Page 166 of Mountain Men Heroes

With a chuckle, I grazed the back of my knuckles down the side of her soft cheek only to get my hand shoved aside. While it was supposed to be a move of defiance all it did was color her cheeks with a pretty shade of red and thrust her beautiful breasts up through the low-cut V of her T-shirt with the Rusty Nail logo over the left breast. My mouth watered from the sweet promise the glimpse teased me with.

“Feisty.” I lost the battle with my smile. I grinned down at her even as I prepared to grovel. But before I got the chance, another voice intruded.

“What is going on here? Why aren’t you waiting on tables like I pay you to do, Trinity?” Birdie pushed her way into the cubby.

I lost my grin. “Birdie,” I growled and my voice dripped with warning.

Birdie’s gaze flew up to my face. She shook her head and offered me a placating grin, placing a hand on my arm. “I’m sorry, Sawyer. I should have known Trinity would pull something like this the second you got back into town. You know what they say...” She threw a sneer in Trinity’s direction. “Like mother, like daughter. I’m sorry she’s ruined your homecoming. I’ll tend to this right away. I should have never let her take her mother’s place.”

The words hit me like a punch to the gut. Anger and sheer animalistic rage pushed out all common sense and logic.

I glared at Trinity as memories of her mother bombarded me. Rena Douglas was the town joke. She worked at the Rusty Nail only weeks before I left town to work the private security job. She would swish around in tight, barely-there clothes and laughing about working at a place like this when all she wanted to do was trap herself a man.

And she’d made her way through any and all of the male population that would have her, desperate to find one who’d keep her.

Trinity was the exact opposite of her mother. Everyone always thought she was sweet and helpful. Shame she had that woman as a mother, were words often heard when Trinity’s name came up.

I reared back, a snarl tearing from my lips. Disgust rose inside me when I saw Trinity had resumed cowering in the corner.

“Trinity here has the same hopes as her mother. Tell him, girl. Why else do you wear hooker heels like those?”

“Birdie!” Trinity bit out, wrapping her arms around her middle, eyes pinned to the floor by my feet. “How could you say that?”

Pretty feet. Just like the rest of her.

What the hell is going on here?

“Birdie, back the fuck off. You and I will have words later.” I turned back to Trinity uncaring how I left Birdie. “Is any of that true?” I had a hard time believing it but the longer I stared down at Trinity and the longer she stayed silent the more I wondered. I mean, I’ve been gone a long time. People change, don't they?

I moved a piece of hair from her face and tipped her chin high. “Tell me the truth, baby girl. Is that why you didn’t want to tell me why you didn’t leave this mountainside when it was all you ever talked about before I left?”

Her eyes chased my expressions as they morphed from confusion to pissed off but still said nothing.

Anger snarled deep inside my chest. “I see. Maybe it’s better this way.” I rolled my shoulders and brushed past them both, striding straight to the front door of the bar.

Mac called my name, but I didn’t slow down until my truck hit the city limits and I had a choice to make.

Four

Trinity

Iblinked. What the fuck just happened? And why did the look on Sawyer’s face as he stalked out of here cause my chest to ache?

A red-tipped nail wagged in front of my face. “That’s the last straw, Trinity.” Birdie’s snotty voice shook me from my shocked stupor. “I can’t have someone like you working here. It’s bad for business and for Sawyer. You’re fired.”

My heart stuttered in my chest. I needed this job. It’s why I kept my mouth shut and took what the old coot dished out. Why I didn’t say shit when she accused me of being like my mother.

But, you know what, this time I let her go too damn far with her verbal jabs.

My plans depend on me keeping this job. I’d obviously failed to escape this town before Sawyer’s return, but even if I went back to my original timeline, I’d been depending on my tips from this part-time job to help me pay my tuition and living expenses once I got to Syn City.

Despite the heaviness in my chest, I stirred up a smile. I’d been looking forward to seeing the last of Birdie fucking Holt since the moment I took this job. And I’d be damned if I gave her the satisfaction of seeing that she’d struck a blow.

“Fine by me,” I said. I yanked my apron from around my waist and tossed it to her. She fumbled for it and almost fell over. “And let me be perfectly clear.” I raised my voice. “I’m not the one hitting on every swinging dick in this joint. A man can’t walk through those doors without you slathering on more of that God-awful puke pink lipstick and you making them feel there’s more than one way to pay for their meal. Just sayin’. Toodles, biatch.”

Well, there goes the last bit of respect I had. But the look on her face would fuel my feel-good dreams for years to come.

Birdie stumbled back like I’d struck her across the face.

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