Hush Baby Hush

Kenzie smiles and laughs, but I can tell from across the room that it’s all for show. She doesn’t want to go home with Jeremy; she just doesn’t want to go home.

As soon as the waitress turns her back, Kenzie teases the shot glass from Jeremy’s hand and pours the contents into her own cup.

My hands clench into fists as she downs half the drink in one go.

Well, that’s just perfect... Kenzie spending the night at Jeremy’s was a shit idea when she was sober. Now she’s gone and added booze to the mix.

I count backward from ten, trying to rein in my runaway pulse. This isn’t happening. I don’t care if I have to haul her ass out of this bar myself. She’s not going home with him.

Not a chance in hell.

I surge forward, and come dangerously close to running down a waitress who steps directly into my path.

“Pardon me,” I say, attempting to skirt around her. She blocks me again.

“You’ve got some fucking nerve coming in here, Austin Pope.”

“What?” I tear my gaze from McKenzie to give the woman a closer look. Black hair and hot-pink eyeliner. Ivy vines inked below her clavicles.

Lola. My brother’s ex. I’d forgotten she worked here.

“Can’t talk right now, Lo.” I move to sidestep around her, but she’s quick to jump into my path. She scowls.

“You haven’t come in here for so much as a basket of fries in three months,” she says. “Did Mike send you in here to check up on me?”

“Why the hell would he do that? And more importantly, why would I agree to get in the middle of your shit?” I ask the first question mostly to get her off my back. In truth, she’s not the first of my brother’s exes to inform me of histrust issues.

“Don’t gaslight me, Austin. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

I scrub a hand down my face. When Mike told me they’d split up, he didn’t offer particulars. If I had to guess, she probably discovered he’d been secretly tracking her phone. I don’t condone my brother’s methods but I understand them. After all, we grew up in the same fucked-up home.

“Lo, I swear I’m just here to have a beer and listen to bad bluegrass, like everyone else.”

“Uh-huh, sure.” She doesn’t believe me, but I’ve officially run out of fucks to give.

This time, Lola doesn’t try to stop me when I go around her, barreling through the crowd toward the gaming area. But when I reach the pool tables, Kenzie and the assholes she’s here with are nowhere to be found.

My heartbeat kicks like a mule. I take a lap around the bar, scanning for familiar faces and pastel-colored button downs. No dice. I try calling but she doesn’t pick up.

“Where the fuck are you, Kenzie,” I mutter under my breath. If the four of them just stepped out, I could probably catch up. Even if I don’t spot them, I can run across the street and look up Jeremy’s address in our payroll records.

Out on the sidewalk, my luck changes. I spot the four of them beneath an overhang, passing around a vape. Kenzie stands somewhat apart from the group with her head tilted back and her eyes shut. She’s definitely feeling that tequila shot. I wouldn’t be surprised if these assholes managed to sneak her a couple more in the time that I was held up.

Jeremy rests a hand on her lower back and offers her the vape.

I fly across the concrete.

Without saying a word, I grasp McKenzie’s arm and then bend to capture her legs. She yelps as I lift her onto my shoulders.

“Austin, put me down!” Her small fists beat against my back as I make for the crosswalk.

“What the hell, man?” Jeremy shouts, running to catch up. “You’re acting like a fucking psycho.”

“And you’re forgetting that your drunk, underaged co-worker lives with a cop,” I grit out.

That shuts him up for a second.

“I didn’t buy her the shots—”