“Then, what are you waitin’ for? Get your ass over there. The same goes for you, Widow,” Menace ordered. “Get on home. We got this.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah, we just got a few more chairs and the trash.” He flipped over another chair and placed it on the table as he continued, “No sense in either of you sticking around for that.”
“Thanks, brother.” Widow gave him a nod. “I’m gonna take you up on that.”
“Me, too. Appreciate it.” As I started towards his office, I told Menace, “I just gotta go grab Sophie’s present first.”
“Sounds good. I’ll see ya both tomorrow at lunch.”
When we turned to leave, Country asked, “Does that mean I can go, too?”
“Fuck no,” Menace grumbled. “Get your ass back to work.”
“That’s just wrong, man.”
“I’ll tell ya what’s wrong ...”
I wasn’t sticking around to listen to their bickering; instead, I grabbed Sophie’s present from the office, then headed out the rear door. Most folks had already cleared out, so it was pretty quiet as I made my way to the back of the lot.
As soon as I reached my bike, I leaned over and placed Sophie’s gift in my saddle bag. I’d just finished securing the strap when I felt the barrel of a gun pressing against my temple. I slowly moved my hands away from my body and up in the air, trying to not completely lose it as I growled, “You just fucked up, man. You fucked up big.”
I had no idea who the man was, but it was clear from his angered tone that he was pissed as he snarled, “I should just end you right here and now.”
“You do, and you’ll have a truckload of trouble on your hands.”
“Wouldn’t be no fucking trouble if you’d just stayed gone.”
“What the fuck are talking about, asshole?”
“You should’ve just stayed in fucking prison,” the man grumbled, “then, nothing would’ve changed. It would’ve stayed the way it was.”
“Got no idea what the hell you’re talking about, man.”
His voice quivered like he was about to fucking cry. “We had a good thing, th-then you came back and fucked everything up.”
“Who had a good thing?”
“Me and Sadie.” And just like that, it all made sense. “We had a good thing going. We were gonna get married and raise our son together, but now ...”
It sounded crazy, especially considering my short fuse, but I felt sorry for the guy. Sadie’s obsession with me and our past had clearly caused a strain on their relationship, and he loved her enough to go to the extreme of pulling a gun on me—which was saying a lot.
I’d had Menace look into him as soon as I heard they’d hooked up. I knew Colton was a good guy with a level head. Hell, he was a fucking safety manager who checked in on his mom two or three times a week. He had to be feeling pretty fucking desperate to show up at the strip club on Christmas Eve.
When his hand started to tremble, I knew he wasn’t gonna pull the trigger, so I turned and looked him in the eye. The guy was a fucking mess. His eyes were all red, and his clothes were disheveled like he hadn’t slept in days. “You gotta know this isn’t the way to fix this thing with you and Sadie.”
“I gotta do something. I’m losing her.”
“Well, pulling a gun on me isn’t the fucking answer.” I could see Widow and the others charging towards us, and they looked ready to attack, so I said, “The way I see it, you got two choices. You put the gun down, and you and I’ll go inside, have a beer, and talk things out, or you shoot me and deal with my brothers who are standing right behind ya.”
The blood drained from his face when Colton glanced back over his shoulder and saw the guys standing behind him. Clearly freaked out by the sight, he immediately lowered the gun and took a step back as he stammered, “I’m ... I’m sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“No, you definitely didn’t.” I looked over to my brothers and said, “We’re good here. You boys can head on home.”
“The hell you say,” Country replied. “He just pulled a gun on your ass.”
“Yeah, and I said we’re good.”
“Well, it might be good with you, but it sure as hell ain’t good with me. I’m not leaving,” Country barked. “If you two are having a beer, then I’ll have one, too.”
“Same,” Menace added.
“Suit yourself.” I turned my attention to Widow and Hawk. “You two get on home. We won’t be long here.”
“You call if you need anything.”
“You know I will.”
I motioned for Colton to follow as I headed over to the back door. The guys had already shut down the bar for the night, so I had to unlock the deadbolt before we headed inside. Colton was about to step through the doorway when Menace stopped him and said, “I’ll be taking that gun off your hands.”