eyes darting between Kincaid and Dominic before sweeping toward Shadow who has been in the room and silent this entire time.
“It’s much cooler in Vermont this time of year,” Kincaid muses.
“At least twenty degrees lower than the desert,” Dominic adds.
“I like cooler weather.” I turn my head and glare at Shadow.
It’s clear there will be a trip to Vermont, but my hopes of just Jinx and I going are slowly slipping away.
“All of us?” Jinx snaps, and I want to grin with just how in line we are with each other.
Kincaid cocks an eyebrow at him. “You really think we’re going to let you fuckers go up there alone?”
“Vermont isn’t a death penalty state. Life in prison would suck,” Dominic says with a quick grin.
“Plus, it would look bad for the club if you assholes went rogue and ended up on the evening news,” Shadow adds.
“They’d never find a fucking body,” Jinx mutters, crossing his arms over his chest in disappointment.
“He literally needs to die,” I remind them.
“There are worse things than death,” Dominic says as he stands from the table and claps me on the back.
“I seriously don’t think talking to the man is going to work,” Jinx snaps. “The man is a fucking psycho.”
“One that probably killed his wife,” I remind them.
“Exactly,” Kincaid says as he turns to Shadow. “Reach out to Blackbridge and see if they have any contacts over there that aren’t employed by the city or the county. There has been too much turning a blind eye. If they had done their damn jobs, spent a little time investigating, maybe that boy wouldn’t have turned into his daddy and his mother would still be alive.”
Of course that would be the best outcome. If the abuse had stopped when Jeremy Murphy Jr. was a baby, he probably wouldn’t have ended up an abusive piece of shit himself. Simone would’ve never been hurt, and she wouldn’t have to live with what she was forced to do to save herself.
Yet, if all of that happened, she wouldn’t be here, and I can’t even begin to pick apart how that makes me feel.
Chapter 28
Simone
“A light draft.”
My head snaps in the direction of Mike. He’s always the first one through the door when we open, and most nights one of the last to leave. Yes, he’s an alcoholic, and he’s grumpy as the day is long, but he’s also one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met.
“Light?” I look over at him to confirm I heard him right.
I’ve worked here for the better part of three years, and this man has never ordered a light beer.
“Light,” he confirms. “And if I wanted judgment, I would’ve stayed at home.”
“You better watch your mouth, old man.”
I grin up at Rocker before I realize I need to school my face.
He and Jinx both left yesterday morning, and I haven’t heard from either of them. I don’t know what they did last night, but they sure didn’t end up at my house.
“Hey,” he whispers, leaning across the bar to press his mouth to mine.
Of course I let it happen because I miss his mouth, but I give him the biggest frown I can manage when he pulls back.
“Looks like I’m not the only one in the doghouse,” Mike mutters. “If my wife worked here, I’d probably be sober.”
He grunts his appreciation when I slide his light beer in front of him, and then his focus goes back to the television hanging to the right of the liquor display shelves.
“What can I get for you?”
It’s still early evening, and the Cerberus guys normally don’t show up until after the sun goes down. Hell, most of the town stays inside, avoiding the heat. When the sky begins to pink up is when the rush really starts. Drake is late as usual, but the reprieve from his incessant mistakes has been kind of nice.
“I’m not here to drink.”
“Really?” I let my eyes wander down his chest, committing the sight of his tight t-shirt to memory.
“You make me want to do bad things to you.”
“Can’t a man drink in peace!” Mike bellows, his face scrunched as if he’s annoyed.
“Quit listening, old man,” Rocker grunts, but he takes my hand, leading me further down the bar. “We need to talk.”
My defenses automatically go up. Let’s talk never translates into good news, and with the way things have been so stilted between the two of us, I know the conversation isn’t going to work out in my favor.