Cody’s attention swung back to Eastern. “You a damn mind reader?”
“No. But I heard about the altercation.”
“From who?”
“A few locals. People talk in Misty Peak.”
Yeah, he knew that. Secrets never stayed secrets for long in a small town.
“The asshole touched her,” Cody growled between gritted teeth, knowing his brothers would know who he was talking about.
Kayden’s knuckles whitened on the beer bottle. “Why the hell did he do that?”
“To warn her about me. That I’m not the good guy I appear to be.” Both his brothers cursed. “She told him to release her, and he didn’t. I intervened.”
“Good,” Eastern said. “I would have too. Just…be careful around him.”
Cody’s eyes narrowed on his brother. “Why? Is he more than just a thieving jerk?”
“I’m not saying that. Just that Travis and Dayne like to cause trouble, and they probably did that the other night specifically to get a rise out of you.”
Well, they’d certainly done that.
Cody’s gaze found Harper again. “If he messes with Harper, I don’t give a fuck if he’s trying to get a rise out of me or not, I’ll come down on him so hard, he’ll know never to come back.”
CHAPTER 5
“You mean to tell me you’re single? That’s madness.”
Harper chuckled. It was the end of the night, at the end of an even longer week. All the customers had left, except Archie Jader, an older man who was in Meridian basically every night. Usually, he only had a couple of beers. Tonight, it seemed he’d been overserved. Maybe he’d been alternating who he got drinks from.
“No,” she finally said. “What’s madness is that some people spend three hundred dollars on a toaster. Me being single is the opposite of madness.”
He frowned like he couldn’t make sense of what she’d said. “My toaster broke a long time ago. They cost three hundred dollars now?”
She heard a muffled laugh from behind the bar. Cody was cleaning while being zero help in getting Archie out. “No, most don’t, just the pretentious ones.” She tilted her head. “So, no toast for breakfast for a while?”
“Breakfast? Who eats breakfast?”
She bit her bottom lip to curb the grin. The man might be drunk, but at least he was a happy one. “Okay, Archie, it’s time togo. I need to get home for some beauty sleep, and I can’t do that with customers still here.”
“Beauty sleep?” He rose to his feet, immediately tilting to the side. She grabbed his arm in an attempt to steady him. “You get any more beautiful and you’ll stop traffic.”
“You’re a real charmer, you know that? Are you sure you don’t need me to call anyone?”
“I’ve been doing the two-minute walk home for years. I’ll be okay.” They were halfway to the door when he stopped, and she wasn’t sure if he intentionally leaned into her or was just unstable. “Although, if a certain pretty lady would like to walk me home, I wouldn’t object.”
A throat cleared behind her. “All right, Casanova, time to get home. I’ve ordered you a car.” Cody slipped Archie from her hold.
“A car?” Archie frowned. “I don’t need a car.”
“Well, it’s here to take you home anyway, and I’m going to make sure you get into it.”
He sighed. “Just like your sister, always making sure people are okay. Your parents raised you kids right.”
“They did okay.”
As they stepped outside, Harper returned behind the bar, wiping down the counter. Once that was done, she went into the back storage room and reached up for a box of beer on the top shelf. It was only when she shuffled it to the edge that she realized her mistake.
