Page 34 of Taken With You

“Beckham,” Cliff growled out. “I knew you were around here. At least, somewhere in the city. Had to be. You wouldn’t go too far since you’re a lazy fuck. Always were. It’s my luck that I was the one to find you.”

“We don’t want any trouble here. We’re just playing pool. I’m only the bartender.”

Meadow stiffened beside me. I hated this. Fuck. I couldn’t take her to the side and explain things to her now, tell her why I had kept my past a secret. It was over. She would likely hate me forever. I had to get these guys out of here before they recognized who was standing beside me. If I weren’t careful, they would figure it out. And I didn’t know what would happen if they did. It wasn’t safe for Meadow. I shouldn’t have stayed as long as I did. I shouldn’t have even become her friend. But I had. And now, she wasn’t safe.

“Sure,” Cliff said, “but maybe we should go out back and talk. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen you, Beck. I see you’re just as ugly as ever with that fucking beard of yours. Couldn’t even grow it. Had to be a patchy-assed-face like usual.”

“Hey, this is our bar. If you’re going to start something, you should leave. We don’t take kindly to violence here,” Cameron said, his voice low but still a growl.

Cliff looked over at him and snorted. “Okay, pretty boy. Whatever you say. We don’t want no trouble either. Just surprised to see Beck is all. And acting all casual, like he isn’t the scum of the earth. A fucking traitor.”

I stiffened then and slowly angled my body a little bit more so they couldn’t see Meadow. Thankfully, none of the guys in front of me looked toward her. And even better, the woman beside them wasn’t looking.

I knew her. Trace. Coby’s sister, his damn twin.

And, if I remembered right, she was Cliff’s old lady. But that had been a while ago, and even though you didn’t poach women—one of the primary rules of being a brother—things happened.

But hell, things were getting a little too intense. I needed to get them out of here and away from Meadow.

“I don’t want any trouble. I’m out. You know that.”

The Connollys all looked at each other, and I could see them out of the corner of my eye, but I ignored them. They weren’t the dangerous ones. No, the guys in front of me were.

The ones who ran drugs and did shit that I wasn’t proud of.

They weren’t like some who dealt in guns and other things. But they were the worst of the bunch.

And I’d brought them right to my friends’ door. Sure, they might not have known that I was here when they walked in, but now they were trying to start something because I was.

I needed to make it stop.

“Come on, guys, you don’t need to do this.”

“Yeah, maybe we do,” Cliff growled. I noticed that the others didn’t say anything, but they didn’t need to. With Coby in jail, Cliff was number one outside of the main circle.

Coby had been the leader of his generation. And I’d followed him. Of course, then I’d become VP over him, and everything changed. Things had gotten worse. Coby found a woman, even though I hadn’t known who she was at the time.

Coby always wanted more power. Because I didn’t like the man I’d become, I left.

It hadn’t been easy. And I bled for it in the end, burned for it.

I’d left, and Coby took my place. And Coby had gone to jail because of his own stupidity.

I hadn’t paid for my crimes. And I knew Cliff, Coby’s BFF, blamed me for that.

“Hey, I have the cops on the line, and I can get them here at any minute. So why don’t you guys get out?”

I held back a curse as Sienna spoke, and I had a feeling the rest of the Connollys did, too.

“You really going to let your bitch talk for you?” Cliff asked, and I moved forward, putting my hands on his colors. The leather felt soft and supple under my palms, but I twisted it until it cracked.

“Just go. You don’t have any business here. This isn’t your place. This isn’t some TV show where you can fuck up a bar because you feel like it. Just go before you end up in jail again like your little buddy. You hear me? You’re not wanted here.”

Cliff’s eyes narrowed, but when one of the other guys elbowed him in the side, I pulled away. Cliff growled at me.

“Come on. You’re on probation, man.”

“Come on, Cliff. I’m tired of this already. Let’s just go home,” Trace whined, leaning into her man.