Page 75 of Blind Luck

“Her boyfriend.”

Oh, he didn’t…

Jace Fuller might have been rich, but his expensive sneakers and designer jeans couldn’t save him from six-feet-one of pissed-off hockey player with murder on his mind.

“The fuck you are.”

I made the most of the impending bloodshed to tug Kelsey free and manhandle her toward the parking lot. Boy, was she heavy.

“Kelsey’s dating Silas Armstrong, motherfucker. Who the hell are you?”

“I’m—” Jace’s eyes bugged when Rusty took a step forward, putting them chest to chest. “A mistake. It was a mistake. She told me she was single.”

“Bullshit.”

Jace ran. Like, he literally sprinted out the door, which was the best option for everyone at that point in time. If I was stopping Kelsey from choking on her own puke, I couldn’t be bailing Rusty out of jail, could I? I noticed some of the staff staring, but they didn’t step forward, so presumably Jace’s bossing skills were as bad as his dating ones. Ari needed to hear about this—she’d flown to California for a couple of days because she had Zach withdrawal symptoms, but she’d arrived back this afternoon.

Rather than chasing after Jace, Rusty turned his attention to Kelsey.

“Hey, do you remember me? It’s Rusty Bolt—I’m a friend of Silas’s.”

I was holding Kelsey up with an arm around her waist, and her fingers dug into my shoulder as she clung on with a death grip, her purse in her other hand. She leaned forward and squinted, then slurred something incomprehensible.

Finally, our server stepped forward from the gaggle of staff watching us. “Uh, is everything okay?”

Was she genuinely worried about Kelsey, or just concerned we might dine and dash? I couldn’t totally blame her if it was the second—one time, I’d had a boss who made us pay the full cost of the meal out of our own wages if a diner left without paying.

“We think she’s been drugged,” I explained.

The server glanced back at a colleague. “You want I should call an ambulance?”

“Yes,” Rusty said at the same time as Kelsey mumbled, “No.”

Then she leaned to the side and heaved the contents of her stomach over the floor. Better out than in, I guess.

The server leapt back, more horrified by the mess than by Kelsey’s predicament. Which made sense when I thought about how she’d looked concerned but not shocked when she saw Kelsey stumbling along with Jace.

“Has that guy done this before? Left with an incapacitated woman?”

Her silence said it all, but then another employee, a woman with flawless dark skin and braided hair, spoke up.

“Just tell her, Sandi. I don’t care about this damn job anymore, do you? If he fires us, he fires us.” Then to me, “Yeah, he’s done it before. He owns this place, and he’s done it before. You should take that girl to the hospital and call the cops.”

Sandi tried to shush her. “I need this job.”

“Minimum wage, and you know damn well they keep most of the tips.” The Black woman took off her apron and dropped it in the pool of vomit. “I’m sick of this shit. Twice before, I’ve seen him take a woman home in that state, but usually he picks them up here instead of bringing them with him.”

“How does his wife fit into this?”

“Oh, I don’t think he’s married, hun.”

Kelsey groaned, then retched again, and I held back herhair as she brought up the rest of dinner. A crowd had gathered, and several people were filming on camera phones.

“We need to get out of here,” Rusty muttered, keeping his head down.

I held the door as he picked her up, bridal-style, and we quickly made our escape in Maverick’s truck.

CHAPTER 25

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