“I thought you wanted tacos?” Louie questioned.
“I’m getting those, too. Oh! Their burritos look good. I’m so hungry, I want everything.” I dramatically sighed as if this was the hardest decision ever, and of course, the waitress chose that moment to show up.
“Welcome to Paco’s. My name is Sara. What can I get for you?” Her attention was solely on Louie. She stared at him like he was a tall glass of ice water and she'd been lost in the hot desert for a week.
Louie realized it too, but he didn’t encourage her. He looked to me. “Why don’t you order first, Maura?”
Did he just blow her off?
Wide-eyed, I tilted my head at him. Are there pigs flying outside? This was not typical Louie behavior. He’d normally be all over this waitress. She was totally his type. One, she had a vagina, and two, she showed interest—the only two things he looked for in a woman. Her being cute was just a perk.
Is he ill?
Normal Louie would have monopolized her attention and been screwing her in the bathroom before we were done eating. How did I know this? Because he’d done it before. Five times!
I handed over my menu to the waitress. “I’ll take three steak tacos, a supreme nachos, a margarita, and two shots of tequila.”
Both of the guys stared at me for a moment before placing their orders.
“A margarita and two shots?” Louie chuckled.
I shrugged. “When I’m in a shitty mood, I drink whiskey. When I want to have a good time, I drink tequila. I couldn’t decide how I wanted it prepared, so I got both.”
Louie smiled at Jamie. “Little Maura’s become a lush.”
I grabbed a tortilla chip from the bowl the waitress had placed on the table between us and threw it at him. “I’ve been in college. The first few years, I lived like a fish. I could drink you under the table.”
Louie’s brows rose at the challenge. “Don’t get cocky, princess, or I’ll call you out on it later.”
“Oh, Louie, Louie. I’m not cocky. I’m confident you’ll tap out long before I do. Just let me know the time and place, pretty boy.” I gave him a sly and confident smirk. Both him and Jamie chuckled, clearly not believing me.
Laugh it up, gentlemen. Just you wait.
Our drinks came out first. I immediately downed the first shot, then decided to pour the second one into my margarita. The guys watched me quietly as they sipped their beers. Did I care? Nope. The food came a few minutes later and that first bite—it was better than sex. I moaned, “Oh my God.”
“You think that’s how she really sounds?” Louie asked Jamie and I flipped him off.
“Don’t ruin this for me. Let me enjoy my foodgasm.” I looked around at all the food and started digging in. After I ate a whole taco and some nachos, I couldn’t stop myself from eyeing Jamie’s burrito. It was shredded chicken with pico de gallo, rice, and sour cream. Yum. Jamie caught me staring, rolled his eyes, then offered me his burrito.
I took a huge bite and sighed with bliss. Jamie reached across me, grabbing one of my tacos. He ate the whole taco in three bites. Silently laughing at him, I wiped a crumb away from his chin with my finger. Big mouth. I took one more bite of his burrito, then handed the rest back to him.
“I forgot you guys used to do that shit,” Louie stated, flicking his finger between us. “It’s like six years apart didn’t happen. You still act like an old married couple. You two are so weird.”
I shrugged. I didn’t think it was weird. Jamie and I had always shared food. “Don’t be jealous. You want to split my taco?” A slow smirk pulled at Louie’s lips and I knew the sick bastard was going to totally misconstrue what I said. “Louie, if you refer to my vagina as a taco, I’ll kick your ass.”
He just smirked at me and quietly continued eating.
“I’m dying,” I groaned, climbing into Jamie’s car.
“No, you’re not,” Jamie said and pulled out his phone. It had started beeping as we'd walked out of the restaurant.
“I ate way too much,” I complained as I leaned my chair back to unbutton my pants.
“What’s she doing?” Louie asked from the backseat. Jamie stared at my open jeans, then his eyes traveled to mine, looking like he was moments away from laughing at me.
“Hey, these pants are one size too small and because I ate more than the both of you combined, they now feel like they’re two sizes too small. They’re cutting into my stomach.”
“We’ll have to take you shopping later. Stefan just texted saying he needs us back at the house,” Jamie announced, tapping away on his phone.
“That’s fine. I don’t think I could walk around a store right now, anyway,” I said, rubbing my stomach, hoping to soothe my food baby like an expectant mother.
“What’s going on at the house?” Louie asked Jamie.
“There’s two cops asking to speak to Maura.”
“You’re not a child, Maura. I’m not going to rub your stomach,” Jamie grumbled as we walked through the house. When we'd pulled up, there had been a gold sedan parked out front that screamed cop car. Brody had been outside before we'd even made it up the front steps and was directing us straight to Stefan’s study.
“But my tummy hurts,” I whined. It didn’t. Not anymore. I was just having fun messing with Jamie and I was warming up for what was to come. Let the games begin.
We walked into the study and I purposely ignored the two cops sitting in front of Stefan’s desk. “Daddy! Jamie’s being mean to me!” I exaggeratedly complained. My father only looked at me with a questioning expression mixed with genuine surprise for a brief moment because I’d never whined to Stefan. Ever. It wasn't something a Quinn did. And I hadn’t called him daddy since I was thirteen. Not since that fucked up summer of hell he'd put me through.
As soon as the moment passed, he played along. “What’d he do?” he asked, getting up from his desk chair to wrap an arm around my shoulders.
“I had a little too much to drink at lunch and now my tummy hurts, and he called me a child.” I made sure I slurred a bit, but not too much. Before Stefan could respond, I shifted my attention to the cops, who were still sitting in their seats, watching. “What’s going on?” I asked, pretending like I didn’t already know.
“These are detectives. They were wishing to speak with you. What for, I don’t know. They won’t tell me. Since you’ve been drinking, I don’t think today’s a good day to talk.”
“But I want to know why they’re here.” I walked over to stand behind Stefan’s desk, purposely using it to separate myself from them.
“Miss Quinn, I’m Detective Brooks and this is Detective Cameron.” The younger of the two detectives introduced them by holding out his hand. I gave Detective Brooks a flirty smile as I clumsily leaned over the desk and daintily shook his hand. Brooks dropped his eyes, the corner of his mouth curled into a smug smirk. Brooks had to be about Jamie’s age and was attractive for a cop, with dishwater hair and blue eyes. By his eager demeanor, I could tell he was still wet behind the ears. A baby cop. The other detective was seasoned, with tired lines wrinkling his face and ash colored hair. By his scowl as he glanced from Stefan to Jamie to Louie, he knew who my family was.