Page 83 of Code Violation

Just call me Vesper Stone, the bartender who breaks up with the asshole brother, only to be impregnated by his famous, better-looking sibling.

Julian slides a beer into Mason’s hand and takes a fifty-dollar bill from him.

“Keep it.” Mason waves away the change when Julian offers it out to him.

He takes a large pull from his beer, and I fight to keep my mouth closed; he’s almost downed the whole thing in one.

“You know your boyfriend is a multimillionaire, right?” he says on a swallow.

I redirect my eyes from Mason’s glass to his face.

“I’m not looking for handouts. I like to pay my way in life,” I retort, not bothering to correct Mason on my relationship status with Silas.

Mason subtly nods, turning his glass around on the bar top. He looks deep in thought, almost tortured by whatever’s spinning in his mind.

“I’ve got to ask,” I say quietly, “but why aren’t you with the rest of the team? Silas never mentioned that you didn’t travel to Vegas.”

He shrugs. “Yeah, I was supposed to join them out there, but I couldn’t shake a stomach flu.”

My eyes fall back to the beer in Mason’s left hand. I don’t say anything since it’s not my place, but I’m almost sure that a stomach flu is not the reason why he’s still in Seattle. When you’ve been a bartender for as long as I have, you learn to identify the ones who are out for a drink to relax with friends and the ones who, sadly, are hitting the booze more than they should and for deeper reasons than to simply have a good time.

I think that’s why I held space for Kane and his drinking for way longer than I should’ve. I could see that he wasn’t happy with his life, with who he was, and I wanted to be the one to make things better for him.

My mom was the same with my dad; I remember so many times, Naomi and I used to sit on the top step at home while they fought over money and Dad’s drinking habit.

Leaning my forearms on the bar top, I lower my voice so no one can hear. Quite honestly, I’m surprised he isn’t being asked for autographs and pictures. NHL players are generally left alone in public, but Riley’s is a sports bar, and he’s taking a risk, being seen out like this, especially if word gets back to the team that he isn’t holed up in bed, nursing himself back to health. It’s clear Mason isn’t thinking straight about life or the risks he’s taking with his career, and that worries me on his behalf.

“Beer can’t be good for a sensitive stomach lining,” I can’t help pointing out in a nonjudgmental tone.

Mason slides onto a stool and presses his lips together, deep in thought. “Can I ask you a question? Aside from my mom, I could use a female point of view.”

“Shoot,” I say, noticing that the bar area is starting to quiet down now that it’s getting later.

Mason pulls his phone from his pocket, taps the screen a few times, and slides it toward me on the counter. It’s a picture of a blonde girl who kind of looks familiar and a guy I’ve never seen before. They’re standing in front of a cute stone cottage, and the setting screams of somewhere in Europe.

“If Silas had his arms around another girl, like this guy does with my wife, would you think there was something going on between them?”

I study the image for a second. The dude is holding her in a fairly intimate way, although they could be really good friends.

And then it hits me, where I recognize the girl from.

“Wait.” I point to the image. “Your ex-wife is named Eloise, isn’t she?”

Mason looks uncomfortable at my choice of words. “Technically, she’s still my wife; we’re just separated. But, yeah, that’s her name. Why?”

“When everything went down online with Drew and Will, that same night, I bumped into her in an Italian restaurant. Drew and I were having a meal, and she approached our table, asking for …” I trail off, wanting to keep some kind of girl code. “Asking for … lady products.”

Mason slides his phone back into his pocket. “Yeah, that was probably her. She’d flown back from France, although we didn’t talk.” He scoffs and downs the rest of his beer. “I don’t think she ever wants to speak to me again, if I’m honest. Not now that she has a new guy in her life.” He shakes his head. “He was always waiting in the wings, biding his time to make a move on my girl.”

I hold up a hand, ready to tell Mason to stop spiraling when my blood runs cold as Kane sidles up next to him, a cheek-aching grin plastered on his face and a soulless glaze in his steely gray eyes.

“Vesper, how are you doing?” he asks, knowing full well that he isn’t welcome here.

Mason looks between us both, the metaphorical cogs turning in his brain when he registers the horror carved into my expression.

“Is everything okay, Ves?” Mason asks, turning his body away from Kane.

He’ll have to do a lot more than that for my ex to get the hint. He’s here to talk and likely because he knows Silas isn’t in town.