“Why would I know him?”
“He’s staring like you do.”
Paranoia wraps its sticky fingers around my throat and squeezes, and panic makes my vision blur.
It’s about Genevieve’s father.
Is this about my dad?Is this guy here because of him?
No, I brush the thought aside. My dad said everything was fine, and why would someone be in Rosebrook Falls for me when he’s in Boston, anyway?
But he works with criminals, so how safe is he really?
The man tilts his head, and then he grins.
My lungs cinch tight, making my breathing shallow.
I don’t know who this guy is, but he gives me the creeps.
A shadow falls over the bar, and I snap out of my daze.
Lance is staring down at me, and the heat of him cuts through the shiver crawling down my spine.
“Where the hell are the drinks?” he asks.
I grab a shaker just to do something with my hands. “You shouldn’t be behind the bar.”
“You shouldn’t be here at all. Guess we’re both out of luck.”
I peer around him, because that guy seemed sofamiliar, but I can’t place him.
“Drinks, Half-Pint,” Lance repeats, nodding toward the table where his siblings and Merrick are sitting. “Merrick thinks you’re mad at him.”
He says it like he’s irritated, but I swear he angles his body just enough to block the man’s line of sight.
I raise the shaker, tipping it back and forth. “Do you have vision problems? I’mmakingthem.”
“Do that.”
My eyes flick to the man again, another chill coiling around my middle.
Lance steps closer, his expression turning dark. “Do you know him?”
“No.”
“Stay behind the bar.”
My pulse spikes. “Why?”
He doesn’t answer, just turns around like he’s hiding me from view.
The guy holds Lance’s stare for one long, unsettling moment, and then he spins and walks out the front door, that stupid red bell chiming cheerfully.
Lance twists, and snaps his fingers in my face.
“Drinks, Genevieve. And don’t step one foot outside this bar unless I’m with you.”
I scrunch my nose and mock him, but clearly, it doesn’t deter him, because when the bar closes, Lance is there like an overbearing shadow, following me on my short walk home.
