CHAPTER 8
Riggs
I set my phone down before I shook my head and continued making my coffee.
“Are you sure you’re up for the soccer game?
” Clay asked through the speakerphone, and I grinned, even though he couldn’t see me.
We were talking as Clay got the kids ready for school, and I was prepping for my day.
I had inventory to do and an early delivery, so I’d be heading to the bar soon, while Clay would be heading to the Montgomerys’.
It was nice, getting ready in the morning together, even though we were in separate homes and I couldn’t see him.
Clay was able to put an earbud in his ear so he could talk to me, but video calling wouldn’t work while he was running around, making sure that the kids were ready to go.
I still wasn’t sure how he did it. However, I was learning.
We’d had nearly two weeks of us doing our version of dating. Meaning not dating or going out. I had dinner at his place and he came into the bar. I hung out with him and the kids and did indeed watch a movie or two while we paid more attention to each other than what was on the screen.
It was nice and nothing like anything I’d ever done in my life.
Except for my marriage to Neil, I had only ever been the hookup guy. Men or women, it didn’t matter. I hadn’t had the time or the inclination for anything more. And yet, with Clay, that didn’t seem to be a problem.
Maybe that should worry me, but it didn’t. How could it when I was enjoying myself?
“I’m up for the soccer game. I want to see what that kid can do.”
Clay snorted. “He’s the sweeper, so he does a lot of running and kicking the ball far.”
I grinned. “I was on the soccer team, remember? I know what he does.”
Clay cleared his throat. “You were also on the football team and could have done track if spring practice hadn’t gotten in the way.”
“I tried baseball, too, but I was a little too busy. I was the jock. What can I say?”
“You always did look good in those shorts,” Clay mumbled and then cleared his throat as Mariah asked where her shoes were in the background.
I laughed, remembering that Clay had looked damn good in his track shorts, too. Not that I’d been able to see him in them for long. No, we’d had other things to do when we were together.
Clay let out a sigh, and I had to wonder if his mind had gone down the same path as mine. “Anyway. I need to get the kids in, and then I have Montgomery meeting after meeting. Tomorrow is the soccer game. You’d better be there.”
“I promised Jackson I’d be there. And you’re the one asking if I’m not going to show up, so don’t snarl at me.”
“I thought you liked it when I snarled.”
I grinned, even though he couldn’t see me. “True, true. Have fun. I need to head out.”
“Have fun doing inventory.”
I laughed. “I’m so excited, you don’t even know.” I took a deep breath, frowned, then said my goodbyes before hanging up, wondering why I’d wanted to add something else to that sentence.
What did you say to the man that was your boyfriend, but you were taking the long, patient way toward a relationship? Not “I love you.” Because Clay and I were just getting to know each other again as adults, each with our own baggage. I couldn’t love him. Not this soon.
I shook my head, wondering what was wrong with me and made my way towards the bar.
I pulled into the rear lot, rolled my shoulders back, and knew today would be a damn fine, good day.
I had started the morning off on the phone with someone I knew I could fall for if I wasn’t careful, and I was ready. Ready for so fucking much.
I drained the last of my coffee but brought in my travel mug so I could fill it up again and then unlocked the back door. It creaked open, and I frowned, wondering what that smell was.
I took two steps in past the kitchen and looked out into the hallway.
My stomach fell, and my hands shook.
Someone had taken a bat or a two-by-four to the place.
The glass picture frames were broken, shattered on the floor.
Someone had taken the trash that we hadn’t taken out the night before and tore open the bags, tossing the contents all over the place—on top of the tables, the counters, the floor.
Someone else—or the same person?—had spray-painted crude words and derogatory things I wasn’t even going to think about all over the walls.
My hand-carved and patiently stained wood bar top had gouges all over it from what looked like a fucking ax.
Tables were upended, chairs were in pieces.
I could barely believe what I was seeing.
Everything that I had put into this, my entire life, was ruined. Someone had ruined everything, and I didn’t understand what I was supposed to do.
I pulled out my phone, wondering if I should call Clay, then shook my head. No, he had things to do.
He had meetings and was probably still dealing with the kids during this time of the morning.
I needed to focus. I needed to just... I needed to call the cops.
I’d let Clay do his thing and then tell him what happened later.
We had a soccer game to go to tomorrow. He had a life. I didn’t want to intrude on it.
He had enough on his plate.
As I looked down at the hatred etched onto the walls of the place that was mine, the bar that I had put so much of my soul and creativity into, I knew who had done it.
If not with his own hands, then with his bank account.
Because Neil was always a petty bitch who got what he wanted.
And when he didn’t, he took it out on everyone else.
I slipped out of the bar and called the cops, hoping to hell that there were answers out there somewhere. Because I sure as fuck didn’t have them.
* * *
“Well, it seems your ex is an idiot,” Jacob stated as he stood next to me while the cops went over my bar. We were closed. The first time, except for an actual holiday, that Riggs’ wouldn’t be opening its doors for the neighborhood.
I let out a breath, my body shaking and feeling as if I’d gone three rounds in the ring. “I know he’s an idiot, but are you going to tell me why you think he is?”
Jacob sighed. “Because he paid the man who did this with a bank deposit. A straight transfer of funds with a memo. The man they found the fingerprints for.”
I blinked and looked up at him. “How the hell do you know this? You’re not even a criminal attorney. Do you have like friends on the force or something?”
Jacob laughed. “No, I don’t have friends on the force. But I do have a lawyer friend who has friends on the force. They’re dealing with Neil now. You’re fine.”
“Fine. Isn’t fine a synonym for something being fucked up?”
Jacob sighed. “I’m sorry this happened. Neil fucked up here.
He’s the one who’s going to get in trouble.
He paid someone to destroy your bar because he was never going to get what he wanted.
I don’t know the psychological issues behind that type of response, but he’s out of your life forever, Riggs.
Some of your place is damaged, yes, but not all of it. ”
I stuck my hands into my pockets and looked around. My staff had come and gone. I hadn’t wanted them to see it, but they had all said that they would be here to help clean up. That they wouldn’t leave me.
Insurance would handle most of it, but not everything. My memories, everything that had been put into this place…Neil had taken it.
Just like he had taken so much from me. I hadn’t been the same kid I was when I first met him.
Right after high school, I had left Clay, even though we hadn’t truly been together except for a few stolen moments.
I went to college, got my business degree so I could open my bar, and met Neil.
I hadn’t even graduated yet when Neil got on one knee and I was an idiot and said yes.
My grandmother had hated him on sight, but she still loved me.
Then, she had gotten a kickass lawyer to make sure Neil never got any of her money.
When she died, and Neil couldn’t take not controlling me any longer, I ended up with this place. Today, Neil had tried to take it from me. Forcefully, brutally, and in the fashion he’d become accustomed to.
“He was that much of an idiot?” I asked, rocking back on my heels.
“Yes. Mr. Dumbass didn’t think he would be caught because he wasn’t the one doing it. He clearly watched too many bad cop shows and didn’t realize that the bad guys always get caught.”
“Maybe. Fuck, what am I going to do?” It felt overwhelming, and I couldn’t keep up.
“You’re going to go home, get something to eat, call Clay, and deal with this in the morning.
You’re not going to be able to go in until the authorities do what they need to do and the insurance company does the appraisal anyway.
And then you have the power of the entire Montgomery clan behind you, as well as everybody married into their family—which happens to be a state’s worth of people. We’ll all help you clean up the place.”
I blinked, confused. “What?”
“Don’t what me. They’re going to want to help—all of them. Montgomerys you haven’t even met yet have already called Annabelle to set things up. There’s a phone tree involved, Riggs.”
I blinked, my eyes watering as I fought to keep up with Jacob’s words. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“Not only is Riggs’ their favorite bar to hang out in, you’re family now. And you’re dating one of theirs. Clay may not be a Montgomery by name, but he joined the family years ago before he even moved up here. You’re his. Therefore, you’re theirs.”
I didn’t know what to think. Everything swirled inside my head, and my hands couldn’t stop shaking. Nothing felt real. “Clay and I...we’re not ready for anything like that.”
“Of course, you’re not. But I don’t think you’re going to have a choice in taking the help offered by his family. My family, too, for that matter.”