The Rebel (Red's Tavern 2)

“It’s a free country, and I’m not going anywhere until I find him.”

“He doesn’t come here. He doesn’t even drink anymore,” I said. “You’re barking up the wrong tree.”

Perry gave me a look that was something between fear and exhaustion. I nodded toward the front door, trying to signal that he could go back inside.

“Do you want me to call the police? I know Damien’s working tonight,” Sam said, crossing his arms. Damien was Sam’s friend who had recently become a local cop.

“No cops,” Colin said.

“You don’t need to do that,” I said. “You guys head inside and take care of the customers. I can handle this.”

Colin snorted at me as Perry and Sam went back inside. “Handle this? You definitely couldn’t handle this.”

He looked me up and down, and slowly the scorn on his face morphed into a more curious expression.

“You are not welcome at Red’s Tavern,” I said.

“Wait,” he said, pointing at me with narrowed eyes, his cigarette between two fingers. “You’re him. Holy shit.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You are him,” Colin said, his eyes growing wide. “Hot Cowboy. Holy fucking shit, you’re the guy keeping Hardy here.”

I barked out a laugh. “I’m not keeping Liam anywhere.”

“Bullshit.”

“I’m sure this is news to an abusive asshole like you, but Liam is his own person. He makes his own decisions. I’m not the arbiter of that, and you definitely aren’t.”

“So you’re the one he wants in his videos,” Colin said. “He chose a big, dumb cowboy over me.”

The sound of tires on gravel came from behind us and my heart rate spiked. Red’s wasn’t the kind of place that encouraged idiotic bar fights, and right now, Colin was only getting more and more heated. I didn’t need anyone seeing this.

But when Colin took off toward the car, my anxiety twisted harder.

Liam was pulling up.

Liam didn’t deserve any of this bullshit, and after his history with Colin… any confrontation would be ten times worse for him than for me. I needed to keep him away. To protect him.

The moment Liam stepped out of the car my stomach was in a knot.

There was no way this was going to be good.

“You came!” Colin shouted, his tone immediately changing as soon as he saw Liam. He dropped his cigarette and stubbed it out with his shoe, heading toward Liam with open arms.

Liam was frowning as he quickly glanced at me, his jaw set like he was preparing for battle. Colin wrapped his arms around him, but Liam didn’t move an inch. His face was steely. He was refusing to show any emotion.

I knew exactly how hard that was.

“I’ve missed you so much, Hardy. I didn’t think you got my messages,” Colin said.

Anger flared inside me, curdling with the disgust I already had at Colin’s bullshit. He’d been an insensitive prick all night, and now that Liam was here, he was putting on this silly groveling act.

I leaned back against my car, crossing my arms tight. I didn’t take my eyes off Colin.

“I ignored the messages,” Liam said, keeping his voice even. “Then Red mentioned your name, and I put two and two together. Why are you here, Colin?”

“I had to see you,” he said. “I miss you, babe. Nothing’s the same, and Terry charges me double for all the stuff he gets me, and I just... need you back in LA.”

Colin stumbled as he took a step, and after teetering for a moment, he fell down into the small planter of flowers that lined the parking lot. A small pill bottle fell out of his pocket this time, and he snatched it up, standing back up.

“Christ, Colin, you just ruined those marigolds—”

“I don’t care,” Colin said, rolling his eyes. “I know you’ve always liked flowers more than you like me, anyway, but it doesn’t fucking matter.”

“Just stop,” Liam said, shaking his head. “Stop.”

“Come back to LA,” Colin said, the venom leaving his voice as he put on his sad puppy act again. “I swear I’ll be better. We can cut back to only drinking with dinner.”

“I’m not coming back,” Liam said.

“We had fun, though,” Colin said. “You and I were the same. We are the same.”

Liam furrowed his brow, shaking his head. “We never were.”

“But you are the only one who’s ever understood,” Colin said. “You know what it was like to have a family that spat you out. And that’s why we party. That’s why we say fuck it all, every single day, and live life to the fullest.”

Liam looked into the distance. “It was never really living,” he said.

“You can’t be happy in this place,” Colin said. “Look around, Hardy. There’s nothing to do. There’s nowhere to go. But I’m in LA, and… and Kaylie—”

“Her name is Katie,” Liam said, fixing his eyes on Colin. “You were with me for a year, and you don’t even know my best friend’s name.”