Chapter 26 Bailey
BAILEY
I’d cried a lot of tears in the last forty-eight hours, but I vowed that it would be the last time I ever cried over Liam Parker.
I woke up as refreshed as I could be and threw myself into my work. What other choice did I have? It wasn’t like I could lay in bed for the whole week, pining over a man I’d dated for less time than it took for the whole thing to implode.
So, I stood over this engine and worked harder than I ever had in my life.
“Word around town is that Parker broke your pretty little heart.”
I stiffened at the voice, but refused to show any fear. Austin was a bully, and I was not in the mood to deal with him.
“Did you need something?” I asked as I continued to work.
“Just wondering if you wanted some revenge.” His hand slid across my ass before cupping my cheek. I jolted forward, nearly banging my head on the hood of the car, before spinning around.
“Keep your hands off me,” I snarled. His face was mangled and bruised, but that didn’t stop him at all from trying to get in my pants.
“Baby, I could show you a good time. Way the fuck better than that prick ever did.”
He crowded against me, pressing into my space so much that I had to lean into the engine to escape him. That wicked gleam in his eyes that seemed to brighten every time I saw him made my stomach flip, and not in a good way.
“Back up right now,” I snapped.
“Or what?”
He leaned in and sniffed me like a dog, then slid his fingers through my hair, yanking me into him. My hand fumbled behind me for the wrench, and when the smooth metal met my fingertips, I latched on, swinging with all my might, connecting with his head.
“Son of a—” He stumbled backward, holding his head as blood gushed from a small cut just above his temple.
Swinging the wrench in my hand, I prepared for him to come at me again. The anger swirling in his eyes matched what I felt thrumming through my veins.
“I swear to God, if you ever touch me again, I will kill you.”
“That’s a little harsh. Did you say that to Liam when you saw his little whore wearing his shirt?”
I held strong even though his words cut me like daggers. But even after everything Liam did, his touch was nothing like the greasy scumbag in front of me.
“Get the fuck away from me.”
Smirking, he started to step in my direction when Wyatt’s voice boomed through the garage.
“Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
A slow grin spread across my face, but was quickly cut off by his next words.
“Fuck around on your own time, Bailey. We’ve got work to do, and after how much time you took off last week, you can’t exactly afford to piss me off.”
His words chilled the blood running through my veins. His brother had attacked me, but he was blaming me?
“Austin, if you’re not gonna fucking help, get the hell out. You’re distracting my employee.”
Smirking, Austin slid his thumb through the blood on his face, then pressed the pad of his thumb to his mouth and sucked. “Could be yours next,” he chuckled, then turned on his heel and walked out, giving a jaunty wave to his brother.
Still shaken, I stared at the wrench in my hand, thankful I’d had something close by to protect myself with. It could have all turned out so much differently.
“What did I tell you about him?” Wyatt snapped. “Stay the fuck away from him.”
My head snapped up and my lips twisted in a scowl. “I was working. Maybe you should keep him off the fucking property.”
The wrench in my hand wouldn’t stop shaking, so I clenched my fist around it, doing my best to calm the fuck down. Wyatt was in front of me in seconds, but instead of crowding me, he gently pried the wrench from my hand and slid a rag over the blood.
“You should get cleaned up. Take a long lunch.”
“I—” I started to argue, but the words wouldn’t come.
I was too rattled. Suddenly, I felt the desperate urge to break down in tears, but I wasn’t sure what from.
I was pissed as hell that Liam had slept with another woman, that he wasn’t here when I needed him, and that I felt so fucking vulnerable when I should be strong.
But most of all, I was angry at myself for letting all the men in my life get to me so much.
“Go on,” Wyatt said softly. “Go see Cheyenne. I’ll see you back here in an hour.”
Confusion rattled through me as I stared up at the dark eyes of my boss. He’d berated me, blamed me for his brother’s actions, but now he was being…kind.
I never believed all the gossip about Wyatt. I’d only ever known him to be a fair boss, but this…it was like he was trying to protect me in some way. But I got the feeling that if I said anything about it, he would deny it profusely.
Slipping around him, I hurried over to the break room and slipped out of my coveralls before fleeing the place like a bad rash. I texted Cheyenne immediately, letting her know I was on the way, and nearly dropped my phone three times in the process.
I needed a drink, but that couldn’t happen in the middle of the day, so fried food would have to do.
Ten minutes later, we were sitting in The Beaver and Boot, but I hadn’t said a word. My hands were still shaking as I tried to find a way to tell her about what just happened without her losing her shit.
Or letting the whole town know what had happened.
“Okay, girl. I got out of work early. My boss is going to make me do burpees just as a fun way to punish me, so this better be good.”
“Food first,” I said, flagging down Lizzy.
“No drinks?”
“Unfortunately, not.” I turned to Lizzy, ordering anything I could. “I need the fried chicken, French fries, deep-fried pickles, onion rings, and a Coke.”
She quirked an eyebrow at me. “Is that it?”
I thought over the order and added, “The mashed potatoes. Almost forgot that one.”
“And you?”
“Salad.”
When I glared at her, she shrugged. “What? It’s your crisis. Not mine.”
“Should only be a few minutes. Roy just dropped everything for the lunch rush.”
As she left, Cheyenne hit me with a desperate plea. “So, what is this all about?”
“I don’t even know where to start. I’m still shaking.”
“Oh my God. You’re pregnant!” she shouted, earning several looks from the early lunch rush.
“Seriously? It’s been like a week and a half.”
“Sorry, but you rushed me out of work and you’re ordering a shit ton off the menu. What was I supposed to think?”
“That I had something important to tell you. Not for you to announce to the whole damn bar that I’m pregnant.”
“Sorry, I just got excited. I’ve always wanted to be an aunt. You know, show off my little girl in all the prettiest clothes, but then hand her back when she pukes.”
“Well, that’s not happening. Besides, how would I even know?”
“Maybe you already missed your period.”
“I can’t even talk to you when you say these ridiculous things,” I muttered.
“Well, if you’re not pregnant,” she said loudly, winking at me when she gathered everyone’s attention, “then what did you call me down here in a rush for?”
I slapped her, shushing her at the same time. “You’re not helping things.”
“Well, I had to dispel any rumors.”
God, sometimes I wished I had a different friend.
“So, I was at work when Wyatt’s brother snuck up behind me.”
“The nice one or the evil one?”
“The evil one. And he started hitting on me, and he was—”
“His usual creepy self.”
“Exactly. So, he backed me up against the car and yanked me toward him by my hair—”
“Which still looks amazing, by the way.”
“And he was threatening me.”
“I hope you nailed him in the nuts,” she snapped, practically bouncing out of her seat. “No wonder you’re so shaken.”
“That’s not even the worst part.”
“Oh my God. He touched you!”
“On the ass, but that’s not the part I need to tell you.”
Lizzy set down a tray of fries, which Cheyenne immediately grabbed and started eating.
“So, he grabbed you. What happened after that?”
Lizzy pulled up a chair and took a fry of her own. “Who grabbed you?”
“Austin,” I said, giving her a pointed look.
“That asshole.”
“So, I grabbed a wrench and hit him in the head.”
“Is he dead?” Cheyenne asked. “Do I need to change my clothes? I will so help you bury a body.”
“Me too, but I don’t get off until one o’clock, so I’ll have to meet you at the ridge.”
“Wait,” Cheyenne shook her head. “Why the ridge? Why not just bury him in the woods?”
“Because the ridge has the overlook. It’s the most common place for tourists to fall. We could totally stage it as if he was a tourist who got a little too close to the edge.”
“It’s Austin. We can’t pretend he’s a tourist,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Besides, if we bury him in the woods in a shallow grave, bears will come along and dig up his body. He’ll be gone in no time.”
“Okay, but then you have to decide whose property to bury him on, because that person is going to be wanted for his murder.”
“Who said anything about murder?” Cheyenne argued. “There are plenty of natural substances that are virtually undetectable in the human body. We head down to the apothecary shop, and in a matter of days, he’s no longer our problem.”
“If he’s already dead, why would we need the herbs?” Lizzy asked.
“He’s not dead!” I shouted, garnering everyone’s attention again.
Lowering my voice, I tried to get through to the ladies before they fled to murder Austin and got us all thrown in prison.
“I hit him with the wrench, and then Wyatt showed up—”
Cheyenne sighed dreamily. “I always knew he had it in him to be a good guy.”
“And then he yelled at me for not working!”
“Wait, he yelled at you?” Lizzy snapped. “I’m gonna drop him off the ridge right along with his brother.”
“And he told Austin to get out unless he planned to help.”
“That’s totally like the Callahans. Always sticking up for each other. Even though Austin is a psychopath and everyone knows it.”
“Right, but then after he left, he said he told me to stay away from his brother. And then he said I should take an extended lunch and see Cheyenne.”
“Wait,” Cheyenne interrupted. “He wanted you to see me?”
“Yes, it was like he was trying to be nice and understand that his brother is a total creep.”
“Then why didn’t he just come out and say that?” Lizzy asked. “Why all the cloak and dagger stuff?”
“I have no idea. Frankly, I always thought Wyatt was the only good brother—”
“You’d be the only one,” Lizzy retorted.
“But the way he yelled at me was totally weird.”
“Because he’s trying to protect you,” Cheyenne beamed. “He’s really a good guy, but he’s pretending to be a bad guy.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Lizzy muttered. “I think it’s more likely that he’s trying to protect his brother, and he thought if he buttered you up, you wouldn’t press charges against Austin.”
That did make a little more sense. Wyatt wasn’t a bad guy, but he was very protective of his family. In all honesty, I could see him doing some pretty underhanded stuff in the name of keeping his family out of jail.
“Okay, not that this isn’t completely interesting, but what happened last night?” Lizzy asked, stealing another fry. “Ooh, hold that thought. Order up.”
She jumped out of her chair after Roy hit the bell a little too excitedly. With the tray in one hand, she plopped all the food in front of us, digging into my fried pickles right away.
Cheyenne ignored her salad completely and snatched one of my pieces of fried chicken.
“If you knew you weren’t going to eat salad, why the hell did you order it?”
“Because I didn’t know we were going to discuss Wyatt and his shitty brother!”
“But we’re not talking about that anymore,” Lizzy cut in. “Right now, I need to know what happened with my brother.”
“I don’t really want to discuss your brother with you.”
“Oh, believe me, if he hurt you in any way, I will chop off his dick and feed it to him.”
“I would ask you to reconsider your statement since you don’t know the details.”
She stared at me in shock. “He did it, didn’t he?”
I winced at the reminder. It had taken all weekend to stop thinking about it every second of the day, and now I was back to thinking about it.
“Oh my God!” Lizzy shouted, once again drawing everyone’s attention. “He slept with that slut?”
“Keep your voice down,” I hissed.
“I can’t believe I haven’t heard about it yet. Usually, it’s around town much earlier in the morning.”
“It was all around the bank as soon as we opened,” Cheyenne said not-so-helpfully.
Snatching up my Coke, she took a long pull.
“Excuse me, but I need that!” I shouted, yanking it out of her hand.
“I still can’t believe he slept with her. It doesn’t even make any sense. We all saw you that night in here when you were dancing. He loves you!”
“He has a nice way of showing it,” Cheyenne snorted, stealing another fry.
At this point, food was no longer appealing. I didn’t want to talk or think about Liam ever again, and I had done a great job pushing him from my mind when I went to work.
Now it was all rushing back to the forefront of my mind. And with everyone in the bar whispering as they looked at me, it was impossible to escape.
“Well, this was a nice end to lunch.”
“Don’t worry,” Cheyenne muttered around my fried chicken. “I’ll finish this for you.” She moaned as she tore off the crispy outside. “Mmm, don’t tell your mom this, but Roy makes the best fried chicken.”
“He got the recipe from her,” Lizzy said proudly. “It’s Liam’s favorite, so of course she makes it all the time.”
She was just about to grab a fry when she realized what she said.
“And because of that, I’m going to tell her never to make it again.”
Shoving to my feet, I grabbed my Coke. “Well, this has been fun, but I’m going to get back to work.”
“But what about all this food?” Cheyenne asked.
There was hardly any left. The two of them had devoured most of it.
“I’m sure you’ll find somewhere to put it.”
Spinning on my heel, I walked out holding my head high.
Until I actually made it out the door. Then I slumped against the wall and let my emotions get the best of me for just a few minutes.
“Enough feeling sorry for yourself, Bailey. He’s just a stupid man.”
Pulling myself together, I headed back to work, repeating those words over and over in my head.
But no matter how many times I said it, I just couldn’t bring myself to believe it.