I swallow. “He’s not trouble.”
She’s so still, so deliberate. “Everyone says that, until it is.”
“I’m not everyone.”
She nods. “That’s true.” She smiles. “You’re trouble all by yourself.”
Heat crawls up my neck. “Claire—”
She holds up a hand. “I’m not saying no.”
My breath catches.
“But,” she continues, “I’m not saying yes yet, either.”
“So, what are you saying?”
Claire studies me for a long moment, then reaches for her phone and makes a note. “I’m saying I’ll ask around about upcoming projects. If there’s something, we’ll decide how to handle it.” Suspicion sits in her stare like it’s made itself comfortable. “And I’m saying,” she adds, “you’re walking a line. So don’t pretend you’re not.”
I swallow. “I understand.”
Claire’s eyes soften by half a degree — barely. “Is there something more, Molly? Are you okay?”
“No,” I say. “But I’m functional.”
“Good,” she replies. “Go be functional. I’ll talk to my ol’ man.”
I nod once and turn toward the door.
“Molly,” Claire says before I can leave.
I pause.
“Are you sure about this?”
I look back at her, heart beating so hard I can feel my tongue vibrate. I swallow, fight for words, for air.
“I trust him, Claire,” I say, and even to my own ears it sounds like I’m trying to convince myself.
Claire just nods.
I leave the office and walk back behind the bar like nothing happened and my hands aren’t shaking.
Riley glances at me as I grab a bottle. “You look like you just walked out of a lecture. Was it the collegiate-level stabby kind?”
“Shut up,” I mutter.
She grins. “Love you too.”
I pour three more drinks on autopilot, my hands moving through the motions while my brain churns like a cement mixer full of broken glass. The noise of the bar washes over me —laughter, the crack of pool balls, someone shouting about a bad beat — but it all feels distant, muffled, like I'm underwater and everyone else is on the surface.
I asked Claire for help.
I put Evan's name in her mouth, in Rabid's ear, in the machinery of a world that chews people up and spits out bones — and I just fed it someone I love.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Evan
