happened last night, and don't you think I'll be forgetting that you told Lee and not me."

Mac sighed. "Really, I didn't tell him much. We were supposed to text and some things happened at the diner." He gazed at Drew. "You remember that sleazy guy Katy dated for like a month?"

"Trace?" Drew pulled out two cutting boards and a set of knives from his bags and placed them on the counter.

"Troy."

"Oh yeah. Bad vibes, that one." He slid one set in front of Lee and the other in front of Mac, placed a bowl between them, and then gave each of them vegetables to slice. "Stir fry, so long strips. You can toss the garbage in this bowl, and I'll compost it at home."

After putting the rice to soak, he encouraged Mac to continue. "So what about Troy? I thought they broke up."

Mac nodded, keeping his attention on the peppers he was slicing while Lee made thinly sliced carrot sticks. "They did. She'd said he was a drinker and didn't like it. Well, he showed up drunk off his ass at the back entrance last night. When Katy told him to go home, he went after her. We got the door shut and called the cops. She told me afterward that she broke it off because she didn't feel safe around him when he was drinking. Momma and Dad took her over to the precinct this morning to get a restraining order."

"No shit," Drew said and whistled low. "That blows. You think it's going to work?"

"I don't know, and I'm a little scared for her. And for the diner... What if he retaliates?"

Neither Lee nor Drew responded. Lee had read too many news stories about guys who ignored their restraining orders and had hurt or even killed the person who filed against them. He figured if it was a problem in Jersey, it was probably twice as likely here in Texas, where over a million people had gun licenses—according to the article his mom had found when she'd been investigating everything Texas.

"I see your dilemma," Lee whispered. "What are you going to do, or better question: what are the police going to do?"

Mac placed the knife down and scrubbed at his face. "Not much we can do except keep our eyes open and have some damn good situational awareness."

"And the police?" Drew prompted.

"Well, there's good news there, sorta kinda." Mac wobbled his head and then smirked at Drew. "Carey Daniels was the responding officer."

"The one who has ‘Heart Eyes' for Katy and she doesn't even see it?"

Mac gave him a wolfish smile. "One and the same." Drew tossed his head back as he laughed. Mac cackled along with him.

Lee stared at the two men doing a fine impression of hyenas. Which… cute, but he felt left out of the joke. "Hold up. There's a cop who has a crush on your sister and she's oblivious?"

"That's the long and the short of it," Mac gasped out, trying to catch his breath as he calmed down. "We saw it ages ago?—"

"We speculated," Drew interjected, "but didn't feel it was our place to say anything. Carey would make his move when he was ready, but Katy's pushing thirty. She's ready to settle down. She just keeps picking the wrong guys."

Mac tapped his nose. "Exactly. Spoken like a true surrogate younger ‘big' brother."

"Like you're any better?"

Lee chuckled under his breath as the two best friends bantered about who was the better brother. Clearly it was Mac with the blood relation, but Drew countered on having been a part of their family for most of his life.

Leaning back on his stool, having finished prepping the carrots for Drew, Lee's shoulders dropped as a feeling of peace settled over him. A sense of calm filled him, and he silently thanked his lucky stars he'd met these two men who'd taken him into their tiny circle and were quickly becoming awesome good friends.