Page 9 of Taken With You

“Okay, well, we were going to take you to the bar to go meet our men, but we don’t have to force you out if you don’t want to go,” Harmony said, helping me clean up.

I looked at the others as they tried to appear busy and held back a wince.

I didn’t want people to feel as if they needed to be careful around me.

Worrying them wasn’t something I wanted.

And I didn’t want to be a liar. If everything were truly going to be okay, I knew I had to leave the house. At least, for a little bit.

“It’ll be great. I’ll join you, and everything will go back to normal. Just let me change, okay?” I asked.

“I don’t even know if Beckham is working tonight,” Violet said.

“Oh. That’s good.”

“Yeah, we can hang out and pester Dillon about what his plans are for the rest of his life,” Harmony said, smiling. “Maybe you can get something out of him. He trusts you. And that’s good.”

I nodded and then went off to change while the others no doubt chatted about me in the living room.

I didn’t mind. They could talk all they wanted. It wasn’t as if they’d ever guess the person I once was. Uncover the fallout of the choices I’d made. And if I kept pretending that everything was normal and okay, maybe it actually would be.

Though I didn’t know if it was good or not that Dillon trusted me.

I didn’t know if anyone should.

Because there was always the threat of people coming. And once those looking for me found me, I didn’t think anyone around me would be safe. Especially not the man who’d kissed me. The one who’d slid into my dreams every night since. No, not him. Especially him.

Chapter 3

Beckham

I was running late. And I never did that. I cursed my missed alarm. The fact that I actually needed one annoyed me even more. I’d set it and then had slept through the damn thing. It didn’t matter that it had been bright outside after a late shift at the bar. I’d snored right through it.

I usually woke up before my alarm, even if I took a nap in the afternoon. I had long since trained my body to sleep in small bursts so I could get the rest I needed and still work when I had to.

It had been necessary when I was younger, while pulling the shit I did. There was no sleeping in my old life. There hadn’t been time. I was always on the go, trying to stir up the next pot of crap. It hadn’t mattered that I hurt people. Wasn’t important that I took the easy way out or that I joined up at all.

I wasn’t that person anymore. I couldn’t be. But I still had some old habits that I had yet to break. Namely, being able to sleep no matter what time it was, thanks to my bartender’s schedule.

However, even though I was usually pretty damn good at waking up on my own, I hadn’t today.

Probably because I’d spent my entire sleep cycle tossing and turning and dreaming about a certain person I shouldn’t be thinking about at all.

And I really shouldn’t have fucking kissed her.

But I hadn’t been able to hold myself back. And even though she’d returned the kiss, she ran.

I was such a fucking asshole for even thinking I could touch her. To believe that I had any rights where she was concerned.

I shook my head and did my best to push her out of my thoughts. It would be best if we had even more space from each other. I’d left her alone the past couple of days. She’d run from me that night. And even though I’d felt a connection, she ran. So I wouldn’t push. At least, not much.

Fuck. No. Not at all. I couldn’t. Not given who she was. Or at least who she was before. Who I was in my past.

I walked into the bar, nodded at a couple of regulars, and tossed my stuff in my little cubby before lifting my chin at Brendon.

“Are you seriously behind the bar again?” I asked, the humor in my voice real. I loved needling Brendon. The guy was a good man. He was smart as hell and had more business savvy in his pinky than I had in my whole body. He was caring, funny, and apparently pretty good-looking, at least if you asked his new bride. But he wasn’t the best part-time bartender. Oh, he was good, just not the best Connolly at it. And he damn sure wasn’t as good as I was. Considering that Brendon loved being the best at everything and tried his hardest to do so, I had fun giving him shit.

Even though I knew it got under the man’s skin. Hey, everybody needed a hobby.