Kendrick’s mind wasn’t on what he was doing, and it was evident when he’d gotten orders mixed up twice. Trey, who was busy up the other end of the packed bar where Paddy was, kept throwing looks of concern that said Kendrick was being obvious about the worry he was carting around like a packhorse. Coming in right on time for work hadn’t prevented that. It seemed he wasn’t as good at hiding his erratic emotions as he thought.
“Yo Kendrick, can you give me three fingers of Bourbon," Cranny called to him. The lion shifter looked how Kendrick felt, troubled.
He grabbed the bottle and poured liberally. “That bad?” Kendrick eyed the other man as he placed the glass down in front of him. “What did Zippy do now?”
Kendrick hazarded a guess with how often he had to separate the two of them over the last two years and the sour expression that came at the mention of Zippy’s name.
“Motherfucker is an asshole who needs a personality transplant…”—Cranny reached for the glass and downed the contents—“or another fucking job far from me. Another.” He pushed the empty glass at Kendrick.
It was band night, and the last thing Kendrick needed was Cranny on a tear with a full bar, so he checked over Cranny’s shoulder to see if his nemesis was in the bar. He poured another drink after seeing no sign of Zippy.
“Thanks.” Cranny nodded and placed cash on the bar before taking his glass and walking dejectedly towards the pool table.
“What’s up with Cranny?”
Kendrick glanced at Trey, picking up the cash. “Don’t you mean ‘who’ is up with Cranny?”
“What did Zippy do now?” Trey pulled a pint, chuckling. “Breathe?”
Kendrick shook his head. “Who fucking knows with that pair! As long as they keep the anger outside of the bar!”
Trey nodded, the smile disappearing. “What’s with you? You’ve hardly said a word all night? You’ve had a two weeks' vacation, shouldn’t you be happier?”
Trey was looking at the glass he was filling, so he missed Kendrick’s frown. Had he been quiet? Why should he feel happier? He’d left his men at home, and he was here! None of that was making him happy.
“Just got stuff on my mind and the band is rocking it loud enough to make talking hard,” he stated the half-truth, hoping his friend didn’t pick up how maudlin he was being.
“I call bullshit. You came in right on time, which means you were avoiding me. Whatsup, really?” Trey enquired, finishing serving the customer and moving to the next in a fluid move developed over years of practice.
Fuck it all. Like he could pull the wool over Trey’s eyes. As Trey served drinks, it gave Kendrick a moment to consider hisanswer while they had an audience. The music was loud, but it wouldn’t knock out all conversation if someone was paying attention. Everything about the night before left him conflicted. Rue’s discussion about the dreadfulness of his past was difficult to deal with when there was nothing he could do to change what happened. If that wasn’t enough, there was the stress Rue hadn’t hidden about his parents coming to Bayfield. Which they hadn’t discussed, so Kendrick had no idea if Rue was going to bring up the subject of who he was dating. Then the big pile of shit got topped off with Monty’s declaration of love. Monty hadn’t been in a throuple before, and that left Kendrick unsure of his footing to gauge what, if anything, Monty had in mind about continuing this relationship. Because the raw honesty of his declaration meant Monty had held nothing back in that moment.
Kendrick respected Monty, who’d succinctly made his point to Rue about the past being beyond his control. A point that Rue couldn’t deny. No teenager could have defeated ten rhinos. Fuck, no adult could. Not when they’d done a surprise attack.
Rue had given them the full story after Monty had declared his love. The love was like a healing dressing that, after the purging, closed over the wound inside Rue. One he had allowed to abrade his heart. And, fuck, if Kendrick wasn’t proud of Monty for achieving it.
In all of that though, where did it leave him?
He wasn’t some insecure dude, he never had been. Only right then, it was all he was feeling when he didn’t know what part he would play long term in a relationship where two people were so in love. Rue might not have said the words back to Monty, but the love was evident to Kendrick when Rue looked at Monty when he thought no one was watching.
Paddy wandered towards them, his easy grin aimed at Kendrick. “Band’s killer.”
“Yep,” he replied, not in the mood for small talk.
Kendrick took the opportunity to move on when a woman waved a fifty in the air, and Trey got beckoned by a regular at the other end of the bar.
The busyness meant he could avoid Trey prying for the rest of the night. As Kendrick worked, he kept his eye on the door. Monty, having discovered there was going to be a band playing, had mentioned coming in when Kendrick had left them just after dinner. Rue hadn’t said yes when Kendrick had asked.
Was he distancing himself? Regrouping to prepare for his parents coming? In Kendrick’s opinion, that was exactly what Rue was doing. It would be what he would do if the positions were reversed and he didn’t want to answer questions.
Normally he’d push for answers from Rue, just…insecurity was a bitch.
He smiled, chatted, and wished like hell the evening was over. It was a first for him. A first he didn’t like.
An hour later, when he locked up and shoved Trey out the door when his friend had checked his phone every two minutes for the past hour, Kendrick wiped down the bar, clearing away the last few glasses.
Paddy took the stacked dirty glasses to the dishwasher. “I can finish up if you wanna head.”
“You sure?” Kendrick asked, head tilting as he eyed Paddy picking up something, just not sure what.
