Sidecar Crush

“Boys,” Scarlett snapped. “Enough. Y’all aren’t helping anything by going at each other’s throats.”

“It’s his fault,” Gibson said.

“Oh my god,” Scarlett said, rolling her eyes. “Next you’re gonna say he started it. Don’t make me act like your mama or I will box your ears and stick you in the damn corner.”

Gibson scowled and sat. Jonah and Bowie released their grips on me and I straightened my shirt.

“You think I like this?” I asked. “This is the stuff of my nightmares. It was bad enough when it was just the town talking about whether Dad murdered Callie. Now it’s all over the damn country? In case you haven’t noticed, people lookin’ at me is not my favorite thing. And I have far more of it than I’m comfortable with at the moment. So you can all just back the hell off.”

“I’m sorry, Jame. I know this has been rough,” Scarlett said.

I nodded, and almost went after Gibson again when he glowered at me, but my phone buzzed in my pocket.

Leah Mae: Kelvin is in town. I agreed to meet him at Moonshine.

My anger at my brother had nothing on the wave of rage that poured through me, sizzling through my veins like liquid steel. Grinding my teeth, my back and arms clenching, I typed out a quick reply.

Me: Be there in five.

“What’s wrong?” Scarlett asked.

“Leah Mae’s asshole ex showed up,” I said. “She’s meetin’ him at Moonshine.”

“Oh, hell no,” Jonah said and we all glanced at him. “Bootleg justice, right?”

“You are definitely a Bodine,” Bowie said, patting him on the back. “Let’s go.”

We poured out of Bowie’s front door, piling into cars. Scarlett declared she was not missing this, so she got into Jonah’s car with me and Bowie. Gibson brought up the rear in his Charger. He was by himself, but he did come. I was still mad over what he’d said about Leah Mae, but I appreciated that he wasn’t going to leave this one to us.

We were still brothers, after all. This was how we did things.

Leah Mae was already inside Moonshine when we pulled up, sitting in a booth across from that asshole. I had to admit, the look on his face when the entire Bodine family walked in that restaurant was worth the price of admission and more.

25

LEAH MAE

K elvin stood when I walked into Moonshine. Instead of his usual business casual attire, he was dressed in a black hoodie and track pants. Of course, they were Lululemon. The guy managed to be pretentious even when he was dressed down.

I nodded at Clarabell, then took a seat across from Kelvin. She eyed him with open skepticism—maybe even a touch of hostility—as she came over to our table.

“Mornin’,” she said. “Coffee?”

Kelvin ignored her and sat back down.

I met her eyes. “Sorry. I guess not. Maybe give us a few minutes?”

“Sure thing, honey,” she said, and took her coffee carafe back to the kitchen.

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“You stopped answering my calls,” he said. “You won’t text me back. What was I supposed to do?”

“How about move on?”

“Leah, I don’t know what game you think you’re playing out here, but slumming with some backwoods West Virginia hillbilly is low.”

My eyes widened so much I thought they might pop out of their sockets. “Excuse me? You did not just call Jameson a hillbilly.”

“Well, it’s the truth,” he said. “The man’s father murdered some girl.”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh my god. Is that why you came out here? You saw the story about me and Jameson, and you just couldn’t let it go?”

“You’re throwing away everything we worked for,” he said. “I know you still don’t have an agent. Who’s working for you? Who’s making sure your next gig is lined up? What the hell are you going to do with yourself out here? Open up a moonshine slushy stand?”

I paused for a second, because a moonshine slushy stand would do very well in Bootleg, especially during the summer months.

“Jesus, Leah,” he said. “You’re thinking about that, aren’t you?”