I’m halfway through my second drink and telling them about Kevin the goat eating a dish towel when the music dips slightly and someone whistles from the other side of the bar.
I glance up just in time to see a group of large men walking toward us and one of them is Cole.
He slows when he sees the table. Then he notices me sitting there between Bella and Brooke with a drink in my hand. And the look on his face…Is priceless.
Bella leans closer to me and whispers, “Oh this is going to be good.”
By the time the guys reach the table we’re already laughing again. And judging by the way Cole is staring at me right now…He has absolutely no idea what he just walked into.
TWENTY-ONE
GHOST
The momentI walk into Perdition, I know something’s off. It isn’t the dangerous kind of wrong. Nobody’s throwing punches, nobody’s shouting, and Mason isn’t glaring at anyone from across the room like he’s two seconds from shutting the whole place down. The music is loud, the bar is packed, and the familiar chaos of a Friday night rolls through the room exactly the way it always does. Boots scrape across the floor, glasses clink, someone near the pool table hollers when a shot goes sideways. On the surface, everything looks normal.
But something about the air feels different. Rev notices it at the same time I do. He slows beside me, scanning the room before leaning a little closer. “You see that?” he mutters quietly.
I follow the direction of his gaze across the crowded bar, past the guys lined up at the counter and the small knot of women near the jukebox. And then I see her. Rae.
She’s sitting in the women’s booth like she belongs there, wedged between Bella and Brooke with a drink in one hand and a grin on her face that tells me she’s several drinks past her normal limit. Her cheeks are flushed, her hair is halfway fallingout of the messy bun she always throws together like she doesn’t care what it looks like, and she’s leaning forward while she talks, waving her hand dramatically toward the ceiling like she’s telling the most important story anyone in that booth has ever heard.
My steps slow. “What the hell is she doing here?” I mutter under my breath.
Rev lets out a quiet snort beside me. “Oh man,” he says, shaking his head slightly as he watches the scene unfold. “You’re in trouble.”
Because Rae isn’t just sitting there. She’s laughing. Her head tips back, her shoulders shaking with it, and the sound carries across the room even through the music. Bella says something that makes the whole booth lean in closer, and Rae points toward the bar with exaggerated seriousness like she’s presenting evidence in a trial.
Then she spots me. The laughter cuts off instantly. Her eyes lock on mine from across the room, and for a split second she just stares at me like she’s trying to decide if I’m real or something she imagined after too many drinks.
Then her entire face lights up. She lifts her drink high in the air. “There he is!” Rae calls loudly, pointing at me like she’s announcing the arrival of a celebrity. Every woman at the booth turns to look at me.
Bella’s grin spreads wide the second she sees me standing there. “Oh this is going to be fun,” Bella says loudly, clearly making no effort to keep her voice down.
I drag a hand slowly down my face. “Jesus Christ,” I mutter.
By the time I reach the table, Rae is already halfway standing up. She wobbles a little as she pushes herself upright, then immediately straightens and points directly at my chest like she’s been waiting all night for this exact moment. “You!” Rae declares.
“Me,” I reply flatly.
Her finger wavers slightly in the air as she narrows her eyes at me. “You’ve been sneaking around my farm,” she accuses.
Bella makes a delighted little noise and claps once. “Oh my god,” Bella says, laughing as she leans back in the booth. “She came here to confront you.”
I shoot Bella a look. “Helpful,” I tell her dryly.
Rae crosses her arms over her chest like she’s preparing to deliver a speech to a courtroom. “You have been fixing things,” she says with dramatic seriousness.
I glance around the table. Every woman sitting there is watching us like this is the most entertaining thing they’ve seen all week.
Rae sways slightly on her feet before continuing. “The gate,” she says, ticking the items off on her fingers. “The barn hinge. The porch swing.”
Her eyes narrow even further as she leans a little closer. “And the cabinet hinge.”
I rub the back of my neck. “…you noticed that one?” I ask her.
“Yes I noticed it!” Rae says loudly.
Then she points at me again. “You cannot just sneak onto my property and start repairing things like some kind of…” Shepauses mid-sentence, clearly searching for the right word. “…very large raccoon with tools,” she finishes confidently.
