Page 29 of Second First Kiss

Right! Like that would have turned out well. “When would that have been? When he was done scrolling through TikTok or after R. J. assaulted Lena with a smack to the ass?”

“I’m on your side here. But Eli was saying something about how R. J. had let her go by that point. Then he’d brought up Tessa and you lost it. If you were any other employee, you’d have been tossed out along with R. J.”

Kat felt her quills prickle. “What does that mean? If I were any other employee?”

“We both know that you’re given a wide berth because Milly is engaged to one of the owners. You get the best shifts, you make more than any other bartender, and the flexibility you get with your schedule is unheard of.”

“Or maybe it’s because I kick ass at my job,” she snapped, and Tim gave her a That’s what I’m talking about look. She let out a big breath. “Does Milly know about this decision?”

“I don’t think so. But if I were you, I’d reach out to her and see if she can have her fiancé talk some sense into Lucas. Jax was there; Lucas wasn’t.”

“I don’t want to do that.”

“Why not?” Tim asked quietly. “Jesus, she’s your friend, Kat. You’re practically sisters and what you did for her sister, being there her when she was dying, that’s the least Milly could do to repay you.”

“I did what I did because my friend needed me. No other reason. Especially not for any down-the-road marker I could cash in. Friends don’t drag other friends into their drama.” And Kat’s past few years have been drama-centric.

Tim rested a hand on her shoulder. “I know you’re an island of one, but why is it so hard for you to accept help?”

“Because help comes with strings or consequences.” This she knew for a fact. “And I don’t want the consequences of my actions to get between my friend and her fiancé.”

“If you were in a situation to help her, would you?”

“Of course,” she said with zero hesitation.

“Then why wouldn’t you give her the same opportunity? What can it hurt?”

It could hurt her relationship with one of her best friends by putting Milly in an awkward position with Jax. She would fight to the death for Kat to keep her job, even if it meant going over Jax’s head to his family members. It was unlikely that Jax would side with Eli, but on the off chance he did, Kat refused to be a wedge between them.

They’d done enough for her over the years; she wasn’t about to abuse her relationship with Milly or the Carmichaels to save her ass. Not when she’d created the situation.

“If you ask me, Eli is overreacting,” Tim said.

“He always does when it comes to me,” she said, and defeat sent the air whooshing out of her lungs. It was true, Eli seemed to have it out for her. From the moment he’d started working at the bar he’d looked at her like she was still the bad girl with the juvie record and string of questionable decisions.

“Why is that?”

“Remember when I hacked the SAT answers and sold them to my classmates?”

Tim snorted. “The queen bee and her posse were all suspended.”

“Eli’s niece was the queen bee,” she said, and Tim barked out a laugh. “Not only was she suspended, but Harvard rescinded their admissions offer.”

“Ouch. But she shouldn’t have cheated.”

“And I shouldn’t have hacked into their system. But what Eli doesn’t know was that his niece was the one to come to me with the plan. Her mom knew one of the board members for the testing school and that was my in.”

Kat had made two grand that quarter—two grand that went toward her college fund. Her stunt had also cemented her reputation for being Sierra Vista’s problem child. A reputation that still followed her. A reputation that turned any future acts of Good Samaritanism into a crime.

“Besides, I shoved R. J. hard.” She paused. “Why do you think Eli even let me finish my shift then?”

A strange suspicion started in her belly, a feeling that she was missing an important piece of the puzzle.

Tim looked at the ground when he spoke. “Maybe because he didn’t want to cause a scene. Or maybe it’s because everyone knows you need the money.”

She felt her cheeks heat. It wasn’t a secret why Kat moonlighted at the bar. But knowing that people were aware of just how desperate things had become was humiliating. Not to mention how it could affect the custody hearing.

“I was defending myself and my staff.”

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