Chapter 4

4

Blaring music assaulted her senses the moment Madison and Elena stepped inside of the bar and grill. The sound and the activity crawled under her skin. Charlie leaned heavily against her leg. He felt her agitation. Maybe she had made a mistake. She glanced over the crowd looking for some kind of table up against the wall. Madison knew she would fare better that way.

“This place looks questionable,” Madison murmured.

Elena laughed and clapped her hands together. “Yeah, that’s what makes it great.”

Madison shook her head and couldn’t fight the smile that curved her lips. Elena was wearing an old Supernatural t-shirt, a pair of worn jeans and barely any makeup. This is why they had gotten along from the first. They were more focused on being comfortable in their own skin.

The music seemed to grow and Madison looked down at Charlie, who didn’t look phased at all by the noise. He didn’t look all that impressed either. There were a lot of people in the bar, and it was rapidly filling up. Her heart started to pound like it always did before a panic attack took hold. Charlie sensed it and leaned more heavily against her.

Elena glanced at her. Her smile faded. “Aw, damn, Mad, I should have known this would be too much. We can go somewhere else.”

Madison wanted to turn tail and run. It would be easier, safer. But she needed to push those boundaries. She shook her head. “No, let’s try it. If it gets to be too much, I’ll let you know.”

“Are you sure?”

Madison looked over the crowd, squared her shoulders, and nodded.

“That’s the Mad I know,” she said.

Elena hurried them both over to a corner booth. As they sat down, Madison surveyed the perimeter. She was thankful she didn’t have to fight the manager about Charlie. It happened more than people thought it did, but since there seemed to be a ton of Marines in the bar, he was probably sympathetic to her issues.

The waitress came up. “I’ll take an extra-large margarita, frozen,” Elena said.

“I’ll take a light beer. What do you have on tap?”

She named off a few and Madison picked one. The waitress left them with a bowl of pretzels. She picked one up and continued to watch the crowd as she nibbled.

“You should be ready to party,” Elena said, pulling her out of her thoughts.

She looked at Elena, who was bouncing away to the music. “First of all, someone has to drive. I have a feeling that you are in the mood to drown your sorrows. Plus, with my issues, I like to keep my head on straight.”

Elena nodded but said nothing to that. She surveyed the perimeter, looking over the patrons not as threats as Madison did. This was more personal. Elena had more than one reason she was out that night. She was looking for someone to use if the margarita didn’t work.

“One of these days you’re going to tell me who broke your heart.”

Elena looked at her then sighed. Madison regretted dimming her friend’s spirits.

“Sorry.”

Elena shook her head. “Nah, you didn’t do anything to me and unfortunately, neither did the guy.”

“They always claim it was an accident.”

“No. He really had no idea. It was a crush kind of thing on an older guy.” Elena shrugged. “I could never get him out of the mode of thinking of me as a little sister.”

“And now?”

“Same thing. Just saw him the other day, and he practically patted me on the freaking head.” She rolled her eyes. “Like I need to be treated like a little girl.”

Madison nodded. “Yeah. Let me guess, he’s military?”

“Not anymore.”

The waitress returned with their drinks. Once she left, Elena held up her glass. “Screw all the sad talk. Let’s just have fun.”

Madison clinked her glass to Elena’s. “Agreed.”

She definitely needed a little fun tonight.

Dante looked around the bar and smiled. The place Jack recommended was rowdy and filled with Marines. It didn’t surprise Dante at all. Every military town had a bar or two that was favored by the military. This one definitely catered to the military. The wood paneled walls were filled with pictures of military men and women and plaques he was sure had something to do with the same subject. There was a large wall filled with windows and above them were flags representing each branch of the service.

They grabbed a table when a group got up to play pool, which was at the end of the bar and grill.

“Damn, this takes me back. Do you remember the first time Anthony and I took you out drinking?” JT asked as he settled onto his chair.

“Of course I do. You let me drink until I started puking my guts up. Mom was reading me the riot act and Elena was pissed she’d been left behind.”

The waitress came over and they ordered a couple of beers.

“Well, yeah, your sister never understood being left behind.”

He chuckled. “That’s why she is bucking to make rank before me. Nothing like having a younger sister trying to outdo your accomplishments.”

“Younger by just a few minutes.”

“That’s the truth. Lord knows when we hit fifty she will be happy to remind me of that fact.”

“How are your folks doing?”

He smiled. “Fine, although I think Mom is ready to move again. She just never wants to settle down. You would have thought she was the military brat.”

“They’ve been in Arizona for how long now?”

“Four years. Well, almost four years. She claims it’s too hot. Of course, she claimed that San Francisco was too cold.”

JT smiled. “But your dad will move if she wants to.”

“He is a Santini. They do get led around by their soul mates.”

“Any feelings that you might head that way any time soon?”

Dante shuddered dramatically. “Take that back. Don’t even mention it. I have three older brothers who can go first. Plus, a younger one.”

JT chuckled as the waitress brought their beers. She was sweet looking, with sparkling brown eyes and sexy smile. She dropped a few hints to JT, but he didn’t pick up on it.

Dante chuckled. “Your dating skills are worse than mine at the moment. And seeing that I spent six months on deployment recently, that’s kind of bad.”

JT took a swig of beer and shook his head. “Got too much on my plate right now.”

“So, what brought you out of the woodwork, JT?”

“Just finished an undercover assignment. Felt like I wanted to be myself for a night.”

As NCIS agents, JT and Anthony played lots of different roles. Both prior military, they knew how to get in good with other service members to investigate, so they were tapped a lot of times for undercover assignments.

“Didn’t end happily?”

He shook his head. “Got the bad guys, but it was a long few months I’d rather forget. Unfortunately, I have…”

JT’s words trailed off as his attention fixated on something over Dante’s shoulder. Something Dante couldn’t discern moved over his face. Dante glanced behind him and groaned. His sister was baring down on them, a determined look on her face.

“Hey there, loser,” she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “I can’t believe you’re in this place.”

“Me? What do you think Mom is going to say when she finds out you were here?”

“She’d like to know what the hell you were doing in such a place too.” She looked over at JT. “Hey, there. I didn’t know you were heading up here tonight.”

JT seemed to pull himself out of some kind of stupor. “Yeah, well, I had a meeting and ran into Dante on the base.”

“Why don’t you come join us?”

“Us?” he said, but he had a bad, bad feeling. He followed his sister’s direction and found his gaze lock with Madison Baker.

“Yeah, unless you’re afraid of being shown up again. And let’s face it, the booth is more comfortable.”

JT was already standing up and Dante gave him a dirty look. JT shrugged.

“Hey, I’m not here looking to score and the truth is, the booth would be more comfortable.”

“You’re such a gentleman,” Elena said, sarcasm dripping from her voice as she punched him in the arm. “Come on, Dante. Let’s rehash Annapolis.”

He sighed and gave in, following his sister through the crowd that seemed to swell. When they arrived at the table, he realized she had brought her dog with her. He was sitting beside her.

“So, we meet again, Santini,” she said with a smile curving her lips.

It was the same smile she always gave him, but this time, it did something different to him. The familiar irritation was replaced with something that felt like hot, wet, lust.

He rolled his shoulders and looked away from her. He noticed that there was one beer, half empty, and a rather large margarita glass completely drained of its contents. Elena slid in and JT didn’t hesitate to slide in beside her. Madison stood and lost her balance, falling against him.

Intermixed with the stale beer and greasy food smells, Dante caught a very faint hint of her scent. Woodsy, familiar, and all Madison. Every drop of moisture seemed to dry up in his mouth.

“Sorry about that,” she murmured, then she stepped back. “You don’t mind if I sit on the outside to have Charlie near me, do you?”

He shook his head, hoping it would clear soon, but had a feeling it wasn’t going to happen soon enough. He sat down and realized it was going to be one really long night.