Chapter 6 #2
“It looks like it’s going to be a bit full in here. I’ll taste it when you’re ready to figure out the label, okay?” Bodhi said as he pushed past Kiera, kissed Briar on the top of her head, and headed out of the small tasting room.
Kiera’s shoulders fell as she stared between us. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to annoy him. I mean, I enjoy annoying men most of the time because they get in my space and think I don’t know what I’m doing in my job, but I don’t think that’s what it was.”
Briar squeezed Kiera’s hand. “It’s not you. I promise.” My sister met my gaze, and I nodded tightly.
No, we both knew what was going on, and while I didn’t fault him for it, I really wished that there was something we could do.
“If you’re sure. I feel like I should go apologize.”
“Then you’d be apologizing for existing, and for all the times I’ve met you, that doesn’t seem like a you thing.”
The drummer’s lips twitched. “Very much true. Okay, show me your favorite beer.”
“I don’t know if it’s my favorite yet. It’s our first taste. It could be piss water.”
“Please, make sure that you put that on the next T-shirt,” Briar said with a laugh.
I looked past them through the glass doors, but Bodhi was long gone.
I didn’t know how to fix this, but then again, I couldn’t fix most things in my family.
After all, what did you say to a man who not only lost his wife and kids but had been blamed for it long enough for the scars to dig deeper than the burn scars that already covered his body?
* * *
“And then, the guy comes up to me and says something along the lines of how if I would wear a skirt while behind the kit, maybe more people would take me seriously. But we both know it’s so that way he could see what was beneath the skirt.
As if that was the only time he was ever going to see pussy in his life. ”
I threw my head back, laughing at Kiera’s expression, and looked over at Briar.
“Please tell me you don’t deal with this type of shit on the road too?”
“All the time. Though now it’s mostly along the lines of how I slept into my Grammys position because I’m married to Gabriel. It doesn’t matter that I had more Grammys than him when we first got together, but whatever. It’s all about who you’re sleeping with.”
“I am having at least four affairs right now.” Kiera fluttered her eyelashes. “And nobody will ever know which one is the actual real one.”
“I’m sure he really likes that,” Briar said, but there was something in her tone that worried me.
Kiera just laughed it off, though her eyes had darkened slightly. “It’s fine. This is what happens when you date someone in our business. You deal with the blowback and gossip.”
“Sounds like dating someone in a small town,” Rune said as he came over with a few more beers. Then he took a seat next to Kiera and grinned.
“Glad you were able to come visit. We have heard all about you from Briar, of course, but it’s nice to have you here.”
Kiera beamed. “I do like it. I know that small towns aren’t all quiet, and yes, there’s gossip and everything, but it is so much more peaceful than being on the road.”
“Here here,” Briar said as her gaze drifted towards the door once again.
“He’s banned from coming in here,” I whispered, and her shoulders relaxed.
“I hate that you knew what I was thinking.”
“I won’t let him near you.”
We both knew who we were talking about, and from the look on Rune’s face, he had heard and understood.
“Briar!” Teagan exclaimed as she came forward, and Briar pushed me out of the booth so she could run into her sister’s arms.
“I’ve missed you,” they both said at the same time, and they practically danced in place.
I looked over at Rune, who just rolled his eyes.
“Well, I’m glad that I finally made it in,” Finnian said as he came forward, Sterling at his side.
We pulled up another couple of tables, and suddenly, most of the Ashford family was there, though I wished Bodhi had come back after he’d stormed out.
But the rest of my siblings were here, and with Rune seated with us, our family felt nearly complete.
Though we would never be fully complete, not with what we had lost, but we were slowly coming back from that.
And I had to be grateful.
My phone buzzed, and I looked down at it. A sigh escaped my lips.
Bodhi: Tell Kiera I’m sorry I’m an ass.
Me: You should probably do that yourself.
Bodhi: That would mean I would have to text more than you. Just tell her, okay? She didn’t deserve that.
My brother was a good guy—he just forgot that sometimes. I would figure out how to tell Kiera, though. She deserved his apology, even if I wasn’t sure if she’d accept it. Not that she was mean, but I guess I felt like sometimes she was so kind that I was surprised she made it in her world.
“I’m surprised Thatcher and Kellan aren’t here,” Finnian said as he leaned forward, grabbing a chip out of Sterling’s grip.
Sterling just rolled his eyes, taking another chip.
“Kellan is stuck at the clinic all evening,” Rune put in. “He had to switch shifts with someone.”
“Thankfully, it seems that their new nanny might actually work out, though, because having to switch like that really messes with the childcare,” Finnian put in.
Rune nodded. “Pretty much. And Thatcher’s on call all night. I was going to send over a few things to eat for the entire staff because I know with the wildfires going on out west, everybody’s on edge.”
“You’re a good man, Rune,” Briar said softly, and Rune just rolled his eyes. “Not really. But I don’t mind pretending.”
I stretched my back and eased out of the booth.
“Be right back.”
“Hey, when you’re back there, can you let me know if I need to send someone to go clean up anything? I know my staff is working hard tonight, but we’re down a busboy, and they won’t let me work to help tonight,” Rune put in.
“Because you work too many hours as it is. And don’t worry, I’ll let you know exactly what I think about the cleanliness of your establishment.”
Rune flipped me off, and I laughed, making my way down to the back of the bar and grill where the bank of restrooms was.
The back door was propped open slightly, one of the waitresses out there taking her smoke break, but as I heard a familiar growl of a voice, my hands fisted at my sides, and I moved towards the door.
“Just a couple of dollars. If not, you know, a beer? I’ll pay. I promise.”
“Mr. Ashford, you’re not supposed to be here.”
“Leslie, why don’t you head on in? I’ve got this.”
The twenty-something looked up at me, and relief spread over her face. “Sorry, Callum,” she whispered as she put out her cigarette and skittered behind me.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her, boy,” my dad slurred, and I shook my head.
“Go home. You know you’re not allowed to be here.”
“Because your friend is a jackass who is too weak to stand up to you.”
“You’re kicked out because the last two times you were here, you tried to start a brawl. And you try to steal shit, and you’re a drunk who continues to hit on waitresses. Just go home.”
Briar walked past. “Did she bring that little brat of hers? Nobody will tell dear old grandpa anything. I haven’t even met the little tyke.”
My spine stiffened, and I tried not to show any of my anger or fear on my face. Because my dad would latch onto that. He was so damn good at it.
I fisted my hands once again, letting out a breath. Those same hands that looked so much like my father’s. But I would not use them to beat the shit out of my father. That’s what he wanted. That’s what he craved.
“Go home.”
“What are you going to do about it? Call one of your little fuck boys to go arrest me again? It’s public property back here, and I’m not doing anything. Though, if I had a little incentive, I’d head out.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Teagan move in close, doing what she always did—trying to protect the Ashfords. Just like I failed to do.
I scowled, then pulled a couple of twenties out of my wallet. “Go.”
If Briar hadn’t been in there, maybe I’d have just shoved the man out of the way, but I knew if I gave him at least a couple bucks, Dad would let her breathe. Because that’s how it always worked.
He snatched the bills from my hand and walked away, whistling a tune that still haunted me. Because he’d always whistle that after he’d beat the shit out of us.
“Why did you pay him?” Teagan asked, and I couldn’t even look back at her.
“Because he would fuck with Briar and the kids.”
“I just wish he would go away. Or just die. That’s something a daughter should always say about her dad, right?”
I turned, walked through the back door, closed it behind me, and pulled my little sister into my arms.
“He has to die sometime soon. His liver can’t hold out that much longer.”
“The things we wish for.”
Both of us ignored the wetness covering my chest as Teagan cried into my arms. My little sister, the fierce one. The one who didn’t cry in front of anyone, still cried in my arms.
And that was just one more reason why my dad needed to go.
And why, if he wasn’t careful, I was going to be the one who made it happen.