CHAPTER 6
Riggs
The bar was packed tonight, a bachelor party raging in the corner.
Two of them were regulars but the bachelor wasn’t.
Everybody was polite even while drinking heavily, but there were three designated drivers, and people were just enjoying themselves.
So far. I wasn’t going to say that out loud for fear of jinxing it, but there was no fighting, only a good time to be had.
I didn’t mind bachelor and bachelorette parties as long as they didn’t destroy my bar or annoy others in the process.
These were just guys who seemed to be enjoying themselves. They laughed a little loudly but controlled themselves otherwise.
While we were working on that corner, we also focused on the rest of the packed bar.
Some people were dancing. Others watched the game.
I had my hair tied back tonight, the stub of a ponytail not the most flattering thing, but I was tired of hair getting in my eyes, and I was working the bar as quickly as I could.
I had to close tonight and then had some paperwork to do back in the office before I headed home.
By taking a couple of days off earlier in the week to hang out with Delilah and then help Clay, I’d gotten a little bit behind. Nothing to be worried about, but my job seemed unending. While I loved it, it was a lot to deal with sometimes.
I pulled a couple of more drafts, and then frowned when one came up empty.
“I need to go change the keg,” I called out. Rosie nodded, picking up my slack. I went to the back, grunted as I had to move things around, and did what I did best. I worked.
All I could do was focus on work and not on what I wanted to do.
I wanted to call Clay and see how he was doing. I wanted to check on Holden to see if he was feeling any better. And I wanted to check on Jackson and Mariah because those kids had captured my heart, and I kind of hated it.
I liked them. Jackson was all territorial and grumpy until you got to know him and realized that he just wanted to take care of his family. Mariah was bright and sunny and very particular but would give anything just to be near her brothers.
I shook my head, pushing away thoughts of the family that wasn’t mine. But they were tangled around my heart. By the time I finished setting up everything and headed back out, I was tired and a little grumpy.
The problem was, I wanted what I couldn’t have.
Just because we had kissed again in the parking lot, and just because Clay seemed to have wanted it as much as I did, didn’t mean it would happen.
He had his whole life in front of him, and it was filled with bake sales, soccer games, and sick kids.
He didn’t have time for a guy who worked too many hours at a bar with a past he would rather not think about.
I shook my head, ignoring the little voice in the back of my mind, and went back to work.
When the man in the suit walked through the doors, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I glared at him, wondering what the hell this guy who was clearly out of place in my bar wanted.
He met my gaze, tilted his head, and smirked. Why did that smirk remind me so much of Neil?
“Riggs Kennedy?”
I lifted my chin. “You’ve got him.”
“Good. You’ve been served.” He handed over an envelope, and I blinked, looking down at the papers in my hand.
Only a few other people had noticed, mostly my staff and the sober guys in the bachelor party. They frowned at me, and I realized that one of them was Lee, a friend of the Montgomerys. He walked over to me, and I shook my head. “Go hang out with your friends. I’ve got this.”
Lee tilted his head and took the papers from me. “Let me see them. Because I have a feeling you’re going to want to Hulk smash something if we’re not careful.”
“I always thought I was more of a Captain America than a Hulk.”
Lee snorted and shook his head. “Come on, do you know what this is about?”
I swallowed hard. “I think I have an idea, and I don’t want to get into it here.” I gestured to the office area and knew that the rest of my staff could handle everything up front. They would be curious, but I needed a minute.
Lee followed me back, the papers still in his hands. I was glad that he was holding them because I wanted to shred them. Tear them up into tiny pieces so I never had to see them again. Only I didn’t think that was legal or would help the situation in the slightest.
I squared my shoulders. “Let me open them.”
“You sure you don’t want me to?” Lee asked, raising a brow.
“I think that might be illegal.”
“True, but if you’re watching me do it, is it?” Lee asked as he handed over the folder.
I let out a sigh and opened the envelope. I should’ve known what I’d see. Neil was always good with scare tactics.
“Well?”
“My ex-husband is suing me for my bar. Citing something about what was owed to him in the divorce. Fucking asshole.”
Lee blinked at me. “I didn’t even know you were married.”
“It was over in a blink, at least it seemed so at the time. But the tendrils of my mistakes do love to seep into my waking hours. Probably until the end of time.”
“He doesn’t have a leg to stand on, does he?”
I snorted and shook my head, worried. “He shouldn’t. Only he has a shit ton of money, better lawyers than I do, and I am exhausted.”
Lee reached out and squeezed my shoulder. “Why don’t you meet me with the rest of the guys tomorrow.”
I frowned, confused. “How the hell is that going to help?”
“Because you’re our friend, Riggs. You may think of yourself as being on the periphery like I sometimes do, but the Montgomerys adopted you. And considering you’re dating Clay, you’re part of us now.”
It took me a full minute to catch up to everything he was saying. “How did you know that? And we’re not dating. We, well...we’re not dating.” I didn’t want to get into full details of what we had. Lee just rolled his eyes.
“You’re dating. No matter if it’s a hookup or more.
He called you in his time of need. We all know.
He could have called me. I was off that day.
He could have called anybody, and they would have driven to him.
But you were the one that his brain immediately went to when he was in trouble.
Clay is one of ours, like a kid brother who’s actually older than most of us. ”
I laughed. “I don’t understand you guys.”
“I’m not a Montgomery, either, but I’ve been assimilated into them. It happens. We end up liking it in the end. However, talk it out with us. Talk to your lawyer. But you’re going to be there tomorrow. With coffee.”
“I have to bring my own coffee for this?” I felt like I was two steps behind, maniacal laughter threatening.
Lee laughed, shaking his head. “I said that wrong. We’ll bring the coffee. And danishes. And maybe we’ll even have Brenna make us a breakfast cake.”
“What’s a breakfast cake?” I asked.
“Cake you have for breakfast. Duh.”
I laughed, glad that Lee was here. I was stressing out, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do, but Lee made me smile. He was a good guy. We had flirted on occasion when I first opened the bar, but nothing had ever come of it.
Probably because Clay was always in the back of my mind, damn it.
“I don’t have a choice, do I?”
“You don’t. I mean, you do because they’re not rudely pushy, but I am. So, get your ass there. And tell us what the hell’s going on. I promise we won’t annoy you with Clay questions.”
I raised a brow. “Really?”
“We won’t invite the women. Therefore, they won’t gossip.”
I blinked, shocked at his words. “That’s sexist of you.”
Lee just laughed. “And completely a lie because we’re way worse when it comes to gossip. Just saying.”
I laughed, shook my head, and set the papers on my desk. “I need to work, call my lawyer, and…I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“You damn well will because we like Riggs’. It’s our place to go. So, we’re not going to let someone fuck it up. I’m very selfish when it comes to this.”
“Good to know,” I said with a laugh and shook my head.
I followed Lee out of the office, ignored the look on my staff’s faces, and told myself that this was fine and that I could handle it.
Only I was pretty sure that was a lie.
The next morning, I headed over to Jacob Queen’s place.
He was married to Annabelle Montgomery and was a friend of mine.
The place next door had once been Annabelle’s, but now they were renting it out to other people.
At one point, I knew Eliza had lived there, but she’d moved in with Beckett, and the new renters who’d moved in had gotten orders out of state so it might be empty once again.
I shook my head, confused at the real estate in Colorado.
I had a decent-sized home. It wasn’t the best, but it did well enough.
I was a renter too because I couldn’t afford a house and a bar, and if Neil had anything to say about it, I would lose that, too.
I held back a small groan and did my best to ignore the feelings threatening to take over my sanity.
I knocked on the door, and Archer answered, a grin on his face. “There you are. Come on in. We’ve got coffee, danishes, and what Brenna called a breakfast cake.”
“A breakfast cake is just a cake you eat for breakfast. There’s not sausages or anything in it.” Lee groaned. “Why don’t you guys understand the concept of breakfast cake?”
“Because it’s a dessert cake that you’re calling breakfast just so you can eat it in the morning,” Beckett said with a grin, coffee in hand. “You’re here. Good,” he looked at me. “Now we can talk about what the fuck is going on with your bar.”
“You told them?” I asked Lee, blinking.
Lee shrugged. “Well, we were already having a morning to discuss upcoming bachelor parties and all of that. And then I said you’d be joining us because of an issue with your bar.”
“Oh,” I said before looking around and noticing everyone else there.