“Oh my God, Asa! Are you okay?”

He caught Ayden before she could plow into him the way she had done to Rowdy and then winced when she hugged him too tightly.

“I’ve been better.”

“You need to go to a doctor, or let Saint look at you.” She sounded like she was going to cry.

“Naw, it’s nothing that won’t wash off.” His eyes flicked over to Rowdy and they exchanged some kind of guy look that clearly communicated he was in way more pain than he was letting on. “Thanks for getting me out, Ayd.”

That was what sent her over the edge. Big fat tears started rolling off her inky lashes, and even though it obviously pained him to do so, Asa pulled her closer to hug.

“It’s fine.”

“Why didn’t you tell them you didn’t do it?” Rowdy asked the question to Asa, but he was looking at Royal and I saw her wince. Her partner scowled at the lot of us and crossed his arms over his beefy chest.

Asa didn’t answer but he looked over his sister’s head right at Royal. The two of them had a weird stare-off until her partner obviously got sick of it and instructed all of us, “He has a court date in a few days. Try and keep him out of trouble until then.” He made a face. “Next time I doubt so many people will be willing to pull strings to spring him loose so quickly.”

He nudged Royal as he turned to walk away. She bit down on her lower lip and looked at me somewhat pleadingly. How I became the ally I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t hold anything against her. She was normally so full of fire and sass it was odd seeing her sort of reserved and almost apologetic.

“I was just doing my job.” It was a job she loved and was good at. I knew that even though I had only spent a handful of hours in her company.

“We all know that, Royal.” I was trying to reassure her but her gaze had locked on to Asa and I don’t think she was talking to the rest of us at all.

Ayden pulled away from her brother and looked at the redhead balefully. “I can’t believe you tossed him in a jail cell with his face looking like that and kept him overnight.”

I saw a pink flush race up Royal’s throat and she opened her mouth to defend herself, but Asa cut it all short.

“Stop. If I was someone else, someone better to begin with, none of us would even be here. I used to know better than to underestimate a slick kid with a lot of hate and entitlement. Leave the pretty cop alone, Ayd. She even apologized when she put the cuffs on me last night.” He winked at Royal out of his good eye. “Let’s get out of here. I don’t need to spend any more time in a police station than necessary.” He smirked, at least I think that’s what it was supposed to be, but considering the current mangled state of his handsome face, it was hard to tell. “Even if they are like a second home by now.”

Ayden gritted her teeth and told him, “You’re not funny,” as she hurried to apologize to Royal for biting her head off.

We were all ready to be anywhere but here, so I gladly followed Rowdy as he headed toward the front doors of the station. Ayden was right on my heels and I didn’t miss hearing Asa tell Royal before he followed us, “It’s a shame, Red, you, me, and handcuffs could be a whole lot of fun in a different context.” Only Asa would be throwing out lines while he looked like crap and still smelled like jail and dried blood.

I thought I saw Royal blush again and I know for sure I saw her jaw drop open just a little bit, and immediately thought they were both asking for trouble. Asa was a careless flirt and obviously not going to be interested in a girl that had arrested him. If he was, it was all about the game and revenge for a guy like him. Royal was lively and full of spirit, but I had seen the hint of vulnerability in her when she walked the sexy southerner out to us, and a guy like Asa would devour that, and her, if he got the opportunity. I thought it was probably for the best her badge and gun were enough to keep him from seeing how gorgeous and wonderful she was underneath them.

It was well into the night by the time everything was all said and done. Ayden was arguing with Asa about going to the ER or at least letting her to ask Saint to give him a once-over, and Rowdy took a call from Jet letting him know he had just landed at DIA. It had been a long, exhausting day and hadn’t ended at all the way I expected after my supersexy morning on the dock with Rowdy.

We were back in his SUV headed toward my apartment when he reached over and grabbed my hand and pulled the back of it up to his lips. He kissed it lightly and then put it down on his thigh.

“Thanks for sticking with me today. That was rough.”

I curled my fingers into the denim. “Of course. It was rough, but it could have been way worse. You have good people on your side and so does Asa.”

His teeth flashed white in the dark shadows of the car. “I have you on my side. I forgot how much that made me feel like I could do whatever I needed to do, whatever I wanted to do.”

That made warmth rush all the way through me. “Oh stop it. You have an amazing group of friends and family here. It’s really touching the way you all just rally around each other and take care of one another.” I sighed a little as emotion welled up inside of me. “You found your family tree, Rowdy, and the branches are stronger and sturdier than most people with blood relatives have.”

“Yeah.” His tone dropped to a lower timbre. “It’s the one time in my life I can actually say I feel like luck was on my side. I was lucky to end up here.” He looked at me in the darkness and I could see the blue of his eyes burning hot. “I also feel pretty lucky you found me after all this time.”

I shifted in my seat as emotion welled up in my throat. “I didn’t even know I was looking for you, but as soon as I saw your picture on the website when Nash called to offer me the job, I felt like that was exactly what I had been doing for ten years . . . looking for you.”

It was a somber conversation, and on the tail of such an emotionally draining day, it left us both spent. When we got to my apartment Rowdy walked me to the door, spent ten minutes wrestling around on the ground with Jimbo, and chitchatted briefly with Poppy while I chewed her out for being on his team instead of mine. As much as I wanted him to spend the night so I cuddle up into that big body and just unwind, I think we both knew it wasn’t in the cards for tonight.

He kissed me before he left and it was almost enough to make me tackle him and drag him into my bedroom, and it wasn’t until he was gone and I shut and locked the door that I realized I had made out with him in front of my sister and hadn’t even worried about it a little bit.