King's Country (Oil Kings #4) - Marie Johnston Page 0,70

I felt at his voice died with his words. I whirled on him. “For what? To get humiliated some more? So Errol can hand me the bill he charged to the ranch because Pop said it was okay?”

“He did what?” He shook his head. “That’s dirty.”

Yeah. And I was sick of it. I was sick of this town and feeling like I wasn’t a part of it when I’d been born and raised here.

Jamie came out of the bar with Shelb and Broden. His eyes lit up when they landed on us. “Hey, you two going to Miller’s instead?”

The other bar in town had cut Pop off. He’d never visited there, and since he’d stayed away, I’d had no reason to go.

“We’re not staying,” was all Dawson said.

“Us either.” Shelb snorted and grinned at me. “Jamie and I left a couple of twenties for the drinks that got dropped. Thank you.”

I couldn’t detect sarcasm in his tone and my confusion grew. Why would they pay and then thank me?

Broden bobbed his head and scratched at the stubble lining his thick jaw. “Yeah. It was the perfect distraction for Samuel. We made our escape.”

“I have a sitter for a couple more hours,” Jamie said. “My wife’s almost done with work. Want me to have her meet us at Miller’s?”

Shelb checked his phone. “My wife’s bartending. I’ll have her save us a table.” He grimaced. “It’ll be quieter.”

Dawson met my gaze. “Want to go?”

His question was simple, but there were several questions inside of it that streamed across his whiskey eyes. Are you still so pissed off that you’re ready to say fuck this whole town? Do you want to see if the third time is the charm? Can you trust me that this entire town isn’t full of people out to hurt you?

The last unspoken question resonated. I trusted him, but did I trust my own reaction the next time someone pissed me off? I wasn’t diplomatic like Dawson. A large part of me didn’t want to be.

I knew the other guys, but I’d never had a reason to interact with them. I’d have to find out. “Sure. Let’s go.”

Dawson didn’t say anything until we got into his pickup. “Say the word, and we’ll leave.”

“Even if you have to do business with them?” My reply was snippy and I regretted it. I understood what Dawson meant. But at the same time, I didn’t. I let out a sigh. “What if I can’t go anywhere without the same thing happening?”

“I get it, but this town isn’t just full of idiots. You have to deal with a deeper pool of them because of your dad. Samuel is obnoxious to everyone. He told me once that it was too bad the ranch kept me in town like a mouse dying on sticky paper. Said I should gnaw off my own foot in order to be free.”

“But he moved back here to sell insurance.”

“Yep. And Errol has a bad reputation for tacking on fees to every bulk order, but he’s the only off-sale in town, so people just grumble behind his back about stocking fees and special-order costs instead of driving to a liquor store in Miles City.”

I leaned my head against the headrest. Streetlights flashed through the cab. Couples and groups wandered up and down Main Street, going between Hogan’s and Miller’s and a wedding dance at the Eagles’ club.

Dawson lifted his fingers off the steering wheel to wave every couple of seconds. “See all these people? They aren’t at The Tap. I know my family goes there a lot, out of habit. And if your dad went there, it makes sense there’s more people there that’ll start shit with you.” He curled his hand around mine. “I know I shouldn’t have given in to Samuel on our date. But not everyone’s bad.”

“The bad ones get away with it. I think that’s what upsets me. I can’t do anything about it.” I didn’t have Dawson’s money and reputation. I couldn’t afford to take my business elsewhere. Standing up for myself cost me opportunities and I didn’t always have the means to find new ones out of town.

“It’ll get better, Bristol.”

I wanted to believe him, but my mind churned over Errol’s announcement. How was I going to pay for that?

Pondering the cost kept my mind off the group of people we were meeting. I knew who they all were. Jamie had ignored me in school, which was the most I could have asked for. His