Page 31 of The Games We Play
Without this bar, I had nothing.
Lizzie let out a frustrated groan and stomped her foot, looking all of five years old. “It’s not just me you can’t keep your shit together around. So don’t act like this is just for fun andgames.” She threw up her hands. “You’re pissed because of how things went down. You think Iwannabe here?”
That sent my blood pressure through the damn roof.
I shot to my feet, matching her energy.
Angus huffed from his spot on the floor, then, like the world’s most unbothered soul, got up and padded out to the bar. Even my own damn dog was over our shit.
Since her arrival, we hadn’t had a moment of calm between us. The fights were more and more frequent with every day that passed, especially since we were spending so much time around each other.
“If you don’t want to be here, then fucking leave,” I bit out. “Give me the damn bar and go back to your perfect little life far away from here.”
Lizzie rolled her eyes so hard I thought they’d get stuck. Hand on her hip, she let out a dry, humorless laugh. “I can’t give you the bar, dumbass. Think long and hard about why.”
My stomach dropped. My smirk vanished. My eyes narrowed.
How the hell did she know about that?
“Me running away has nothing to do with my ability to handle this bar!” I shouted, throwing my hands out.
Leaving Faircloud had been a one-time mistake, a ghost from my past that I thought I’d buried. But lately? That ghost had been clawing its way back, haunting me in ways I never saw coming.
“Look,” Lizzie said, arms crossed, expression set in stone. She was ready to stand her ground. “Nothing is changing. You can throw all the grown-man tantrums you want, but it won’t fix what’s already happened. So grow up and suck it up.”
I let out a humorless laugh. “Says the one who just stomped her damn foot like a little girl.”
She scoffed. “You can be mad at me all you want. But youcan’tbe taking it out on everyone else around here—like Dudley, for example. He isn’t your emotional punching bag.”
My jaw ticked. “I don’t treat him like my punching bag.”
Lizzie arched a brow. “Right. So the testosterone showdown in the back alley was, what? A love confession?”
I clenched my fists, the memory of why that fight happened slamming into me like a freight train. It wasn’t my sister, it wasn’t the damn bar—it wasPenny. Seeing her on that dance floor, watching her move like she hadn’t spent a single night losing sleep over me, had sent me straight into a tailspin.
Lizzie exhaled sharply. “All I’m saying is, get your shit together. No more dropped glasses. No more storming out in a rage. No more fighting the employees?—”
“Oh, come on,” I cut in, scowling. “You act like it’s a habit.”
“Don’tmakeit a habit.” Her voice softened slightly, but her eyes stayed sharp. “Learn to rein it in. Not everyone needs front-row seats to your personal crisis.”
The last frayed thread holding me back from demanding Penny talk to me,reallytalk to me, finally snapped. I was unraveling, and there was no stopping it now. The last damn thing I needed was my sister, of all people, trying to put me in check.
With a sharp exhale, I grabbed my keys and wallet from where I’d tossed them on the desk and stormed past Lizzie. The force of my exit sent a gust of air whipping past her, shifting her hair from her face.
“And no more free drinks for your friends, asshole!” she shouted after me, but the slam of the front door nearly swallowed her words whole.
I didn’t care.
I wasn’t waiting any longer for Penny to come to me. Who the hell knew how long that would take? I was done sitting onmy hands, drowning in regret. I was standing up and fighting for this.
Penny was never just a fling, no matter how many times we swore that’s all it would be—just a casual, no-strings thing. The more time I spent with her, the deeper I sank. She wasn’t just a habit; she was the air I breathed. I’d be damned if I let her slip away without a fight.
Falling for Penny Hudson had been inevitable.
She was the best trouble I’d ever been in.
I’d do whatever it took to make her see, make herfeel,how sorry I was.
