Page 107 of I Choose You
“Listen to me…” he started. He reached his arm forward, slamming his fist down on the counter in front of him.
I pushed my way to the front, my hands fisted at my side.
“Take a step back, buddy. Now.”
“What are you going to do about it?” the guy said, his angry face snapping toward me.
“You don’t want to pick a fight here. I think you need to leave.”
He looked behind me at the line of people. Two girls had their phones out, recording the event. A couple of guys were standing behind me, ready to jump in if things went south. Muscle man seemed to realize milk wasn’t worth the hassle.
“Fuck this place. It’s fucking trash,” he spit out with a sneer before turning on his heels and leaving.
A collective breath sounded as the other patrons breathed a sigh of relief at his departure.
“You go ahead. You deserve it after that,” the lady at the front of the line told me when I went to get back to my place in line.
“Thank you, Reid.” Kayleigh swallowed hard, looking almost embarrassed, but her hands were shaking.
“You okay?”
“Yeah. If he wasn’t on steroids, I would have been fine. But man, roid-rage is a real thing.”
The other worker told Kayleigh to take a break, giving her a few minutes to collect herself after that encounter. I placed my order with the new barista and moved aside to wait for it to be made.
Kayleigh came out from behind the counter and pulled me aside.
“Seriously, thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Kayleigh.” I waited for her to look at me before I continued. “It doesn’t matter what happened between us, I’m not goingto stand by while some dick assaults you.”
“I know. You’re good like that,” she said. “That Claire is one lucky lady,” she joked, lightening the mood.
I rolled my eyes good-naturedly and shook my head with a chuckle.
She smiled at that. “I like her. I’m glad you found her.”
I could tell I had a goofy grin on my face, but I couldn’t help it. “Me too.”
“So, you’re happy, then?”
“Extremely. I just bought some land. I’m going to build us a new house. My business has never been better,” I told her. “Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier.”
“Good. I’m glad. I want you to be happy, Reid.”
“I want you to be happy too. Are you?”
“Yeah.” She nodded, a smile coming slowly to her lips. “Yeah, I am.”
The barista called my name. I went to grab my drinks as Kayleigh got back to work. She offered me a small wave, so I tilted my head at her in return.
It felt good to have that talk with her. Even though I had seen her a couple of times at Flour Power now, we hadn’t really had a chance to talk at all. I felt lighter walking back to my car, the sunshine warming my skin again.
I got to my car and had to put one of the coffees on the roof to open my door. When I glanced up, a couple caught my eye, walking into the yoga studio across the street. The man had his hands on her hips, and when she turned around, my suspicion was confirmed. Juliet’s eyes darted around, but she didn’t seem to see me. She pushed to her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him in for a kiss.
I couldn’t tell who he was, but I knew for a fact that manwas not my brother.
My first instinct was to march over there and pull them apart on Luke’s behalf. But rationally, I knew that creating a scene in the middle of our downtown area would only make things worse for him. Did he know?
