Page 44 of Suck My Puck

My mouth falls open. “Are you serious?”

He nods. “She threw a towel at him, told him to clean himself up, and then told him to leave.”

I blink at him, stunned.

“I think her exact words were, ‘Get your cheating ass out of my bar.’”

I shake my head. “Whoa. Darlene is awesome.”

Braden starts to smile. “She is. She also gave you the rest of the night off.”

I frown. “But I was supposed to close tonight.”

“She stopped me when I went after you and told me to make sure you get home safely,” Braden says.

I blink up at him, dazed at everything that’s happening right now.

“I don’t want to go home yet,” I say softly. “I’ll just curl in a ball on my couch and cry.”

“Let me take you somewhere then.”

“Where?”

He starts to smile. “I have an idea.”

Chapter 15

Braden

Ipull up to an old-timey drive-in called Dandy’s just outside of my neighborhood.

Bella leans forward in the passenger seat and gazes around. “This place looks like it’s straight out of the fifties.”

I chuckle. “It does, doesn’t it?”

Her pretty mouth curves up into a small smile. My heart rattles in my chest. I love making her smile.

Especially after the shit night she had.

I think back to earlier when I found out that she and Boucher dated—and that things ended because he cheated on her. Multiple times. And he took her money too. What a piece of shit.

My chest aches just thinking about how sad and broken Bella looked in the alley when I checked on her. I try to refocus on the moment. I brought her here to cheer her up and take her mind off her piece of shit ex.

“This place has the best banana split in the city,” I say.

“Wait, you like banana splits?” Bella asks.

“Yeah. They’re my favorite dessert.”

She chuckles.

I smile. “What?”

“That’s such a wholesome dessert. Little kids like banana splits,” she says, that smile still playing on her lush lips.

“And that’s bad?” I tease.

She shakes her head, chuckling. “It’s not bad. It’s cute.”

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