Retired Marine who never lost the taste for danger. Enjoys working for Aegis Group and the different jobs it throws at him. He and his family are better off with miles between them.
Ryan strolled between the racks of fur, sequins and pleather.
When Owen had said ‘costume shop’, Ryan had pictured one of those pop-up stores that showed up around Halloween. Not this stuff. He hadn’t seen a one-piece costume yet, except the yeti and that just looked like a heat stroke waiting to happen.
Last night when Javier popped off with this idea Ryan hadn’t thought he’d been serious, but it’d quickly snowballed into a thing. Everyone was involved, from Javier to Duke.
Ryan wasn’t sure what he thought about doing it yet, but when Ian headed out the door to go to the costume shop, Ryan had opted to ride along with his roommate.
No matter what, Ryan had intended on going to Delilah’s party. Chloe looked after many of the Aegis Guys who’d moved to Seattle. She opened her doors, making them dinner and offering her spare room until the guys relocating found a space of their own. The least Ryan could do was show up and man a trash bag or something. Besides, Delilah brought life and laughter wherever she went, and part of him felt for her. He knew what it was to be born into a family where one parent didn’t want him, and the other didn’t know what to do with him. If it hadn’t been for his grandfather, Ryan wasn’t sure where he would have wound up in life. It sure as hell wouldn’t have been in Seattle.
“Hey, what do ya think?” Ian held up a rhinestone studded Elvis costume.
“Shit, no.” Ryan shook his head. That costume was made for someone with no shoulders.
“What’s up with you? You’ve been all quiet and broodin’.” Ian smacked Ryan’s shoulder and placed the jumpsuit back on the rack.
“Nothing.” Ryan shoved his hands in his pockets.
“You pissed Felix got put on your job? You could just talk to Zain.”
“No, a day off is nice.”
“Then what’s your deal? Usually I can’t get ya’ to shut up, and today you’ve hardly said five words.”
Ryan didn’t want to talk about it. Since Javier’s crazy idea was hatched, Ian had been in a better mood. Ryan didn’t want to jinx it and bring on the storm clouds. His friend had an awful temper when it came to his ex-brother-in-law. But Ian was also the kind of guy who’d worry a bone to splinters.
“Just...this thing. The party.” Ryan turned to study a wall of masks.
“Yeah, it’s fucked up, ain’t it?”
“Sure is.”
“You’re thinkin’ about your ma, ain’t you?”
Ryan flinched.
Was it that obvious? He didn’t want to make this about him. If he could be there for someone else the way his grandfather had been there for him, could he repay karma at all? Make up for some of the wrongs he’d done in life?
“I guess so,” he mumbled.
He was a grown fucking man. A normal person would have moved on by now, but he was clearly a special kind of screwed up.
Ryan had never mattered to his mother, not as much as her work did. That’d been obvious from the beginning, when he was very little.
Which was why, if there was anything he could do for Delilah, to let her know she was special to someone, he was all in. Even if that meant wearing tights and making a fool of himself.
“The gingers. What up, man?” Javier rounded the end of the rack of clothes and smacked Ryan’s shoulder. At least he’d stopped putting his hand in Ryan’s hair when referring to it.
“Hey. Thanks for showing up finally.” Ryan jabbed Javier in the ribs. Not too hard, the guy could tweak his back turning to check out a chick.
“Hey, don’t hate. I’ve been talking to Erik. He wants to book his friend as our DJ for the party. You think your sister would be okay with that, Ian?” Javier held up his phone.
“I don’t know man, that’s expensive.”
“No, Erik said he wants to pay for it, and we should hold him a costume.”
“What?” Ryan gaped at Javier. Was he hearing him right?
“Yeah, pretty sweet, right? I was thinking, I know all the kids can’t walk and stuff, but I thought we could get a couple wagons and, I don’t know, have a train or something.”
Who the hell was this guy, and where was Javier?
He grinned at Ryan and Ian.
Seriously, had aliens abducted the guy when they weren’t looking?
Ryan didn’t mind Javier’s swagger. He was a minor celebrity who’d crashed and burned. More often than not he was all talk. But this? Pulling out the stops for a kid’s party? Maybe Ryan had him all wrong. Hell, maybe he didn’t really know some of the guys. First Javier, then Duke, now Erik? Next they’d have Jaxon and Kade on board. Granted it wouldn’t be hard to convince Kade. The Texas firefighter was good like that. Speaking of, Ryan should probably put him on notice.
“Okay, so, prince costumes. What are we lookin’ at? I have to have a sword. They have swords, don’t they?” Javier headed across the shop, through the racks of costumes.
It was a weird, magical world they’d found themselves in, and Ryan was looking forward where they’d go next. Even if he arrived wearing spandex.