Page 41 of Hound Dog
And Finn Evans was so freaking likeable, I was terrified that by the end of these two weeks, I may no longer hate him.
I might even love him.
Chapter Eleven
Finn
I thought comingout tonight to blow off steam would be a good idea. But sitting in the loud karaoke bar where drunk idiots were screeching out “Total Eclipse of the Heart” wasn’t exactly helping me relax. Not even with Enzo and my sister, Addy, to hang out with.
It wasn’t that today was a bad day. If anything, it was one of the best days I’d had in a while.
Even though Haylee was initially a pain in the ass, we made a hell of a good team, I had to admit. And it was kind of nice to have someone to work with all day. Usually, it was just me talking into an earpiece for a few hours.
And we found Yipper a good home. Sarah didn’t want to let him out of her sight after their fun day at the beach, and she even paid an adoption fee of a hundred and fifty dollars to Haylee… or rather, Meryl.
The coaster stuck to the bottom of my pint glass as I lifted it to my lips and took a swig of my sour beer. To my right, Enzo sipped a glass of red wine and cringed as the person on stage hit a tragically bad note in a particularly painful rendition of Toto’sAfrica.
“Such a good song…usually,” Enzo said dryly.
Addy leaned between us, depositing two fresh drinks on the table. “Yeah. Why do good songs happen to bad people, am I right?”
Tilting my head back, I finished my beer, sliding the empty glass to the edge of the table. “This is your fault, you know. When you started working here, it was your idea to reinstate karaoke nights. We had a few great years where there was no karaoke at all in this town.”
“Oh, come on. They’re notallbad,” Addy said.
“Oh yeah? Who? Who hasn’t been atrocious yet tonight?”
Addy clicked her tongue and looked around the room, balancing the tray in one hand. “That dude wasn’t so bad. He could kind of carry a tune.”
“Yeah,” Enzo chimed in, pointing to another woman in the corner. “And she did thatGreasemedley thing that was pretty good.”
A lilting voice behind me made my skin prick with awareness. “Aw, man. Don’t tell me I missed theGreasemedleyalready?”
Enzo’s eyes lit up. “Haylee! You came!” I spun in my stool and stared, shocked, as my best friend jumped out of her seat and greeted Haylee with a hug. “This is my girl, Shortcake,” she said, gesturing to my sister.
Addy rolled her eyes and held out a hand to Haylee. “It’s Addy. Literally no one calls me Shortcake anymore.”
Enzo feigned shock. “Excuse me. AmIno one?”
“Right now, you are,” Addy teased and gave her shoulder a shove.
“I’m sorry,” I said, interrupting the weird twilight zone-esque friendship happening between Enzo and Haylee. “You two know each other?”
Haylee gave me a cocky smirk and shrugged out of her leather jacket, hanging it on the back of a chair.
Holy hell.I wish she had left the jacket on. No, scratch that. Praise God in heaven for that sexy little number she wore. Skimpy black tank top. Short skirt that fell smack dab in the center of her long, muscled thigh.
I was staring. I knew it, and yet I couldn’t stop. Not until Enzo said, “Oh, Haylee and I? We’re old friends.” She gave a dismissive wave of her hand in my direction before adding, “Wait, how doyou twoknow each other?”
I glared across the table at Haylee. “I’d bet a thousand dollars that Haylee and I are even older friends than you two.”
Enzo snorted. “Well, that’s not hard considering she and I met yesterday at your bakery.”
Well, that explained it.
“How doyou twoknow each other?” Addy asked me, a pointed gleam in her eyes. “I thought I knew all yourold friends.”
Yep, my sister knew just what the term ‘old friends’ meant in my world.
