Free May the Best Man Win by Mira Lyn Kelly

been trying to compartmentalize everything with Emily and Eddie in his head, but in that moment, the walls were down and Jase was sitting with his fists balled. Willing his best friend—the guy who’d been like a brother to him—to shut the hell up before he did something totally against his code and knocked Eddie’s teeth in. Because the idea of Emily—
    Fuck.
    She was walking back to the booth and sliding in next to Eddie, who took her hand in his and held it, turning to flash Jase a quick wink.
    Jase pushed out of the booth, set on distracting himself by…shoot, maybe going over to the table of girls at the other end of the place to say hi.
    A glance over his shoulder told him Eddie didn’t mind the opportunity to work a little magic with Em, who was laughing quietly at something the guy had said, that smile in her eyes probably making him feel like the king of the whole damned world.
    Good.
    He wanted that for him. Really. He did.
    â€œâ€”so it’s going to be a few more people tonight. Figured you wouldn’t mind, or at least you’d get over having to share me for the night.”
    Jase slid back into the present and what Marcos was saying with a jolt. The memories of Emily from high school were still too fresh in his mind to really pay attention to what his buddy was saying.
    Which was bull, he knew. Emily was no one to him now.
    Almost. Except that somehow he’d managed to work his way another five feet down the bar looking for a different view into the other room. Nothing.
    So he still didn’t know whether she was there with a date or not.
    â€œHey, Marcos, thought I saw someone I knew in the other room. Give me a minute, will you?”
    Marcos was making deep eye contact with the bartender, willing the guy to come over and take his drink order. “Yeah, but hurry up. I saw O’Donnel pulling up to the valet when I came in.”
    Jase headed over to the doorway, feeling like a world-class puss for needing to look in the first place. But he wanted to know if Emily was there on a date. If there was another guy—correction— a guy she was involved with.
    He almost hoped there was. Because that would be enough to deep-six the kind of thoughts he’d been having about her lately.
    But the slow cruise past the doorway just left him feeling like more of an ass. Especially when he couldn’t see jack.
    Rubbing at the tightening muscles along his neck, he turned back to the bar to find Marcos headed his way, beer in hand and Brody and two other guys in tow.
    â€œTable’s ready, girls. Let’s go.”
    Jase smiled, exchanging a few fist bumps and shoulder checks with the new arrivals as he fell in beside Brody.
    â€œSomething’s up,” Brody said conspiratorially, nodding at Marcos.
    Jase frowned, looking ahead at Marcos.
    â€œWhy do you say that?”
    Brody gave him a sympathetic look. “The guy is practically bouncing off the ceiling. He can’t stop fidgeting. And haven’t you noticed the peak in trash talk?”
    Jaw shifting to the left, Jase gave Marcos a closer look. The guy was definitely jumpy. Boisterous, as he followed the hostess through the maze of the restaurant, cracking one joke after another with barely a breath in between. His hands going a mile a minute to match his mouth.
    â€œHe on something?” Jase asked, concern creeping up beside the guilt he was feeling, because he hadn’t even noticed how Marcos was acting when he first got there. Because he’d been distracted. By Emily.
    Who he shouldn’t be thinking about at all.
    â€œI’m going to go out on a limb here,” Brody said with a grin, nodding at the table ahead of them, “and say this isn’t about drugs.”
    Jase followed his buddy’s stare to the table where the hostess had stopped. Where Delphine Allen was beaming up at Marcos with pure adoration in her eyes and what looked like the Heart of the Ocean