Page 16 of Lucky Haven

“Yep.” She’s already gathering her bag. “Side door, I’m with you.”

We make it all the way down the steps and into the warm summer night before my hands start shaking.

Six months of holding my head up. Six months of absorbing cold shoulders and telling myself that bullies want attention, that I’m a big girl.

“Fuck them,” I snap.

“Exactly.”

“You really go to these things for fun?” I shake my fist at the building behind her. “I’m so mad.”

“They’re the worst,” she agrees.

“We should have had more cider first.” I think about Cash. The kiss, the gentleness with which he treats me. Because he thinks I’m fragile, probably. Well, I’m not. “Have you ever been to Bar None?”

Mercy’s eyebrows hit the sky. “Sure. Why?”

“I’ve never been.” The bar on the outskirts of town is kind of rough, but apparently a lot of fun for people who don’t care about things like uptight community standards. And I am firmly, one hundred percent, not one of those people. Not after tonight. “I want to go. When’s the best night to go?”

Mercy doesn’t miss a beat. “Thursday.”

“You want to give me a proper welcome to town? That’s where I want to go next.”

“It’s a date.”

Chapter Five

Cash

I have every intention of going another week before I see Haven again.

I’m slowly reading the thriller book, and I’m busy between the garage and my family ranch. I’ve got a lot to keep me busy.

That doesn’t mean that I’m not constantly thinking about her sweet mouth, the dinner that we shared in her cosy little apartment, or the hurt in her eyes when she accidentally revealed that I was her only friend in town.

I hate that so much. It chewed me up inside, so much so that after pacing back and forth in my apartment for 20 minutes, I gave Mercy a call and sent her to go befriend Haven because I can’t be her only pal. It’s dangerous enough that I’m already this close to her. On so many levels.

She made it clear that she is not ashamed to be associated with me, because she’s an incredibly good person, kind and earnest. She believes the best in people, sees the best in me, god knows why.

But if her own past is causing her this much grief, having her present revolves around the tattooed ex-con mechanic who works across the street from her… that’s a disaster waiting to happen.

And Mercy accepted the mission from me, but now her lips are sealed. When I went into The Friendly Table the next day to ask her how it went, she just gave me a thumbs up and told me to mind my own business.

Which leaves me counting down the days until a week has passed, and I can check out a new book and flirt with the pretty librarian a little bit.

The date is circled on my calendar.

The night before, I go out to the ranch to have dinner with my mom and my brothers—and the newest members of our family, in a manner of speaking, Hope Waterford and her three-year-old daughter, Bellamy.

The forecast calls for rain, and I’m not a dumbass anymore, so I leave my motorcycle at the garage and take my truck instead. That makes it easier to take a stack of books I bought for Bellamy, too.

When I arrive, Zane and Hope are throwing rope in the paddock. Ridge and Dax are leaning against the fence, watching them in the late afternoon sun.

Our mother is nowhere to be seen, and neither is the little girl, so they’re probably together somewhere.

I give my brothers a wave. “Where’s the rugrat? I brought her some new books.”

Zane lifts his voice and points. “With Luna, feeding the chickens.”