Chute Yeah (The Valentine Boys 3)

I sighed. “Mack, y’all should be enjoying a date night on your own.”

Mack shot me a look.

“Listen, Candy,” Mack said. “I don’t often get to go out to eat. You’re going tonight even if I have to drug you and forcibly make you sit at the table.”

My lips kicked up at the corner, and I turned when the door behind us opened.

Amity looked at us with a freaked out look on her face.

“I think that we should find somewhere else to go,” she suggested.

Both Mack and I visibly wilted.

We loved this place.

We’d made reservations and had actually gotten them.

Neither of us wanted to go to a different place.

“Why, honey?” Mack asked.

Amity winced. “There’s a shit ton of people in there.” She paused. “Including the Valentines.”

That was when I realized that she wasn’t backing out because she was overwhelmed, but because she was worried about me.

I smiled then, bright and cheerful.

“I can handle Banks Valentine,” I proclaimed.

Amity looked at me with a worried glance, then shrugged. “You can use me as a reason to leave if it comes down to it.”

I snickered.

“Thanks, friend,” I said, looping my arm with hers. “Did they get us a corner table?”

She nodded.

“Is it right by the Valentines?” I asked, guessing that was part of her apprehension.

“Yes,” she sighed. “I considered asking them to move us, but then we would’ve likely been in the front of the room, or the middle, and I would’ve had to deal with all of that, too. It’s a lose-lose situation.”

Honestly, whatever made Amity the most comfortable, I was going to go with.

Amity being out in public was a rare thing. Her anxiety kept her from interacting with people very often, and when she did manage to get out there, we tried to make it as easy for her as possible.

Because Amity had been there for me for a long time, and I would do just about anything for her.

“Let’s go,” she sighed. “I’m feeling good today. I have a good feeling.”

I glanced over at Mack who’d dropped his hand to his wife’s lower back.

He looked at me over her shoulder with wide eyes, and I shrugged.

“I saw that,” she said as she moved.

Mack’s lips twitched, and he dropped a kiss down onto the top of her head. “You were meant to, honey.”

She tossed him a look over her shoulder, and I trailed behind, looking for my phone so I could take a picture of the two of them.

When I realized that I didn’t have it with me, I cursed and said, “I’ll catch up. I left my phone in the car, and I’m expecting a text from my dad on how his tests went today.”

My dad was a home builder and remodeler for the East Texas area. A few months ago, he started having problems with his hands, and it wasn’t until a few days ago that something started going wrong with them to the point that he couldn’t even grip a pencil anymore.

“Okay,” Mack said. “Do you want your usual?”

I grinned. “Yep.”

Mack tossed me a thumbs up over his shoulder and held the door open for Amity.

I turned on my heel and hurried out to the parking lot and my car, cursing silently when I couldn’t find my keys in my black hole of a purse.

“Need a light?”

I squeaked and jumped, heart in my throat, and squinted when I saw a solid figure wearing all dark clothes standing a couple of feet behind me.

“You scared the shit out of me,” I said to Banks. “But yes, I’ll take you up on the light. I can’t find my keys.”

He pulled an actual flashlight out of his pocket.

It was a mini one that was connected to his keychain, and pink.

I smiled as I saw it.

“I like it,” I said as I started digging in my purse.

He looked into my purse with me and started chuckling.

“Is there anything that you don’t have in there?” he wondered.

I felt my cheeks flush.

There was no doubt in my mind that he’d seen my panties.

“Probably,” I admitted. “I keep a fresh pair of underwear, tampons, a granola bar for hunger emergencies, a small bottle of water, a…”

I went on and on, listing the things I had in my purse.

“Are you sure that they’re not in your pocket?” he asked after I’d all but dumped the contents of my purse onto the roof of my car.

“Ummm,” I hesitated, feeling my pants pockets. “No…”

I felt something tug free from my back pocket and then felt myself blush as he held my keys out in front of me. “Now I remember putting them there,” I muttered darkly.

He grinned and stepped back, giving me room.

I shoved all of my shit back into my purse and unlocked my car, coming up short when I couldn’t find my phone, either.

“Swear to God,” I said. “If that’s in my purse or my pocket…”