“Hey, girl!” Lauren said brightly. 

Jen had to work not to scowl. It was the crack of noon, and she’d been up far too late the night before trying to find the missing codex. That codex was the key to everything, their proof that NOAH was up to no good. Without it, all they had to go on was her word and some grainy photos taken with her phone. No one would believe her if that was all the proof she had. Hell, she barely believed her, and she was the one who found it. 

That alone would have been enough to put her in a foul mood. Not getting enough sleep and having a problem she couldn’t solve were two of Jen’s biggest pet peeves. Throw social obligations on top of that, and she was exactly one stubbed toe away from finding a clocktower downtown. 

“Hey, Lauren,” she said, resigning herself to her fate. 

Blowing up at Lauren wouldn’t make her any less tired. The catharsis might’ve felt nice, but Haru was already miserable and moody. Announcing that she picked a fight with her wife’s girlfriend would only send her into a tailspin. 

“Sorry to call you out on such short notice. Haru said you were working late, so I thought we’d skip the usual and grab some coffee. My treat, of course.”

The thought of caffeine perked Jen up, ever so slightly. When Lauren suggested they meet for lunch, her head swam with visions of fru fru yuppie bullshit, the kind of shit that cost a hundred dollars a plate and still left you hungry after. Cheap, greasy cheeseburgers were more Jen’s speed. Haute cuisine could choke to death on a satchel of camel cocks for all she cared. She’d take Whataburger anyday. 

Fancy coffee, that was another story altogether. She could fuck with that. 

“Lead the way, I guess,” she said. 

That was probably unfair to Lauren, Jen was willing to admit. The girl had expensive tastes when it came to cars, clothing, and women, but she wasn’t exactly some rich bitch whose daddy paid for everything. She had nice things because she worked hard to afford nice things. At heart, she was still a poor girl from a mixed family who grew up with nothing and had to claw her way to the top. Louis Vuitton handbags and Prada shoes were Lauren’s way of declaring victory. 

Jen could fuck with that, too, even if she was too cranky to say it out loud.

The coffee shop didn’t disappoint. The small cafe was tucked away on a little side street in downtown Austin. It didn’t have a sign out front. It didn’t need one. Either you knew about it, or you couldn’t afford it, plain and simple. 

“$30 for an espresso? Holy shit,” Jen exclaimed. 

“I know, but it’s worth it,” Lauren said. “And since I owe you an apology, I figure it wouldn’t hurt to butter you up a little bit first. Order whatever you want. Like I said, it’s my treat.”

Jen didn’t ask what Lauren wanted to apologize for. She was exhausted, not braindead. Well, maybe braindead was the wrong word. Haru was plenty smart, but she’d need a 30 slide PowerPoint presentation and a writ from the Pope to understand why anyone would ever think they needed to apologize to her, let alone her precious Master. 

She wasn’t exactly going to say that part out loud, though. Not when the tab for their drinks crossed into the triple digits. The idea of spending that much money on coffee was utterly horrifying. It did make for one hell of an apology bribe, though. 

“Fucking Christ, this is good,” she said, taking a sip. 

“I told you. I always feel guilty about spending this much on coffee, right up until I walk through the door,” Lauren said. “I make a point of treating myself once a month.”

“Once a month is all you need with this stuff,” Jen said. “Jesus, that’s strong.”

“Haru said you were working late, so I thought you could use the pick me up,” Lauren said. 

“Well, you’re not wrong. Speaking of Haru, though, did something happen at the club? She’s been in a right state the last couple of days,” Jen said. 

“Did she not tell you? Wait, no, of course she didn’t,” Lauren said. “You didn’t hear this from me, because I’m not supposed to know. She made Brian promise not to tell. Lucky for me, Trevon made no such promises.”

“What did she do, pull a gun on someone?”

“Well…”

“No fucking way.”

“Micah showed up and started to lean on her,” Lauren explained. “Normally she’d fold just to get him out of her face, but this time, I guess she’d had enough. She’s not in trouble or anything. If anything, Tre was pleased as punch that someone finally put the fear of God in Micah. But, I’m sure she feels awful about it.”

“Yeah, that’ll do it,” Jen said. “Sounds like a Shane problem. He’s the only one who can get her to open up about shit like that.”

“Has he not-”

“He’s out of town for a few days. Something about seeing an old work friend,” Jen said. “He asked me to water the houseplants. I’ll sic him on her the instant he gets back.”

“Good,” Lauren said. “I’m glad he can be there for her like that.”

“You didn’t sound so convinced the other night.”

“That’s…well, that’s what I wanted to apologize for,” Lauren said. “I brought strife into your house, Jen, and that was wrong of me. I’m sorry.”

“I appreciate you saying that, but I’m not the one you should be saying it to,” Jen said. 

“I’ll apologize to Shane when we all get together next week. I don’t really know him well enough to invite him out to coffee, and I’m not sure he’d take my call in the first place.”

“Can you blame him?” 

“In hindsight? No, probably not,” Lauren said. “I think it’s pretty safe to say I’ve treated him unfairly.”

“I see.”

Lauren smiled wryly into her drink. 

“That’s not what you wanted to say.”

“Shane’s a big boy. He doesn’t need me to put on my bitch boots and stomp a mudhole in your ass,” Jen said. 

“But you want to.”

“Let’s just say I’m sorely tempted,” Jen said. “I can pretend it’s none of my business so long as you two keep your bickering away from Haru. You’re both grown-ass adults, and I’m not getting paid to be your mediator. Not my problem.”

“Until we made it your problem,” Lauren said. 

“Not we. Shane promised to try to keep the peace, and I told him he didn’t have to sit back and take potshots all night. He kept up his end of the bargain. Now, I’m not going to try to hold you responsible for the actions of your boy toys. Same with Emma. They’re grown-ass adults, too, and they made their own choices. But they’re not dating Haru, either.”

“I appreciate the courtesy. Frankly, they’d be pissed if I knew why I was here,” Lauren said. “That doesn’t change the fact that I need to make amends. I fucked up. I should have tried to stop them when they started piling on Shane, and I shouldn’t have tried to join them. I still don’t like him, and I doubt I ever will, but I can’t ignore what he does for Haru, either. Moving forward, I want to be more mindful of that. She wouldn’t be with him if he was as awful as I let myself think. Nor, I think, would you let her.”

“Hey, I had my doubts when I first met the guy too. Difference is, I gave him a chance,” Jen said. 

“And when it comes to Haru and her partners, I trust your judgment. I know how hard you work to keep her safe, Jen. I can recognize that I haven’t been respectful of that where he’s concerned.”

“You know, you’re making it really hard to stay pissed off,” Jen said. “If you’d come out swinging with some half-baked bullshit, I’d have told you to kick rocks and stay away from Haru.”

Lauren’s eyes widened, ever so slightly. 

Jen read the reaction and assumed that Lauren guessed that she’d pushed things too far, but she hadn’t realized quite how far. 

“That’s…wow.”

“Yeah, I know, but I have my rules for a reason,” Jen said. “Haru’s not very good at standing up for herself, especially not where her partners are concerned. It falls on me to protect her peace. I like you, Lauren, I really do, and I’m thrilled you owned up to your mistakes so we can put this behind us. But after that bullshit with Serena? I’m fresh out of second chances.”

“I understand,” Lauren said. “I’d feel the same way in your shoes. Frankly, I’m surprised Serena is still breathing.”

“If Shane was around when she pulled her crap, she wouldn’t be,” Jen said. “Only reason he hasn’t done his thing is because Haru made him promise not to.”

“If this NOAH thing turns out to be a real problem, I might just pay her a visit myself,” Lauren said darkly. 

“If it comes to that, I’ll help. So long as Shane doesn’t do it, no promises broken,” Jen said. 

“It’s a date, then,” Lauren said. “So, are we good?”

“Apologize to Shane and Haru and yeah, I think we’re good,” Jen said. “I do have one teensie question, while we’re on the subject.”

“Shoot.”

“What made you change your mind?” Jen asked. “About Shane, I mean.”

“Honestly? It was the thing at the club,” Lauren said. “Until Tre told me what happened, I would have never believed Haru could do something like that. I’ve been trying to run Micah off for years, but he’s…I’m trying to think of a better word than ‘scary’, but nothing comes to mind. Half the reason I started dating Gene was because I was hoping having a boyfriend who could beat his ass would send a message.”

“You have to admit, it’s kinda funny that Haru’s the one who got the job done,” Jen said. 

“I don’t know that funny is the word I’d use, but yeah. The more I thought about it, the less it made sense. But then I remembered something.”

“You remembered that her boyfriend is probably the scariest thing on two legs west of the Mississippi?”

“In a word? Yes,” Lauren said. “Haru wouldn’t come up with a trick like that on her own. Someone had to teach it to her. She wasn’t following my example. I haven’t had any luck chasing Micah off on my own. And I’m pretty sure she wasn’t following your example. You wouldn’t want her sticking her neck out there like that. That sort of narrowed it down. She was protecting me, because that’s what Shane would have done for her.”

“It’s sound logic,” Jen acknowledged. “Shane’s always looking out for us.”

“And if he’s willing to go that far for the people he cares about, I can’t really write him off as a bastard,” Lauren said. “So, I sat down and had a think.”

“And here we are,” Jen said. 

“And here we are.”

“Well, I certainly won’t complain if you two bury the hatchet. Up until a few days ago, Haru thought we were all friends. It’s been hard on her to realize you two hated each other.”

“I don’t know that I hated Shane,” Lauren said. 

“Eh, close enough in Haru’s eyes.”

“I suppose you’re right. Like I said, I doubt I’ll ever like him,” Lauren said. “But at the very least, it would be nice to call a truce. If nothing else, I’ll feel a lot better about facing the end of the world if the ‘scariest thing on two legs west of the Mississippi’ has our back.”