Page 5 of Love, Lies, and Whiskey

She forced her voice to work. “I knew them a long time ago.”

“I should’ve said something to that guy. I shouldn’t have let him get away with talking to you like that. He was a dick.”

His words pierced her heart. “He’s…” She stopped herself from refuting him, because Seeley had acted like a dick. Long ago and just then. Her anger rose to the surface.

Who the hell does Seeley think he is acting so scorned?

She kept that anger to herself because the mother in her felt a responsibility not to demean her son’s biological father, and despite everything, the stupid teenage girl in her had never lost her love for the nineteen-year-old boy who had stolen her heart in less than a week—and had crushed it a few months later.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” she finally managed. “He and I have some history together. It’s complicated.” She bent down to pick up the coffee cup she’d dropped, trying to regain her composure. “Can you please grab some paper towels from the men’s room so I can clean up this mess?”

As he disappeared into the men’s room, she exhaled, took a deep breath, and blew it out slowly, trying to get her bearings, but her mind refused to comply. It sent her reeling back to the heartbreaking summer when she’d fallen desperately in love with Seeley Whiskey and her father had torn them apart. She’d been sure Seeley would find a way for them to be together. How many times had he said she was his ride or die? His forever girl? She’d believed him and had clung to that promise right up until she’d gotten his letter saying he’d moved on and she should, too.

She’d never been able to reconcile the intensely loyal teenager she’d fallen in love with, with the cold one who had turned his back on them. But she couldn’t let herself fall into that abyss right now. Lucas needed her to be strong, and after what she’d seen of Seeley, she needed to keep Lucas safe from the truth so he didn’t get hurt. He’d already lost the only father he’d ever known. The last thing he needed was to feel unwanted by his biological father.

Lucas came out of the men’s room, his eyes still shadowed with worry, and handed her a handful of paper towels.

“Thanks, honey.” Her son had his moments when he drove her batty, but he really was the greatest kid. It had been the two of them against the world since he was four years old. Lucas was kind, thoughtful, and emotionally strong. Sometimes she worried he was too strong and would get himself in trouble, like the way he wanted to confront Seeley.

“That guy had on a biker vest,” he said as she cleaned up the spilled coffee. “Were you some kind of biker chick before you and Dad got together?”

Her chest constricted. She’d been so busy trying to remember how to breathe, she hadn’t even registered what Seeley was wearing. “No. But Seeley had a motorcycle.” She’d never forget how it felt to ride on the back of that bike, wrapped around Seeley’s warm, strong body, the engine vibrating beneath her. She’d felt free and so damn in love, the entire world seemed brighter. Her throat thickened with the memory. She choked it down and pushed to her feet, looking for a trash can.

“Here. Give them to me.” Lucas took the wet paper towels and went into the men’s room.

When he returned, they headed for the exit. “How’s your noggin?”

Lucas was into barrel racing, bull riding, calf roping, and half a dozen other things. She’d fought him on bull riding at first, but he’d been adamant, and she couldn’t help but think some passions were innate, since Seeley had been the reigning champ of those sports when she’d known him.

“I’m fine. When you said there’s history between you two, did you mean you were hooking up or had a relationship?”

“Lucas,” she warned.

“What? I’m not judging you. Just tell me what you meant.”

“I meant I’m not having this conversation with my fifteen-year-old son.”

“Why? I know all about hooking up.”

She gave him a stern look. “You’d better not know about hooking up.”

“Whatever.” He flashed a crooked grin.

She fished in her bag for her sunglasses and keys as they stepped outside.

“Holy shit.”

“Language, Luca—” She looked up, taking in a crowd of bikers wearing black leather cuts with Dark Knights patches on them, throwing her right back in time again, to the months she’d lived and interned on the ranch, working side by side with Seeley during the day, eating meals with his family and the rest of the people who lived and worked there, hanging out around bonfires, going to events the Dark Knights hosted, and secretly falling into Seeley’s arms every chance she got.

“That guy must be part of this gang. Do you think he’s dangerous?”

Only to my heart.

She hated the truth in that thought, but here she stood, scanning the crowd for Seeley.

He was nowhere in sight, but her gaze trailed over his brothers, Cowboy and Dare, who had always been funny and warm and protective of her, like Seeley. Cowboy was massive now, and he had a beard, and Dare was covered in tattoos, but they were still unmistakable, as was his sister Sasha. She was beautiful, and she was holding a little boy. Juliette’s chest tightened. That’s how she’d once imagined her own future, holding Seeley’s child, surrounded by people who loved them and cared about helping others more than wealth or politics or their public images.

There was movement in the crowd, and Juliette spotted Seeley’s parents. Her breath caught. They’d barely changed. Tiny was a rough-looking mountainous man, covered in tattoos with an untamed beard and long hair, both of which had turned gray. Wynnie was a little thicker around the middle than she used to be, but weren’t they all? She still wore her blond hair in a short shag, and as she leaned in to kiss Tiny, it was apparent their love hadn’t dwindled.