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That outburst clearly didn’t ease her mind. She nodded and started to stand up again. I didn’t miss the way she held on to the chair and placed a hand on the wall for stability.
Carmichael stepped away from me and gave me a tight smile. “All looks good. If you don’t need anything else, we will leave for the evening,” he said and made his way over to Shiloh.
She went to get her bag, and Carmichael stopped her silently, then picked it up. She was too damn pale. And I still didn’t have any fucking answers as to what all was wrong with her. The rage slowly churning inside of me had to stop. So what that they hadn’t told me? Why the fuck did I care?
This shit ended now. Caring about her led to other things. Shutting down my emotions completely was the only way to handle being around her.
They headed for the door with Carmichael holding on to her arm. There was no real support in that. The old man wasn’t going to be able to protect her if she fell. I bit my tongue so hard that I tasted blood to keep from telling Huck to help her.
I refused to let myself give a fuck about Shiloh Ellis’s health.
Six Years Ago
A cover band was singing George Strait as I walked inside of Bandits, the local bar in town. They were ruining a great song.
My eyes scanned the crowd for Blaise and Levi. They’d texted me to meet them here an hour ago while I was closing up the shop since Huck had left early to go see his younger brother in Alabama.
There were girls surrounding them when Levi waved his hand to get my attention. I headed over to them, ignoring the women as I slid into the booth side of the round table that had chairs on the other side, then reached for a handful of the pretzels.
“Gage, this is Chelsie, Shanda, Becky, and Tina,” Levi introduced the girls, like I gave a fuck.
I didn’t acknowledge them but looked over to get the waitress’s attention. I needed a beer. I had texted Shiloh and told her where I was headed, but she’d only responded with,Okay, and nothing more. I knew she had senior shit at school this week. All fucking spring was full of things that took her away from me. Thinking about the possibility of her going off to college made me fucking ill.
The waitress arrived. “What can I get you, sugar?” she asked.
“Corona,” I said. “Salsa and chips too.”
“Got it,” she replied, then looked at the others to see if they needed anything.
Levi asked the girls if they wanted something, and he ordered them drinks. Blaise ordered a drink, then sat back so that one of the girls could sit on his knee.
When she left, one of the blonde ones reached over and ran her long pink nails down my arm. “You look like you need cheering up,” she said, leaning toward me.
I didn’t bother looking at the cleavage she was trying to get me to see. Not interested.
“He’s grumpy by nature, girls,” Levi told them, then winked at the one sitting on his right.
I was sure his hand was giving the one on his left some attention. Rolling my eyes, I leaned back in the booth and looked down at my phone again. Still nothing. What the fuck was she doing?
“I like grumpy,” the blonde said and stood up to walk over to me.
I looked up from my phone as she started to take a seat on my knee.
“Didn’t invite you to sit,” I told her, moving to stand up and make myself unavailable.
I’d go sit in the chair on the other side of Blaise, where no one could get beside me. When I started over to the empty chair, my gaze locked on the raven-colored hair that I knew so well. She was sitting on a stool at the bar, laughing at some fucker who was looking at her like he was gonna get a taste.
“Call Garrett,” I said as I started to the bar. “I’m gonna need bail money.”
“What the hell?” I heard Levi say, but I didn’t stop.
My eyes were on Shiloh, making sure no one touched her. The fucker who did wouldn’t see another sunrise. Just before I got to her, she turned to me. Amusement danced in her eyes as she watched me, knowing I was pissed off.
“Oh, you found time to notice me,” she said with a smirk on her face.
“I didn’t know you were here,” I bit out.
“Clearly. You were busy with admirers.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and picked up the drink in front of her to take a sip.
