“Thanks, but we’ll pay our tab,” I say, because I don’t want her to feel obligated. “You don’t owe us free drinks.”
She studies me again, like she’s trying to read between lines that aren’t there. “I know I don’t, but my boss is a big football fan and he’ll be pissed if he finds outtheShepherd Haynes was in his bar and I didn’t give him a free beer.”
“That’s not just Shepherd Haynes,” the rando guy at the next table explains to her. “You’ve got the whole trifecta sitting at that table.”
“Trifecta?” the bartender asks, narrowing her eyes at my brothers before looking back at me.
Another guy sitting at the bar points at Killian. “Yeah, that there is Killian Haynes, starting pitcher for the Portland Lagers, and his brother, Bishop is the team’s star catcher. See? The Haynes Triplets…we call them the Haynes Trifecta around here.”
“The Haynes Trifecta,” the girl repeats, her brows shootingup like she’s pretending to be impressed. Then her eyes slide to Sebastian. “So, if these guys are the famous trifecta, what does that make you?”
Sebastian gives her a sympathetic smile. “The one who didn’t want to spend ten to twenty years of his life putting his body through head-on collisions every weekend.”
“Fair.” The girl nods and actually smiles albeit only briefly.
I shake my head, playing off the fact that some fan just sold us out right here in the bar. “Look, honestly, we’d rather be regular customers,” I tell her, gesturing to my brothers. “It’s why we come here. So we can be, you know, normal guys in a bar. You don’t owe us anything. Promise.”
She tilts her head slightly. “No such thing as normal when you’re famous, you know.”
Bishop snorts. “He’s just trying to be nice.”
“It’s not nice if it comes with expectations,” she fires back.
Killian whistles low. “Damn, she’s got you there, Shep.”
I shoot him a look that says shut up, but I can’t deny she’s right. The weight of who I am follows me everywhere, changing how people see me, how they act around me. It’s exhausting sometimes, never being the guy nobody notices. It’s even worse when we’re all together. The famous Haynes brothers.
“Fair enough,” I concede. “But there’s no expectation here whatsoever other than a bill to pay when we’re done.”
She nods once, a small victory in her expression. “Fine. Let me know when you want food. I’m assuming you didn’t come here to drink yourselves under the table.”
Killian burst out a laugh. “God, if only.”
I glance at the menu on the wall. “How about loaded nachos. And wings. Whatever’s spiciest.”
She actually smirks at that. “Brave.”
“Or stupid,” I counter with a smile.
For just a second, I catch something in her eyes—amusement, maybe—before she locks it down again. “I’ll put that in.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“That’s right,” she says, walking away from me. “You didn’t.”
She walks herself straight into the kitchen, not looking back at me even once, and I laugh.
Because that’s when I know I’m in over my head and so totally fucked.
2
SUTTON
Idon’t wake up thinking about him.
That feels important to note.
I wake up thinking about the fact that my downstairs neighbor has once again decided seven in the morning is the appropriate time to practice what I assume is competitive furniture dragging. Then I think about rent. Then coffee. Then the faint ache behind my eyes that means yesterday was louder than I wanted it to be.
