Page 74 of Second Chance Saloon

Fury blinded her, angry tears prickling in the corners of her eyes. She dropped the phone next to the gearshift, her chest rising and falling in shallow attempts at oxygenating her roaring blood.

Mitch took the phone and scrolled through the search results himself. His gaze darkened with every passing second, the changing tabs flickering in his eyes.

Then, he must’ve gotten the full signal back, or the roaming connected with his phone, as a stream of vibrations came through.

Jackie swallowed, imagining the messages, emails and likely missed calls he’d just received.

“I’m so sorry they dragged you into this,” he said in a low, strained voice. “I … I didn’t want this to happen. How the fuck did they even know about you?”

Jackie’s throat closed up. She didn’t blame him, not in the least. “It’s not your fault. These vultures will follow any breadcrumbs leading to a good story. I guess this is their story this week. There’ll be something else next week.”

Mitch stared out the window. “We need to get out. If they see us together, it’ll only feed the gossip.”

Her head swiveled and she gave him a bitter smile. “I’ll shut them up. Don’t worry. I’ll remind them not to fuck with van Moetliers.”

He let out a humorless chortle. “I’d say you don’t have to, but it’s about you too, now. I’d crack their heads against the tarmac,” he hissed. “They can say whatever they want about Webster and Eve, they deserve it. But they shouldn’t have dragged you into this.” Bitterness punctuated every single word he uttered.

Jackie grabbed his hand and squeezed his fingers, forcing his gaze to catch hers. “I don’t care about that.”

Mitch shot her a sad half-smile. “I didn’t want any of this.” He released his hand from hers and glared at his phone.

There was an incoming call flashing on the screen. Jackie caught the name from the corner of her eye.

Tanner Craigton.

Mitch stared at the screen until it stopped ringing. Before long, his father was calling again. He sighed, pushing his hand against his pulsating temple. “I better take this, or he won’t stop.”

Without waiting for her response, he pulled the handle and got out, slamming the door behind him, leaving her alone in the Jeep.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Mitch

The screams of the paparazzi talking over each other in hopes of getting his attention deafened him. Tightening his grip on his phone, Mitch stalked past the small crowd. Instead of going up the stairs to the lobby, he took the right turn onto the garden path to the poolside bar.

His phone went still for one blissful second.

With his knees threatening to buckle, he grabbed the side of a wooden bench underneath a large palm tree, sat and put the phone on top of his thigh.

He wasn’t prepared for something like that. He’d never, ever, had to face any kind of press scrutiny before. Not even when he was with Jackie, though that was before her “wild” phase, before she was on their radar. The tabloids only started picking on her once she had left college and got involved with that French actor.

Mitch gritted his teeth, wishing he could erase the photos of the two of them from his memory.

Breath leaked from his lungs in a long stream. He’d left Jackie to face those piranhas all on her own. After all these years, the prospect of speaking with his father still rattled the deepest fear in his bones. He’d seen the caller ID and panicked.

His phone vibrated again, disturbing the peaceful silence cushioned by tropical garden plants.

Air whistled through his throat as he pressed the green button. “Hello, Father.”

“Mitch, for fuck’s sake. What is going on? What did you get yourself into again?” Tanner’s venomous tone echoed from the speaker.

Mitch swallowed thickly. “Nice to hear from you, too. I’m fine, if you’re at all interested in that.”

“You’ve failed to mention that the hotel you were going to was hers.” Hot acid dripped off the last word, boiling the blood in Mitch’s veins.

“If you mean Jackie, I didn’t know when I booked it. I didn’t know she would be here. For the record, though, I’m very glad she is.”

“So, that’s the man I raised you to be? Not even a week after your wedding, and you’re back to fucking that cowgirl—”