Chapter 41
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Kane
Cole taps his hand against the bar. “Need another one?” I ask, inclining my head to his empty beer bottle.
“Sure.”
I grab one from the cooler, popping the cap before sliding it into his open hand.
“Thanks,” he says, taking a swig. “Grab your guys.” He looks at the far end of the bar where Wyatt and Linc are.
We’ve been taking turns behind the bar so we can all spend time with Abby. We’re all back here right now, though.
I’ve crossed paths with Cole a few times because of the boys, and at Thanksgiving, so I know he’s a good guy. I also know he means a great deal to Abby, so whatever he has to say, we need to hear him out.
Wariness washes through me, but I do as he asks. Grabbing both of them by their shirts, I drag them back to where Cole is still leaning against the bar.
“The fuck?” Linc groans, batting my hand away. Wyatt just laughs like an idiot. They both seem to sense why I brought them here.
Their features grow more serious, seemingly in the same heartbeat. Maybe it’s another one of those weird twin things that still freak me out, even after being friends with them for damn near my entire life.
Cole takes another drink of his beer. “Don’t hurt her,” he says, looking at each of us. He doesn’t need to clarify who he’s talking about.
“We’re just friends,” Wyatt says. He’s trying to keep his face blank, but even I see the slight flinch he made at the last word.
Yeah, friend doesn’t even begin to describe what Abby is to all of us.
Cole chuckles dryly, wrapping both his hands around the longneck.
“Yeah… I’m not an idiot.” His face softens. “I also know my best friend, and I’ve never seen her in—” He cuts himself off, not allowing the rest of the words past his lips.
Linc and I lock eyes. I’m pretty sure I know what Cole was about to say, but there’s no way. Right? Right?
“I’m the last person to judge any relationship and what it looks like from the outside. Just being friends might be the lie you’re all telling yourselves, but I don’t know how much any of you believe it,” Cole says.
I pull in a breath because he hit the bullseye, and it sets off an ache in my chest.
“Just don’t hurt her. Okay? She means too much to me to see her get her heart broken.” There’s a glossiness in his eyes that he blinks away. He clears his throat a few times. “I’ll kick each and every one of your asses if you do.”
If any of us hurt her, I would let him hit us with his truck. I never want to see her hurt, let alone be the one who caused it.
Abby skids to a stop, smushing against Cole’s side. He wraps an arm around her shoulders to steady her.
She glares up at him. “Are you giving them a hard time?”
“Why aren’t you asking if they are the ones bothering me?”
“Because you’re a pain in the ass, and you bother everyone.”
His eyes roll back into his head. “And yet you willingly choose to be around me… like, all the time.”
She grabs his cheeks, pinching them. “Because you’re so cute.”
He presses his palm to her forehead, shoving her away. “Menace.”
“Brute,” she grumbles.
How these two stopped bickering for long enough to make a baby together is beyond me.
She turns, training her beaming smile on me. Seeing her happy lights my soul on fire. “You want another drink?”
“Can I just do a Diet Coke this time? I really don’t want to feel like shit tomorrow.”
Linc’s closer to the nozzle, so he grabs a glass and fills it up for her. His eyes stay locked on her the entire time.
“Damn… that was hot,” she says as he places the glass in her hand. He gives her a wink and retreats to the end of the bar where other people are waiting.
We could have asked other staff to work tonight, but we wanted to keep it strictly to people Abby knew.
Cole pulls Abby in for a hug, then presses a kiss to her cheek.
“You’re so fucked, Abs.” She looks up at him with confusion. “I’ll be here to listen, just like you did for me last year when I started to figure it all out.”
He gives her shoulders a squeeze, then walks away.
“What was all that about?” she asks.
“Nothing, beautiful,” Wyatt says.
It must be the liquor in her system because she lets it go. Sober Abby would hound us for information like a dog with a bone.
A part of me wishes she would dig a little deeper. Staying trapped in these walls we all built is slowly suffocating me. I fucking hate it.
Male voices rise on the opposite side of the room. My eyes dart up to assess the situation, but it doesn’t look like anything serious. It looks like all the men from Thanksgiving are bickering about something, but it seems mostly playful.
Two of them walk over in our direction. “Have you guys ever played softball before?” Grayson asks.
“Who cares if they’ve played before?” Brooks says, smacking him on the chest.
Grayson just rolls his eyes. He starts to say something but is cut off when Finn and Miles step up beside them.
“You guys should join our team this year,” Finn says, running his hands through his long Viking-like hair.
“No,” Brooks snaps. “You should be on our team.”
They continue arguing back and forth, while I stand here confused as fuck. I turn to Abby, who is smiling like a fool.
“What the hell are they talking about?” I ask her.
“They have this cute little softball league that they all get very competitive with,” she says.
“Hey,” Miles grumbles. “It isn’t cute or little.”
“Whatever you say, big guy.” She points to Brooks and Grayson. “These two are on a team.” She moves her fingers to the other two. “And they’re on another team.” The smile on her face only grows. “And they all want you to play with them. It’s honestly so adorable.”
Wyatt swings his arm over my shoulder. “Maybe we will start our own team.”
“No,” Grayson says.
“I’m not playing softball,” Linc pipes in.
Miles shrugs. “That’s what Owen said, too, and look who’s playing now.”
Abby chuckles to herself. “Did I mention that I love to go watch the softball games?” She doesn’t even wait for a response before she saunters off.
Linc’s face is pure determination, and I don’t want to know about whatever thoughts are flashing through his dirty brain.
I let out a relieved breath, stepping out of my office. I trust Abby’s parents, who are watching Oliver and Maverick tonight, but I still worry about Oliver when I’m not with him.
Oliver isn’t the only one impacted by the trauma of Jess’s death. The echoes of it haunt me to this day—the thought that at any moment I could get a phone call telling me that someone else I love has been ripped away from me.
The thoughts might be more on the periphery of my mind these days, but they’re still there.
My finger taps against the gift I got for Abby, and slid into my pocket when I was done checking on Oliver. It’s probably a dumb gift, but I want to give it to her anyway.
Like a stroke of fate, Abby is in the back of the bar behind the pool tables when I walk out.
Stepping in beside her, I grab her hand. “Come with me for a minute?”
Her smile is gentle and full of trust as she nods at me. I pull her back into the hallway I just came out of. We don’t make it all the way to my office, but I walk us far enough that we’re tucked away from everyone else.
“I have a present for you,” I tell her.
“You didn’t need to do that.”
“It’s small, I promise.” I give her hand a squeeze, then reach into my pocket. “You’re probably going to think it’s dumb.”
“I doubt it.”
I set the wooden keychain in her palm. She studies it closely, and I can tell the exact moment she figures it out. Her eyes light up.
“This is the skyline of downtown?”
If you can call the main street in Aspen Springs downtown, then yeah. I nod.
Her finger runs over the delicately carved wood that outlines the different buildings. She stops on the very building we’re standing in.
“This building brought you into my life two different times,” I say.
She blinks up at me with what I swear are tears, but the hallway is dark.
“When I agreed to buy this bar and move here, I think I wanted it to bring you back into my life, even if it seemed practically impossible at the time.” I take a deep breath, running my hand over my face.
“I guess I’m saying I’m thankful to this building for so many things, but most of all for bringing me you. ”
Regardless of what capacity I get to have her in my life, I’ll always be grateful for her being there at all.
“Kane,” she rasps. I know I’m not seeing things now. There are definitely tears wetting her cheeks.
She wraps her arms around me, burying her face in my chest.
My arms slip around her, holding her close to me. It’s a little awkward with my cast, but I make it work.
I know they’re happy tears, but I still hate seeing her cry.
“Thank you,” she mumbles against the fabric of my shirt.
“You’re welcome.” Sliding my fingers into her hair, I angle her head back, so she’s looking at me. “Happy Birthday, sweetheart.”
I’ve been trying to avoid that endearment but fuck it. I don’t care right now.
I desperately want to press my lips to hers, but I settle for kissing her temple. It’s not the same, but it’s still her.
Her hands move up to slide around my neck. She rests her forehead against mine. Our breaths mingle together, bodies pressed like two puzzle pieces meant to click into place.
“I can’t keep fighting this.” The only way she’s able to hear my barely audible words is because she’s practically connected to me right now.
She’s silent for a moment. I can feel her swallow. “Then don’t.”
I pull back enough to look at her. My hands cup the sides of her face. “What?”
“I can’t do it either. It’s just too much… and not nearly enough.” She makes sure I’m staring directly into her eyes before she continues. “I would never let anything come between Mav and Oliver’s friendship, regardless of anything that happens between us.”
On some level, I already knew this because I know Abby, but hearing the words hits different. I lean so close that if either of us breathes, our lips will touch.
“Abs,” a female voice shouts a moment before Avery walks around the corner.
Abby and I stumble apart from each other. We weren’t doing anything wrong, but it felt like what needed to be done after such an intimate moment had been snapped.
Avery grabs Abby’s hand. “I hate to break up whatever this was,” she says with a smirk. “But we need the birthday girl, or the singing and the cake are kind of pointless.”
Abby follows along behind her friend before pulling her hand free and jogging back to me. Her body smacks against me as she hugs me again.
I happily band my arms around her, even if I am a little confused.
“Thank you for my gift. I love it.”
“You’re welcome.”
“This conversation isn’t over.” This comes out quiet enough that I’m the only one to hear it.
I jerk my head in a nod, anticipation curling inside of me.
She kisses my cheek, and then she’s gone.