“I’m about to take my break.Do you guys need anything else for now?”
Her gaze swings from her cousin to me.“I’m good.Thank you.”
Shadow reaches for his phone and turns it over to glance at the screen.“Little early for you to be taking your break, isn’t it?”
“Russell is outside with Dylan.”At the mention of her ex-husband, my body goes taut.I wasn’t a fan of Russell’s before he got with Amelia.When we were in high school, people praised him as the jock who was going to put Saddle Ridge on the map.Then he got injured, and the tide turned.He wasn’t the golden boy anymore.He became the pill head who knocked up Amelia King, and my dislike for him turned ugly.
She unties the apron from around her waist and slaps it on top of the bar, frustration marring her pretty features as she continues to speak through clenched teeth.“He was supposed to keep him until my shift was over.”
Shadow sets his phone down, but his fist curls against the grain of the wooden bar.“You want me to go outside and speak with him?”
My jaw tightens as I watch her shake her head.“I can handle it.”She cocks her head to the side.“Are you planning on sticking around for a while?”
“I don’t need to be anywhere else.”
“Okay, well, I might need you to occupy Dylan until Jess gets here to relieve me.”
“Not a problem.”
With that Amelia makes her way out from behind the bar, my eyes tracking her every move until she disappears out the front door.When the door closes behind her, I turn back to Shadow.Normally, I would keep my mouth shut, but he’s already called me out on paying close attention to Amelia whenever she’s around.I’m not fooling anyone anymore.
“Her ex giving her trouble?”I ask.
Shadow mutters a curse.“When isn’t that piece of shit giving her trouble?”He shakes his head.“I should’ve fucking killed him years ago.Lord knows I wanted to.”
Shadow doesn’t make a habit of discussing his extra-curricular activities with me, but he’s had multiple charges brought against him over the years, and word around town is the bluff on the edge of Rose Creek acts as the Fallen Demons’ burial ground.
“So why haven’t you?”
He meets my gaze.“Bodies don’t always stay buried, and secrets rarely ever do.I don’t want to look Dylan in the eyes one day and have to tell him I killed his father.”
ChapterSix
Amelia
“Everyone in this town is right about you.You’re nothing but a waste,” Dylan shouts loud enough that I can hear him the moment I step outside the bar.I hurry to where Russell’s car is haphazardly parked in the parking lot, fully prepared to defuse the situation.He stands next to the back passenger door, which is open, and bends his head, invading Dylan’s personal space.
“And you’re nothing but a disrespectful brat.If you lived with me, I’d straighten you out once and for all.Your ass would be red from my belt, and that mouth of yours would stay shut.”
“The fuck you would,” I snap, grabbing his arm.I yank hard, forcing him to stumble back a step.He turns abruptly, his bloodshot eyes narrowing in on me, and my stomach twists with disgust.I know that look all too well.I’ve been the victim of what it represents, and I swore my son never would.“Are you fucking kidding me?”I hiss.“Please tell me you’re not high right now.That you haven’t been driving like this with our son in the car.”
I thought we were finally past this.I mean, sure, we’ve been down this road a bunch of times, but I really believed him when he said this time was different.Two months ago, he got a part-time job at a paper-mill factory, and they randomly drug-test all their employees.It’s the only reason I felt comfortable allowing Dylan to be in the car with him.
“Oh, here we go,” he slurs.“Do me a favor and spare me the holier-than - thou routine.I haven’t touched a pill in months.”
“Then you’re drunk,” I volley through gritted teeth.Shoving my hands against his chest, I push him with all my might, but even though he’s impaired, he’s steady on his feet and doesn’t budge.“Let me be perfectly clear, I don’t give a shit if you kill yourself, but if you ever put my son in danger again, I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”
The bastard laughs in my face, the sound sinister as he roughly grabs hold of my wrists.
“I had a couple of beers.Don’t pretend like you haven’t sent people out of this place only to learn the next morning they wrapped their car around a telephone pole.”
If I weren’t sure my son would wind up in the care of child services, I’d kill his father.Instead, I count back from ten, silently willing myself to keep my cool.When I’m confident, I won’t throw a punch and knock the living shit out of him, I pull my hands away from Russell, but his grip on me only tightens.
This motherfucker.
“Dylan, get out of the car,” I say calmly.
For all the crap my son gives me these days, he never goes against me in front of his father.Dylan quickly gets out of the car, grabbing his bookbag and slinging it over his shoulder, but he doesn’t move from where his father and I stand.
