The Rebel - Raleigh Ruebins Page 0,75

photo of me with Liam on Twitter. I tagged Liam in it, and apparently this Colin guy looks at the Liam Hardy tags every day. He found Red’s Tavern from that one picture.”

I sighed. “And your Twitter profile says you work here,” I said.

“Of course it does,” Sam said.

“Great,” I said.

Perry emerged from the kitchen, throwing a towel over his shoulder. “Something happening up front?”

“Nothing. We have an asshole up there who is probably on a good bit of cocaine, and we need him gone before the producers get here. Not a chance in hell I’m having this mess in here while I’m about to take a business phone call.”

Perry, Sam and I managed to get Colin out into the front parking lot where he wasn’t disrupting the rest of the bar. Colin wasn’t belligerent, but he was dead-set on trying to figure out where Liam was.

My stomach was sick as I watched Colin lean against the wall out front, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it.

This was the person who had made Liam feel worthless. A person who took advantage of him, time and time again. And I didn’t want him anywhere in the same hundred-mile radius of Liam.

I clenched my teeth as Colin rolled his eyes at me, Perry and Sam.

“It’s a free country, and I’m not going anywhere until I find him.”

“He doesn’t come here. He doesn’t even drink anymore,” I said. “You’re barking up the wrong tree.”

Perry gave me a look that was something between fear and exhaustion. I nodded toward the front door, trying to signal that he could go back inside.

“Do you want me to call the police? I know Damien’s working tonight,” Sam said, crossing his arms. Damien was Sam’s friend who had recently become a local cop.

“No cops,” Colin said.

“You don’t need to do that,” I said. “You guys head inside and take care of the customers. I can handle this.”

Colin snorted at me as Perry and Sam went back inside. “Handle this? You definitely couldn’t handle this.”

He looked me up and down, and slowly the scorn on his face morphed into a more curious expression.

“You are not welcome at Red’s Tavern,” I said.

“Wait,” he said, pointing at me with narrowed eyes, his cigarette between two fingers. “You’re him. Holy shit.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You are him,” Colin said, his eyes growing wide. “Hot Cowboy. Holy fucking shit, you’re the guy keeping Hardy here.”

I barked out a laugh. “I’m not keeping Liam anywhere.”

“Bullshit.”

“I’m sure this is news to an abusive asshole like you, but Liam is his own person. He makes his own decisions. I’m not the arbiter of that, and you definitely aren’t.”

“So you’re the one he wants in his videos,” Colin said. “He chose a big, dumb cowboy over me.”

The sound of tires on gravel came from behind us and my heart rate spiked. Red’s wasn’t the kind of place that encouraged idiotic bar fights, and right now, Colin was only getting more and more heated. I didn’t need anyone seeing this.

But when Colin took off toward the car, my anxiety twisted harder.

Liam was pulling up.

Liam didn’t deserve any of this bullshit, and after his history with Colin… any confrontation would be ten times worse for him than for me. I needed to keep him away. To protect him.

The moment Liam stepped out of the car my stomach was in a knot.

There was no way this was going to be good.

“You came!” Colin shouted, his tone immediately changing as soon as he saw Liam. He dropped his cigarette and stubbed it out with his shoe, heading toward Liam with open arms.

Liam was frowning as he quickly glanced at me, his jaw set like he was preparing for battle. Colin wrapped his arms around him, but Liam didn’t move an inch. His face was steely. He was refusing to show any emotion.

I knew exactly how hard that was.

“I’ve missed you so much, Hardy. I didn’t think you got my messages,” Colin said.

Anger flared inside me, curdling with the disgust I already had at Colin’s bullshit. He’d been an insensitive prick all night, and now that Liam was here, he was putting on this silly groveling act.

I leaned back against my car, crossing my arms tight. I didn’t take my eyes off Colin.

“I ignored the messages,” Liam said, keeping his voice even. “Then Red mentioned your name, and I put two and two together. Why are you here, Colin?”

“I had to see you,” he said. “I miss you, babe. Nothing’s