Page 73 of Bourbon and Secrets

ROSIE GOLD

...but that’s my job, Brock. Now seems like the right time for this: Goodbye.

I block the number and pocket my phone. He’s got plenty of people paying attention to his every move right now. Brock Blackstone is the least of my worries. And as much as he could be a loose cannon still being in Fiasco, I know the FBI has enough to keep him in line.

Cortez shuffles his feet. When I glance back at him, he’s looking down and weighing what he’s going to say. He starts to say, “We should discuss–”

“Cortez, you son of a bitch,” one of the bull riders saunters over to where we’re leaning and interrupts.

It works as the perfect distraction to take what I want, plant what I need, and still with enough time to put it back.

But it’s the brunette closest to me who grabs my attention as she sucks in a gasp, and then rushes out, “Oh my gosh, speaking of sucking someone off—I swear to you, if you want to just get good and fucked, you’ll wander into that distillery and find you know who.”

My stomach lurches as I hear it. These two women went from badmouthing my sister to the man I had just spent an entire night with. I have to laugh to myself, otherwise I’ll start feeling like an idiot. Because I was just at that distillery, getting good and fucked.Jesus. I shouldn’t feel anything hearing this. Thelogical part of me knows that we’re both consenting adults and what he’s done before me or chooses to do after me is irrelevant.

“I’ll catch up with you in a little bit,” I mumble to a distracted Cortez. I look in the direction where my sister went.Where did she go?

Chapter 25

Lincoln

“You looklike a cowboy with that hat on, Dad,” Lily says with her arms full. She sticks out her tongue to pick a piece of popcorn from the souvenir tub I just spent too much money on.

Smiling, I tip the black suede bill of the hat to thank her for the compliment.

Laney leans her shoulder into me as she starts to say, “I know it’s horsemen and bourbon boys, but especially with those hats on, and inside this stadium, all three of you are?—”

She gets cut off and starts laughing as Grant picks her up by her waist and moves her to the other side of him on the bleachers. “You mind not hitting on my wife for a change?”

“Oh, c’mon,” I shout at him with my arms out. “Laney, you better stop telling me I’m the best looking one and that you settled for Grant—” A fist hits me in the shoulder blade. “Ow, dammit. Fuck you too, Ace.”

“Dad!” Lily shouts over a mouthful of PEZ. “That’s twenty in total just today alone.”

I rub the back of my shoulder. “Where did you get PEZ?”

Rolling her eyes, she shrugs. “Home. My emergency stash for big events. You know I need it when we’re in big crowds.”

“Yeah kid, I know.” I smile. A little something we decided a couple of years ago that would help her feel brave. We said that when you needed it, PEZ could give you superpowers. Or, at the very least, a small time-out to figure out where to find the courage you needed to get through whatever felt hard.

I glance at Lark. I know she’s not sure what to think about this thing between Faye and me. Quite frankly, I don’t know what I should tell her.

Noticing how quiet she is, I study my oldest daughter. She’s been quieter like this for the past week. I know my girls better than I know myself. When she’s quiet, she’s stewing about something. The first year after her mom died, she didn’t do much talking. But I didn’t do much asking either, and that was on me. I’m not going to fail them the way I had Olivia.

“Lark,” I call out.

She turns and gives me a tight-lipped smile.Yup, something’s off.I wave her over.

Ace asks Lily, “Lily how much has your dad paid you for all the bad words?”

She smiles, and her blue lips from the bite of cotton candy she just had hits me right in the gut. She looks happy today. “Welp, we spent a good portion of the curse purse money on Dottie.”

Ace chuckles. “Ah yes, how is Dottie the cow?”

“We’re letting her spend a little more time with Hal until we figure out her barn situation,” I tell him, as Lily moves to the other side of Ace and starts talking about the different type of hay they feed his horses, and if it’s the same kind she should be feeding our new cow.

Movement of blonde hair and a denim jacket that reads:This Ain’t My First Rodeoon the back pulls my attention away. My pulse kicks up a notch as I think about all the ways I’ve enjoyed her body.

Lark’s Red Hot Chili Peppers t-shirt blocks my line of sight. “What do you want, Dad?” Lark says.

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