This is a hick town in the middle of nowhere. How the hell does this shit happen? “Been a long time,” Kai drawls, peering around the small bar before slipping onto a stool.
“Not long enough.” I smile tightly. My heart races, causing my hands to tremor, I busy myself by wiping down the bar so he can’t see how unnerved I am.
He gazes down at my hand, a tilt to his crooked smile. “So, this is where you ran away to, huh?”
“Here…” I shrug. “There,” I add, picking up a glass from the bar. I fill it, then slide it across the bar to a regular. He looks between Kai and me, frowning. His eyes drop to Kai’s cut, and for the first time since the doors opened four hours ago, he gets up and moves to another stool.
“Something I said?” Kai quirks a brow.
“Something you wear.” I glare at his patch.
“Bitch, that’s ignorant.”
“No, it’s cautious,” I correct.
“I’m just here meeting an old friend. I don’t want trouble.”
My guts churn, my eyes tracking the door and the windows to see if he’s alone. “He’s not here,” he informs me, placing his arms on the bar.
“Why are you?”
“Like I said, I’m meeting someone.” The moment the words leave his lips, Riley waltzes in. Oversized sunglasses cover half her face, but I recognize her immediately. She hasn’t changed a bit. “Speaking of, she’s here. I’ll tell Prez you said hi.” He winks, the side of his mouth curling into a sinister smirk. Bastard.
Thud.
“Drew?” Riley gasps, slipping her glasses off and gaping at me. “It is you. You work here?” she asks dumbly.
“Nah, just pouring drinks for something to do,” I say, expressionless.
Sneering, she says, “Still a little bitch, I see.”
“Ouch,” Kai barks. “I can stick around if you girls want to fuck that aggression out? Pay a pretty penny to see you fist each other’s cunts.”
“Over my dead body,” I hiss. His eyes ignite with fire, his tongue swiping out to lick his lips. My eyes flash to his road name patch above his right pocket: Killer. His steel gaze follows my eyes, a smirk creeping up his face.
“I told you it was her. Can’t believe I drove four hours for this,” Riley huffs.
“What? How did you know I was here?” I ask, confused to see them both so far from home. I’ve only been in this town a few months. Dad left money to keep me going for a while, but money runs out. Especially when your bitch aunt steals half of it.
Riley pulls her cellphone out of the large purse slung over her arm.
Holding the phone out, she shows me the bar’s website. In the banner, there’s a picture of me slinging drinks. Shit. That’s sloppy of me. I didn’t even know they had a website.
“I’m looking for an investment property. This one is for sale. Not that I’d put my money anywhere near this dump.” She wrinkles her nose.
“Still the snobby princess I see,” I remark.
“Satisfied?” Riley asks Kai. He offers her a curt chin lift and a dismissive flick of his wrist to get rid of her. What a fucking bitch. What does she get from giving up my location? Does Willa know this place is for sale?
“What now?” I fold my arms over my chest, staring at him as Riley disappears the same way she came in. “You going to drag me home kicking and screaming or just take me out back like a dog and put me down?”
“I’m going to have a drink.” He taps the bar.
Narrowing my eyes on him, I grab a shot glass, fill it, slide it over to him, then fill one for myself. “He hasn’t mentioned you in a long time, but you’re a hard girl to forget.”
“Stop playing fucking games with me, Kai. Are you going to tell Viking where I am or not?” He pauses his movements, the glass mid-air toward his mouth. “Shit. You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?” My insides churn.
“Prez died six months ago.”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
He’s dead? My thoughts flicker to Alec. Pain accompanies the memory of him.
“How?”
“Fucking heart attack, of all things. Mid-fuck, if you can believe it. What a way to go. Jackie was stuck under his body for two hours before someone went looking for him.” He shudders.
“So, Jimmy is Prez now?” I breathe, my thoughts racing.
He grimaces. “Jimmy died last year. Fucking gunshot to the stomach perforated something important—lights out.” He clicks his fingers so nonchalant, it causes me to flinch. I liked Jimmy…
“Prospect, Stealer, I don’t think you knew him. He was a little bitch, fuck knows how he made it to prospect.”
“Was?”
Tilting his head his lips thinning as frowns at me with amusement in his eyes. “Come on Drew, you know how it works. They were picking his brain matter outta the carpets for weeks after Viking got his hands on him.”