Page 142 of In Spades

“Seems like something you should know, boss man,” Mel clipped.

The tension radiated between the ten of us like waves of heat off of pavement.

“Is someone gonna call her to see if she’s coming?” Bridget asked.

“She ain’t gonna show if she knows Richie Rich is here,” Chase muttered.

Steve cut his eyes at Chase. “She ain’t gonna show because of all of you. Not just him.”

Hannah Jane slid off her barstool, high heels snapping against the scratched wood floor. “Whatever. I’m going to Havelock and I’m gonna talk some sense into her. She’s been avoiding me at work all week and I’m sick of it.”

“No, you’re not,” I snapped.

Isaac flew off his seat and charged me like a bull. “Just who the fuck do you think you are talking to Hannah like that?”

My eyes never left his as he stormed toward me. He stopped short of putting hands on me. Isaac was a big guy, but I had two inches and twenty pounds of muscle on him.

Steve, Luca, and Chase slowly eased away from the bar, ready to throw down at a moment’s notice—like vultures circling their prey. The morose mood suddenly turned morbid.

“I can fight my own damn battles, thank you very much,” Hannah Jane said, turning and staring Isaac down. “Kristin’s pissed at all of us.” She paused to glare at me. “Some more than others, so why don’t you start talking and explain what the hell happened last weekend.”

Hannah Jane punctuated her statement by pushing her lithe hands square against my chest, shoving me down into the booth across from the bar. She wiped her palms on her skirt and hopped back onto her barstool to finish off whatever cocktail she was nursing.

“Yes, ma’am,” I mumbled.

Isaac smirked and slowly walked backward to the bar.

“I was engaged to Elena Callaway,” I began.

Hannah Jane’s glass fell from her hand and shattered across the wood floor.

“Oh, for the love…” Bridget sighed and shook her head as she grabbed a broom.

“You what?” Hannah shrieked. “Kristin never told me?—”

“Kristin doesn’t know. It never came up.”

Erica waved her arms in the air before settling her hands back on her pregnant belly. “Hold on, fill the rest of us in. Who the hell is Elena Callaway?”

Steve raised his eyebrows. “Did you just say hell?”

Erica glared at him. “Well, I’m pissed! I didn’t lie to Kristin. I didn’t know any of this. But she’s mad at me by association because of your lying asses, and I didn’t even get any of the gossip!”

Maddie sing-songed hormonal under her breath.

Erica shot her a deadly glare. “You just wait, blondie. One day you’ll be the one feeling like a fucking beached whale, unable to eat cold cuts and sushi, even though that’s what the baby’s making you crave. It’s insanity!”

Holy shit, what the fuck was happening? Erica was the nice one. I couldn’t remember hearing her swear. Ever.

Was Mercury in retrograde or something? What was happening?

Bridget finished sweeping the broken glass, then slipped behind the bar to make Erica a drink. It was a Shirley Temple. Virgin. Luckily, the drink seemed to appease her … for now.

“What do you want to drink, Solomon?” Bridget asked, eyeing me cautiously. “I have a feeling we’re all gonna need something strong to get through this conversation.”

I wanted to get blackout drunk on whiskey, but it wouldn’t take away the heartbreak. It wouldn’t take away the utter desperation eating away at me from within. All it would give me was a hell of a hangover. The heartbreak would still be there when I sobered up.

I sighed. “Just a beer.”

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