by Nina Levine
“We hadn’t spent any time together before she moved in with Max.” I can’t even imagine what it would be like not knowing a parent or sibling while growing up. For all our faults, my family is your standard two-parents-two-kids family whose greatest dysfunction revolves around poor communication and unrealistic expectations.
“You two have a good relationship now?”
“We do. Paris is the only reason I can do what I do with the bar and with my life. She looks after Sean most nights while I’m working. During the day she studies nursing, so we work around that and juggle his care.”
I stare through the rain-drenched window of Luke’s car and think about everything he’s just shared with me. There are so many facets to this man, each connected in some way by the intricacies of his journey through life. I have a feeling that when I delve into that journey and learn more, it might break my heart. I think that Luke Hardy is nothing like the man I imagined him to be based on what he’s shown me since I met him. First appearances are very seldom right, and people usually choose to present themselves the way they wish to be perceived rather than who they really are.
“You seriously want me to believe that?” Luke says with a disbelieving shake of his head.
“What?” I fake outrage. “You don’t think I can cook a roast?”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you can cook a roast, Callie. I struggle to believe you pulled off a dinner party for eight people.”
Over lunch, we continued discussing family and friends and moved onto the topic of entertaining after I told him I figured his back deck was great for having friends over. When he said his friends pretty much stopped calling after Jolene was charged with murder, I wanted to change the subject, so I rambled on about my entertaining prowess. I don’t have any amazing skills in this area—I lied. But it made Luke smile again.
I pout. “Why would you think that?”
“It could have something to do with the fact I’ve heard the stories that Avery has told about your past attempts at having friends over for dinner.”
My breathing slows. “You listened to her when she was telling everyone that?” Luke has never really engaged in any of the conversations we have at the bar.
He doesn’t reply straight away, but rather leans forward in his seat and meets my gaze. When he speaks, his voice is low and deep. “Of course I listened.”
My ears roar with the sound of my heart beating. Because I’m tongue-tied, and my brain isn’t thinking straight, I blurt out, “I’ll prove to you that I can cook a roast. You come for dinner, and I’ll blow your mind with my cooking skills.”
His smile turns sexy as does his voice. “Callie, you’ve already blown my mind, but I won’t say no to another opportunity.”
My excitement at his acceptance quickly fizzles. “Oh, but can you get a night off from the bar?”
“Avery didn’t have any problems the other night without me, so I don’t see why not. Just tell me when and I’ll be there.”
I want to tell him to book it in for one month’s time so I can practice the hell out of cooking a roast, but I can’t wait that long to have Luke all to myself in my home. “How about next Monday night? Is that your slowest night at the bar?”
“Yeah. Sounds good. I’ll bring dessert.”
“You don’t need to. I can make something.”
Fuck, can you dig yourself any deeper?
For the love of God, stop talking.
He smirks. “I’m looking forward to this.”
I reach across the table and smack him on the chest. “Smart ass. I’ll show you.”
He breaks out in laughter, and I am mesmerised. I trace the lines of laughter on his face and commit the sound to my memory. I’ve dedicated a special place for Luke there, and I hope it won’t take long to be overflowing with these kinds of memories.
7
Luke
“Mum told me about Jolene,” Tyler says as he helps me with my books. His accounting degree has come in handy because I have little patience for figures.
“I swear that woman doesn’t understand the concept of ‘private’,” I mutter with a shake of my head.
He looks up at me from across the desk. Frowning, he says, “You didn’t want me to know?” I understand his confusion. I’ve never hidden anything from him before, but this is different.
“It’s not that, Ty. The police told me not to tell anyone. I only told Mum because I needed to ask her for help.”
“Ah, and if she’s told me, who else has she told?” He grasps where I’m coming from. Our mother has loose lips a lot of the time, but I had hoped she would be more discerning with who she shared this information.
I nod. “Yeah. Hopefully, she hasn’t spread this across town.”
“So, this is a fucked-up situation. Have you spoken to the lawyer yet?”
It’s been two days since I spoke to both Mum and the lawyer, and I still haven’t heard much back from him yet. Nodding, I say, “He’s working on it.”
“And, shit, you had to fake it with Jolene? That must have sucked. Knowing you’re sitting across the table from a murderer who also happens to be the mother of your child.”
He doesn’t know the half of it. My brother is only two years younger than me, and yet some days that gap feels like a decade or more. Tyler still fucks around with his friends and hasn’t yet learnt the reality of responsibilities. I hope he draws this phase of his life out for years, because once you burden yourself with the mess of life, there’s no turning back.
“I don’t know what to feel anymore, Ty.” I’m honest with him, more honest than I’ve been in a long time, even with myself. I think it’s having Callie in my life now, because having her by my side will impact my son’s life significantly, and I can’t stop thinking about where life will lead me now.
“Why? I thought you’d worked through a lot of this already.”
“When I look at Jolene now, all I see are lies and betrayal. I’m disgusted that I fell for all that. And at the same time, she’s the mother of my child, and I have this connection with her that I’ll always have.”
“Do you still love her?” There’s no judgement in his question, unlike when my mother asked me this same question. It’s one of the many things I love about my brother; he’s always on my side.
I give him the most honest answer I have. “I think I fell out of love with Jolene a long time ago. We existed in a loveless marriage for a while there. And since she went to prison, I’ve moved through every emotion under the sun. I resented her for a long time, even when I thought she was innocent. I felt like my life had been ripped from me, all because of her. I felt guilty as hell over that, because what kind of husband feels resentment towards a wife who was wrongfully punished? And then when I discovered she really was guilty, I hated her. I’ve spent a long time living in that hate.” I take a breath. “I never wanted Sean to grow up without both parents together—I never wanted what you and I had for my son. I worked my ass off and let a lot of shit slide between Jolene and me to give him that life. And yet, she screwed it up anyway.”
“I’m sorry, Luke. I mean, I know we’ve talked about all this before, and I’ve thought about how it’s affected your life, but I don’t think I ever considered how conflicting it must be for you. To me, on the outside looking in, it seemed clear-cut. First, she was innocent, and then she was guilty. But, it’s not as simple as all that, is it?”
I shake my head. “Nothing ever is, Ty.”
“So, when do you think you’ll get back out there and date again?”
“I haven’t contemplated dating because that’s a whole new world for not only me but for Sean, too. And it wouldn’t have been fair to whomever I dated. Waiting around for a guy to sort out his relationship with his wife would hardly be something a woman would rate on her bucket list.” I pause for a moment and meet his gaze. “I’ve started seeing Callie.”
He whistles low and hits me with a smile. “It’s about time you two got it togethe
r.”
“Well, she wants to stay just friends until I’ve got the divorce happening, so we’re taking it slow for a while.”
“She’s gonna give you some hell, big brother,” he says with a grin. At my frown, he adds, “You have to admit you two set each other off sometimes. She’s always arguing with you.”
“Well, we’ve had one date, and she didn’t argue with me once. I think we’ve moved past that.”
He laughs. “You’re kidding yourself. Women don’t change that easily.” Pulling his wallet out, he says, “I’ll put fifty down on that.”
“You’re on.” This will be the easiest money I’ve ever taken from him.
Four hours later, I’m at least four customers deep at the bar when Callie arrives. She catches my eye as she waits her turn to be served. When she finally makes it to me, she leans across the bar and plants a kiss on my lips. Raising my brows, I say, “We’re not just friends anymore?” If she says yes, I’ll find someone to cover my shift for the rest of the night. I wouldn’t even care if it was someone who didn’t know what the hell they were doing.
“We are, but I’ve been dreaming of doing that all day.” She shrugs. “It’s Friday, time to let my hair down.”
“We could make every day, Friday.”
“There’d be no fun in that, nothing to look forward to all week.”
“I could make it worth your while.”
She gestures towards the alcohol behind me. “Make me a vodka, Luke, before I screw up and make a decision I’ll regret. You are too damn sexy to be saying shit like that to me.”
I chuckle and make her a drink. As I pass it to her, an argument breaks out between a woman and a group of men in the bar. Turning to Avery, I yell over the noise of the crowd, “You be right if I go take care of that?”
She nods. “Yeah, we’ve got this.”
I tap the counter in front of Callie to get her attention. “Wait here. I’ll be back in a minute.” The last thing I need is for her to get involved, and this would be something she’d take on. Guys harassing a female is right up her alley of battles to fight for the good of the world.
By the time I push my way through the crowd, the woman is cowering in the corner while one of the men abuses her verbally. His hand keeps clenching, and I figure he’s close to using that fist.
When none of his friends step in, I reach for his shoulder, yank him back and swing him around. “That’s enough, mate. You need to leave now.”
His dark eyes bore into me, and he moves in my direction. “I’m not your fucking mate, asshole. Back the fuck off and leave me and my woman to sort our shit out by ourselves.”
I square my shoulders. “I may not be your mate, but I’m the owner of this bar, and when I tell someone to leave, I mean it.” My chest tightens with anger. I have zero patience for men who treat women this way.
He glares at me for a long moment, and his woman attempts to escape while his attention is diverted. He’s too fast for her, though, and his arm snaps out, and he catches her by the wrist. Pulling her back to him, he snarls, “Where the fuck do you think you’re going, bitch?”
“Johnny…” She hardly gets his name out in between her sobs. “Please don’t do this. I’ll be good, I promise.”
His murderous gaze falls on her, and he lets her wrist go, only to grasp her further up her arm. He squeezes her and spits out, “Too right you’ll be fucking good. I’ll make sure of it.”
I’ve seen enough. Stepping into the small space between them, I try to move him away. However, he clenches his fist and punches me in the gut. I knew it was coming, though, and respond by returning the punch. He stumbles back, but quickly recovers, coming towards me. I block his fist and manage to punch him hard on the cheek.
His woman screams as he goes down and I watch as she moves to help him.
Jesus, she’s gotta be kidding. But I’ve seen it over and over in here—women begging assholes for attention—so I shouldn’t be surprised.
My security guy joins me, and I motion for him to help me remove the asshole from the bar. Ten minutes later, the situation is dealt with, and I make my way back to where Callie is waiting for me.
“That looked nasty,” she says as she hands me her empty glass.
“Stay away from those guys, okay?” I’ve only kicked one out. The rest of his friends seem to have settled down, but I don’t want her going anywhere near them.
The frustrated look she often gives me—the one I haven’t seen in days—returns. “I wasn’t planning on waltzing over there and interrupting their little party, Luke.”
I pass her the drink I’ve just made, ignoring the attitude in her voice. “Good.”
A few moments pass between us and then she says, “You should go and look after your customers.” The attitude has disappeared. Soft Callie is back.
“Are you gonna stick around?”
She hits me with a smile that wipes away the stress of my day. I could get used to that smile. “Yeah, I’m hoping to monopolise some of your time later.”
“As soon as these customers are served, I’m all yours.”
She nods towards an empty table and says, “I’ll be over there.” She then gives me a cheeky grin and laces her words with sarcasm when she adds, “I won’t be anywhere near those men.”
I jerk my chin at her. “Smartass.”
Her laughter as she leaves reaches my ears, and my gut tightens. Fuck, I want that woman.
8
Callie
Luke’s bar is so damn busy tonight that I’m not sure I’ll have the opportunity to spend any alone time with him. That thought feels like an ache I desperately need to soothe. It’s been two days since he took me on our first date and I haven’t seen him during that time. He’s been busy working and with his son while I managed to pick up some shifts at the café. I also had a job interview at the local paper today, at a time he’d wanted me to come over. My fingers are crossed for this job because it would mean full-time work and job stability.
I finish my drink and head to the bathroom. As I walk past the mirror, I almost die of mortification. My hair looks like a bird's nest.
Luke saw me like this?
The wind clearly decided my hair was too perfect when I left home tonight. I will stab Avery with a very sharp object the next time I see her. She saw me at the bar while Luke was talking to me. Epic fail on best-friend duties.
“Do you have twenty dollars I could borrow?”
I turn to see who’s asking me this and quickly forget all thoughts of my appearance when I find a petite woman with the most haunted look in her eyes that I think I’ve ever seen, staring at me. Desperate. If I had to describe her in one word, that would be it.
Without hesitation, I nod and reach into my purse to pull out twenty dollars. Money I can’t afford to give away, but nothing in this world would stop me from helping this woman. Something tells me she needs this money more than I do right at the moment.
As I’m passing it to her, the bathroom door opens, and a tall, stocky man enters. His large calloused hand reaches in between us, ripping it out of her hands. “Johnny is waiting out the front for you.” His loud voice booms into the air surrounding us as I stare into some of the meanest eyes I’ve ever come across in my life.
The woman blanches. “I’m not going home with him tonight.” She cowers in front of the man as he bears down on her.
Stepping closer to the woman and putting my arm across her to push her behind me, I say, “You need to leave right now.” I meet his angry gaze and don’t falter. No way am I letting him force this woman into doing something she doesn’t want to do.
He bends his face to mine, and his nostrils flare. “And you need to stay the fuck out of something that doesn’t concern you,” he barks, but I’m not that easily intimidated.
I stand straight and cross my arms over my chest. “I’m not staying the fuck out of anything.”
He reaches for my wrist and takes hold. After pushing me to the side, his othe
r hand slides around the woman’s neck, and he pulls her out of the bathroom before I recover from landing on my ass on the bathroom floor.
Oh, no you don’t, asshole!
I follow them out into the bar and trail them as the guy drags the woman towards the front door.
“Hey, you!” I yell, trying to draw attention to us. “You can’t do that!”
People turn to stare, but no one is able to slow the man down as he ploughs through the crowd. I pick up my pace and lunge at him in an effort to grab hold. And I succeed. My hand connects with his forearm, and I grip him hard. Wrenching with as much force as I can muster, I manage to slow him down enough to come face-to-face with him again.
He snarls down into my face. “Bitch, I recommend you back the hell off. None of this is your concern.”
A deep voice cuts through the air. “No, but it’s my concern.” That voice whooshes through me, because not only is it commanding, it’s angry. And so controlled that it actually frightens me.
Luke.
I look around at the same time as he moves to put space between the asshole and me. Our eyes connect and his flash a warning.
“Move back,” he orders and I flinch at his tone. If I thought I’d met bossy Luke before, I was wrong. This is bossy Luke.
I do as he says and then watch as he manhandles the asshole all the way to the front door. His movements are effortless, and I’m stunned at the dominance he wields. I’m also struck by the realisation that under that cool exterior of his, lies a man who is very capable of protecting his own. I’ve never seen such control on a person. Luke is angry, and while that is obvious, he is clearly reining that anger in.
After he rids his bar of trash, organises a cab for the woman, and has a short conversation with his security guy, he turns and stalks my way. His gaze does not let mine go. When he reaches me, he grips my hand and leads me to his back office. He’s walking so fast that I almost stumble in my haste to keep up with him.