It was quiet in the house, which wasn’t the norm.
My phone vibrated with a text.
Myles: Hey, any chance Abigail could hang with Harper tonight?
Me: Nope. Harper’s having her first sleepover. What’s up?
Myles: Want to meet at the Moose Brew for a drink? Montana has the wedding so she’ll be late.
Me: To think you were a bachelor not that long ago. Now you’re lonely when your lady is gone for a few hours?
Myles:
Myles: Am I to believe that you aren’t twiddling your fucking thumbs sitting on your couch alone?
I had to laugh. He knew me well.
Me: I’ll meet you there in fifteen minutes.
The snow had finally melted, and it was a nice night for a walk, not that downtown was too far from my house. I slipped on my coat and made my way outside. This was my favorite time of year, with winter on the way out and spring not quite here yet. It was still cool in the evenings, but not so bone chilling that you couldn’t be outside.
When I opened the door to the bar, Myles was already there, talking to Dakota, one of the bartenders who worked for Benji, and Dean Walker was standing beside them.
I groaned internally.
The dude owned the only used car lot in town, and he thought he was a big fucking deal. I’d grown up with him, and he was always the guy who liked to point out the fact that I was a foster kid.
I hadn’t forgotten it, all these years later.
I noticed that some people liked to kick others when they were down in an attempt to feel better about themselves.
As Harper and Violet would say, the dude was very insector.
I pulled up the barstool next to Myles and gave them a nod. “Hey.”
“I see Huxley is his usual chatty self,” Dean said with a laugh as he tipped his head back and finished what was left in his glass.
Dakota set a beer down in front of me, knowing exactly what I ordered when I did swing by, before he stepped away to wait on a few customers who’d just walked in. I knew Benji was still working the wedding for Violet and Montana tonight.
“Just didn’t want to interrupt the conversation,” I said, holding my bottle up to the asshole still standing beside Myles, who’d just informed me that he had to take a phone call real quick, and he stepped away.
I shot him a look, letting him know that he’d better hurry his ass back.
I had zero patience for Dean Walker.
“I was just asking Myles about Violet, seeing as she’s best friends with Montana,” he said, and for whatever reason, my shoulders stiffened at him inquiring about her. “I’m taking her out tomorrow, and I wanted to see what I could find out about her. I’ve been working on getting a date with that woman for months, and she finally agreed to go out with me.”
“Is that so?” I said, the words coming out much harsher than I expected.
Why the fuck would she agree to go out with this asshole?
“Wait a minute. You’re renovating her house, aren’t you?” he asked. “She’s renting your guesthouse while she’s waiting to move back in?”
I raised a brow. “You haven’t been out with her once, yet you seem to know a lot. And do you always try to see what you can find out about someone before you take them out?”
He laughed loudly like we were buddies and I was just giving him shit. But that was not the case, as I was basically insinuating that he sounded like a stalker.
“When you’ve been trying to get a woman to go out with you for months, you do what you can to present yourself a certain way when she finally gives in, you know? I don’t want to have put in all this effort for nothing.”
