Page 35 of The One With The Secret Crushes

"Yeah, I'm beat. See you tomorrow?" He ruffled his dark hair and yawned.

"I'll be around. How's Karis?"

His wide shoulders slumped. "Holding it together but also wanting to fall apart. I'm going to be here a while."

It wasn't good news for him, but it was great news for us. "We've got your back. You know that."

He pulled me into a strong hug. "I know, man. Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow." I watched him walk away as I filled a pitcher and took it over to the table he just left. "How is he?"

Digger shook his head. "Crawling out of his own skin. If it were anyone but Karis he'd already be gone."

To say Huk didn't get along with his old man was an understatement. The Finn Family was complicated at best, but when you had eight brothers and sisters,andunhappy parents, you tended to get complicated.

"It'll take a miracle to get him to stay permanently," Travis sighed. "Anyone got any miracles on hand?"

"We could drive his parents out of town the way you drove Noah out," Digger offered.

"Don't mention that fucker’s name around me," Travis snarled.

"Why do men do anything?" Mackenzie asked. "You need to find him a woman he can't resist."

Everyone busted out laughing. "In this town?"

"Huk doesn't want anyone he grew up with. Not happening."

"And he's not driven by his dick like some people." I stared at Digger to make my point.

He shrugged. "I'm a man with particular tastes. Is there something wrong with the way I let my dick lead me around? Anyone unhappy with the time they spend in my bed? No."

Mackenzie shrugged. "To each their own, but aside from finding the perfect woman he can't live without or getting his parents to move, I'm afraid you're shit outta luck, boys."

God, I loved her.

"Red could give him ODX and he still wouldn't stay. And you know that man worships Red." Travis shook his head.

Both Huk and Travis owed a lot to Red. He took them in and gave them jobs when their own fathers were failing at life. Huk would do just about anything for Red...except move back. Which was a damn shame.

The bar stayed busy until closing time. Travis helped me move the last of the customers out, then he left with a tourist from Chicago. "Ready?" I asked as I flicked off the lights.

Mackenzie wrapped her arms around me. "Very ready for our bed."

I kissed the top of her head and hummed. Once the door was locked, I steered her to my truck making extra sure she walked around the front instead of the bed. She didn't notice I wasn't driving home until we were two miles down the road in the opposite direction.

"Wait, where are we going?"

"The weather is warming up. I thought we could make a little detour."

"Detour?" She yawned. "What is going on?"

"Adventure, Mackenzie."

She sat upright as I began winding up the road to the trailhead. "Are we going night fishing?"

"Nope. Stargazing."

"At two o'clock in the morning?"

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