I don’t give her another glance as I walk straight to Lexy and hold out my hand.
“Dance with me, Tinker?”
She searches my face for a second, questions in her eyes, then nods and places her hand in mine.
“Worst Way” by Riley Green begins to play, and I pull her against me, close enough that nothing exists between us anymore.
Her breath catches.
The scent of orange blossom fills my lungs, and having her in my arms feels like something in me finally settles into place. I can feel the weight of every stare in the room, but I don’t care. Let them talk.
I lower my mouth to her ear.
“I chose this song for you,” I whisper.
She stills for a heartbeat, like she feels it too, then melts into me, and I hold her tighter as the song puts words to everything I have been trying not to feel.
CHAPTER 22
Dexter
I’m staring at Lexy as she wipes down some tables, completely lost in it. We left the party late yesterday, and I took the long way home just to feel her arms around me for a little while longer. She didn’t say much before we both went to bed, but she avoided my eyes, and when she thought I wasn’t looking, I caught her watching me, then blushing the second she realized I saw her.
Today she’s acting like nothing happened, like I didn’t request a song for her and dance with her to another five songs. A couple of regulars sit scattered at the bar, nursing beers like they’ve got nowhere better to be, chairs scraping, glasses clinking while Lexy laughs at something one of the guys says. The smell of whiskey and citrus cleaner still lingers in the air.
I’m wiping down the counter when the door opens, and this time I do look up. Most people who come in this early aren’t here for a good reason, but the second I see who it is, something shifts anyway.
Asher.
Strange… ever since he had his little boy, he stopped coming to the bar.
And yet here he is.
He steps inside and lets the door fall shut behind him, slower than usual, like even that takes effort. His shirt’s wrinkled, like he’s been wearing it too long, his hair not as put together as it usually is, and there’s something off about him. Not messy.
Just… undone.
He lingers there for a second, no nod, no “evenin’,” no half smirk thrown my way, and that alone is enough to tell me something’s wrong.
I straighten slightly, rag still in my hand, keeping my eyes on him.
When he finally moves toward the bar, each step is controlled but tight, like if he lets go for even a second, something’s going to crack. Lexy notices him too, her smile faltering just a fraction before she turns back to her customer, but that’s all it takes.
Asher reaches the bar and drops onto a stool, exhaling like the weight of the world followed him in, and I don’t say anything right away. Instead, I grab a glass, because whatever brought him here, it pulled him away from something, or someone.
I set the beer in front of him, and his hand closes around it, fingers flexing once like he’s grounding himself, but he doesn’t drink. Not yet. His jaw ticks.
Asher stares at the beer for a long moment before finally speaking.
“She left.”
“Who?”
“Leona.”
“What? Why?”
His jaw tightens as he breathes through his nose, trying to hold it together.
