Page 55 of Always Be an Us

"I know. But tell me one more time."

He sighs dramatically. "Alright then. Well, it was a cold, stormy night…"

When I get to the Tiki Bar, it's packed and the crowd is loud and furious.

Just like I knew they would be.

It seems like everyone I know in town is here and the entire conglomeration is looking towards Poppy, who stands on a table gesturing emphatically.

"We must take a stand." Her voice booms. "Show that city boy asshole that he can't just come here and destroy our tradition. That may be where they do things where he's from, but that's not Laketown."

"Yeah!" A rousing chorus ensues.

I head over to the bar, observing the tables.

A soda in one hand, a beer here and there. Practically no one ordered food or expensive drinks.

It's definitely not enough for the Tiki Bar to do more than break even today.

Poppy catches my eyes when I walk in and pauses in her speech.

There's a question in her gaze.

I nod and give her a comforting smile.

Her expression doesn’t change much, but I think I note the relief in her eyes before she turns back to the crowd.

"We've dealt with bigger and badder, haven't we?" she says. "What did we do when the government wanted to build a railroad right through our park? We sent them packing!"

"That we did," Lou says from the back, nodding.

"And when that asshole wanted to tear down Baker Woods? I tied myself to that damn tree every day and night until he got the message."

"You're a badass, Poppy." This one is from Nate Huntley, who is probably on his third round of beers from the loopy smile he gives her. Pastor Allan, who is sitting beside him, shoots him a disapproving look.

"My point is," Poppy says. "Every single time someone comes into this town and tries to take something from us, we find a way to kick their asses back out. And that's exactly what we're going to do with this man. We're going to more than defeat Declan Tudor. We're going to destroy Declan Tudor."

"Yeah!"

Another round of whoops echoes across the room, with people throwing in several words of approval. Some level of guilt hits me as I sit staring at their reactions, the fervent anger in the crowd.

This doesn't sit right with me.

Even though I think what Declan is doing is wrong, I don't like the idea of them destroying him.

For the first time in my life, I feel like an interloper in my own town, like I'm on the outside looking in. My loyalties are a mess.

And frankly, I don't think it matters whose side I'm on.

I don't see this ending well for anyone.

Chapter Sixteen

Declan

The headache at the base of my skull hasn’t diminished, not even slightly.

At this point, I’m starting to accept it as a natural way of being.

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