Page 47 of Loving You

ERIC

After a mind-numbing meeting at the chamber of commerce in town, I strode into the bar to find our usual servers at work, but no Sammy.Odd.He typically chose this late-afternoon window while it was slow so he could work on schedules or whatever else needed to be done.

In the kitchen, Pat flipped something on the grill and Will was nowhere to be found. This was particularly unusual since Will should be here right now. He’d demanded he work certain days and times so he could make it to every one of Jackson’s football games and track meets.

After greeting Pat, I moved down the hallway and the reason for the MIA Walker brothers became clear. They were all chatting in my office.

“We having a staff meeting I didn’t know about?” I asked, moving past Will, who leaned against the door, then Jake, who sat in one of the chairs across from my desk.

I nudged Sammy out of my spot, and he launched out of the seat, lurching forward and knocking his quad on the corner of my desk. “Shit!Fuckthat hurt. Why?”

Will chuckled. “You are one hundred percent drama.”

Sammy scowled and slumped into the chair next to Will. “Come back to me when Lea starts teething, then we’ll talk.”

“It’s that bad?” I asked, a bit clueless. I’d been so preoccupied with April, I hadn’t seen my nieces as much as I normally would.

Sammy ran a hand through his hair, his bloodshot eyes wide. “She’s sleeping like two hours at a time and then waking up in misery. Naps are half of what they normally are. I’m told it shouldn’t be this bad for much longer but… I’m fucking wiped.”

“How’s Rach?” Jake asked, ever the empathetic one of us.

Sammy grinned, almost like the mere mention of her lit him up like a torch. “She’s got a lot going on at the B&B, so I’m taking the night shifts for the most part since I don’t have to be here until ten thirty and—anyway, yeah. We’re good, I just need to sleep. But we’re here for you, not me.” He lifted his chin to me.

“Yeah, I deduced that from all of you being here. Call me a genius.” My deadpan response got a snicker from Jake, a bleary-eyed blink from Sammy, and a laugh from Will.

“All right, good to see you’ve got jokes,” the latter said as he closed the door, then leaned against it. “But let’s talk about April.”

I would’ve smiled at their concern if I hadn’t felt the lightning strike of her name. “What about her?”

“The girls told us about her ex. What he did and how he’s been sniffing around.” Jake leaned his elbows on his knees, waiting for my response. “I’m sorry.”

Sammy and Will both chimed in with their thoughts. Sammy’s “I’m glad she told them” and Will’s “It’s fucked” filled the room.

“I’m glad she did, too. I’ve been researching legal options, but she doesn’t have many since there’s no documentation of abuse. I’d hoped maybe we could get a restraining order, but that’s not going to fly here.”

And I knew all of that because I’d made quick work of exhausting every option I had, and talked to my buddy in law enforcement and the business’s lawyer.

“Well, now she’s got all of us looking out for her. There’s no way that asshole is laying another fucking finger on her ever again.” Will’s fierce tone bolstered me.

“Thank you.”

“We’re all here for her, and I know the girls told her that. For now, we watch, we stay vigilant.” Jake looked determined as he spoke, and Sammy nodded along, the exhaustion temporarily missing from his face.

“I don’t like sitting back and waiting. I’d rather be proactive.” And bydidn’t likeI meantI hated nothing more than.

“In this case, I think you’re SOL on that. The best we can do is be alert and make sure she’s with someone. I don’t know if she really needs an escort around town, but at least she’s staying with you,” Jake said.

Something shifted in Sammy’s expression, and he glanced at Will. “And now, let’s talk about that.”

It was his sly smile that told me to brace myself.

“You two fucking yet?” Will asked, nonchalant as he could be.

“What the hell, man?” Jake said, right as Sammy cracked up.

I stared at my older-by-six-minutes idiot of a brother. “I’m not talking to you about that if you’re going to act like a little shithead.”

His brows rose high on his head. “So youwilltalk about it with us if I’mnota little shithead?”

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