4
Liam
After talking with Harley, I headed to the Celtic Knot for a drink. Blake, the bartender, raised an eyebrow at me as I came in. “You look like you’ve had a rough day.”
I shrugged. “My day’s been fine. I’ll take a scotch, though.”
Blake poured me a glass and slipped it over to me. “If it’s been fine, then why do you look like you stepped in dog shit?”
I couldn’t get Harley’s scared expression out of my head. I hated it when women were scared of me. Not that I blamed her. She had good reason to be scared. But I wasn’t ready to talk about Harley to anyone. Right now, I was the only one who knew she was alive and I didn’t want to tell anyone, not even Blake. Just in case something slipped to Patrick. “Maybe I did step in dog shit.”
Blake raised an eyebrow. “Then I hope you didn’t track it in here.”
I chuckled as I sipped my drink. “Don’t worry. I didn’t.”
As if on cue, Patrick entered the bar. He nodded when he saw me. “Hey,” he said.
I raised an eyebrow. “How are you doing? Should I take your keys now or later?”
He shook his head. “Oh, I’m not getting drunk tonight,” he said. “I’m better now. At least a little.” He smiled at Blake. “One club soda please.” He pulled out his debit card and handed it to the bartender. “And please close out my tab.”
Blake grinned. “Good choice,” he said.
“I’m glad to see you’re doing better,” I said after Blake left.
He nodded. “It still hurts, but it’s manageable when it’s not the anniversary.” His brow furrowed. “Did you tell anyone?”
I shook my head. “Not a soul,” I said. “Don’t worry.”
He looked relieved. “Good. I don’t want anyone to know how horrible I was to Harley.”
“It’s not your fault the Demons got to her,” I said. “They’re manipulative. That’s what they do best. And Reaper was one of the worst.”
Patrick grimaced. “Reaper. I hadn’t thought about his name in years.” He looked up at me, frowning. “Wait. How did you know it was Reaper who took her?”
Shit. I was an idiot. “I might have asked around a little,” I said. “I wanted to find out what happened to her.”
“What did you find?” His eyes lit up with hope. I hated that I would have to crush it, but I wasn’t going to tell him about Harley. She had been through enough without me forcing a family reunion on her.
“Dead end,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
He looked down at the bar and nodded. “Yeah, I figured,” he said. He looked up at Blake. “You know what? I’ll take a beer after all.”
“Patrick–”
“No, Liam,” he said. He gave a forced smile. “I just feel like a beer is all. You won’t have to take my keys. Not tonight.”
I hoped that was true.
I was relieved Patrick only had a couple of drinks that night. He left the bar at midnight after he was completely sobered up.
After Patrick and the rest of the patrons had left, I helped Blake and Chase close up the bar.
“You should go home and get some rest,” Chase told me as I started putting chairs up on the table.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I don’t think I would be able to rest anyway.” I had an apartment in town but it felt empty and lonely. I had lived there for a couple of years but it still didn’t feel like home to me.
I doubted it would ever feel like home unless I had a Little to take care of. But that was probably not in the cards for me. Not for a while at least.