Page 26 of No More Secrets

The table is full of the usual suspects. Rafe and his squad. Faye sits perched on her husband’s lap. The lone trucker among a table of men who spend their days herding convicts from cells to the mess hall and the yard outside. Lucas doesn’t know the guards, but he doesn’t respect them. Guards hadn’t protected him; then they buried the incident in the system.

Faye’s eyes fix on Lucas, and a sanguine smile pulls at her plum-tinted lips. She slides off Rafe’s thighs and onto strappy heels so high they could be used as a weapon. She saunters toward him.

Lucas groans and turns back to the bar. He doesn’t want to deal with her right now.

“What?” Mike asks.

“Nothing,” Lucas says with a head shake. Faye had better not cause trouble.

Mike flags down the bartender working their end. Stu, a scrawny guy in his early twenties with a buzzed head and tats circling his neck.

“Corona with a lime and a Miller.”

“Anything else?” Stu asks, popping tops and sliding over the bottles.

Mike flashes his fingers. “Cuervo. Two shots.”

“Coming right up.”

Faye arrives as Stu’s pouring. She leans between Lucas and Mike, her breasts brushing Lucas’s arm, her hand warm on his shoulder as she plucks a cocktail napkin from the stack. Her palm sears through the thin material of his shirt. His skin ripples with unease, and he instinctually leans away.

“Evening, boys.”

“Faye,” Mike says, tipping back his beer.

Lucas shoves the lime slice into his bottle and wills himself to remain seated. He can’t risk making a scene and for the cops to come. Mike also needs him for a ride home.

Faye eats up the space he put between them and leans in close. “Miss you, darling.” Her breath tickles his ear.

Anger sears his throat. She’s deliberately provoking her husband. Payback for ignoring her texts, he figures.

He tips back his beer, taking a deep swallow. His body vibrates with restraint when her hand glides up his spine before she saunters back to her husband. Lucas glances over his shoulder, watching her go. His gaze lifts, meeting Rafe’s. He glares at Lucas with hard eyes, a hand fisted on his thigh.

“Uh-oh.” Mike sees the whole exchange. “Warned you Faye was trouble,” he says, turning back to the bar.

“That you did.” Lucas clenches his jaw. Trouble always finds him, even when he doesn’t consciously go looking for it. He’d seen Faye when he frequented the Lone Palm in the first months he rolled into town. Mike or Oscar might have told him her name and who she was at some point or another, but he didn’t remember when he had been trashed one night several months ago and brought her back to his place. They’ve been hot and heavy since whenever Rafe leaves town.

He’s also known since day one who Rafe associates with. He’d never vocalize it out loud, but there’ve been times he’s wondered if he hooked up with Faye exactly for that reason. He wants to bring attention to himself. He wants the authorities to find him and force his hand.

The scar underneath his shirtsleeve pulses. He rubs his forearm.

“It’s over,” he says.

“Faye know that?”

Lucas shakes his head. It’s over for him, and that’s what matters.

He lifts his shot glass. “To the game. Thanks for the ticket.”

“You bet.” They toss back their shots, and Lucas wipes the moisture from his mouth with the back of his hand.

Mike claps Lucas on the shoulder. “Gotta piss. Back in a sec.”

Lucas finishes off his beer. Another arrives, and Lucas asks the guy in the ball cap and boots beside him to watch their seats. He gets up to go relieve himself. He just reaches the men’s room down the low-lit back hall when he’s pushed hard from behind and manhandled out the rear entrance. Two large hands shove him away. Lucas stumbles a few steps before regaining his balance. No sooner does he turn around to say he doesn’t want any trouble when Rafe throws a punch at him. His fist connects with Lucas’s jaw, throwing his head to the side. Sharp pain bursts through his skull. Rafe punches him again in the temple, knocking Lucas to a knee.

Damn, he hadn’t expected that one.

He blinks away the stars.

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