Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 73192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73192 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 366(@200wpm)___ 293(@250wpm)___ 244(@300wpm)
It was when the man’s face turned into a sneer that I got out of my seat on the other side of the bar, in my own little corner booth as far away from the jukebox and the crowd as I could get and made my way to Reagan’s side.
I arrived on one side of her just as the man arrived at the other.
He met my eyes over the top of Reagan’s head and it wasn’t a friendly look.
He looked angry that I was touching her and that Reagan returned the gesture by leaning into me.
He couldn’t see her silent accusation and snarl.
Ok, so I might have kicked her out earlier and told her not to come back. I also might have threatened to pull her garden out by the roots and take her dog to the pound if she came back while I was there.
But we both knew it was a lie.
I wanted her there just as much as she wanted to be there, which was the crux of the problem.
I shouldn’t want her.
I was friends with her dad.
I was…
“Get your hands off her,” the man who appeared at Reagan’s other side ordered heatedly.
Reagan reacted like she was terrified.
One second, she was in her seat, looking at me with a glare on her face and the next she was standing behind me, pressed up against me, shaking.
“I don’t think she wants me to get my hands off her,” I advised. “But thanks. You have a nice day.”
The man didn’t leave.
“What the fuck are you doing here, motherfucker?”
I turned to see that Janie had joined the party.
She’d left a few moments earlier to go to the bathroom and now she was back, two beers in her hands, staring at this man like he was a piece of shit on her shoe.
Janie was no chump, but honestly, she liked almost everyone she met—or at least she gave them the benefit of the doubt until she got to know them better.
This man, though?
Yeah, Janie’s furious expression clearly conveyed that she wanted to kill him.
Which unsurprisingly brought her husband immediately to her side.
Rafe was joined by Kayla’s husband.
Kayla, however, wasn’t there for the festivities due to her child being sick, but she’d ensured that the rest of the gang—including Coke and Cora, as well as Johnny and June—were there to celebrate something that I wasn’t privy to.
My guess was that it was a birthday of some kind, but from across the room, I hadn’t been able to confirm.
However, the words out of this character’s mouth confirmed that it was indeed a birthday—Reagan’s.
“I’m here to surprise Reagan for her birthday,” the man smiled so insincerely that it wouldn’t have gotten past a five-year-old, let alone a well-trained cop like me.
Janie took a threatening step in the man’s direction. “Dusty, nobody wants to see you, least of all Reagan. Just look at her. She won’t even look at you. She’s over you, Dusty. It’s been over for a while and you know it. She’s moved on,” Janie pointed to me. “And it’s time for you to do the same.”
I felt Reagan tremble at my back and my curiosity to know what in the hell was going on here was starting to get the best of me.
I wanted to know.
Badly.
And I would be finding out.
“This is a bar, not your house. I don’t have to leave,” Dusty countered.
Then he took Reagan’s vacated seat, picked up her half-empty beer and then grinned at Reagan, who’d peeked at him over my shoulder.
I wrapped my arm around her from behind, then turned so that she was facing my chest.
“How about we go back to my table?” I asked carefully.
Reagan’s lips twitched. “I was wondering what it would take to get you to call me over there.”
I knew that she knew I was there.
It was like both of us had powerful magnets inside of our chests, drawing us to each other.
I would’ve known she was in that room just by the way I felt when she was around.
I winked down at her.
“Don’t think that this is changing anything,” I told her.
Reagan snorted and took a step in the direction of my table and the rest of the men and women who’d been staring at Dusty were following in our wake.
I was not surprised when they took the seats around my table and acting for all they were worth as if they’d been sitting there all along.
I rolled my eyes when Parker filled his drink up from my half-empty pitcher of beer.
“So, who wants to tell me who that guy was?” I asked the table at large.
Reagan sighed.
“He’s my ex.” She sounded disgusted with herself.
“He’s her stalker ex who ruined her Olympic softball career by purposely crashing the car he was driving, causing an injury that meant she’d never play again and then saying it was for the best because he didn’t want her to go away anyway,” Janie expanded.