Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 47107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 47107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 236(@200wpm)___ 188(@250wpm)___ 157(@300wpm)
I paused, my eyebrow going up. She had a very serious look on her face. Taz was watching her, watching me, but closed her mouth over her metal straw and took a sip. A long sip. Heather was frowning at her own phone. “What the hell?”
And that was my question too, because this couldn’t be good. None of it.
My whole stomach just shrank in size. I braced myself. “Was he in an accident?” The elephant in the room had been acknowledged.
Taz started coughing, spitting out her drink.
Bren’s eyes got big. “No. Oh, no. Nothing like that.”
Heather was giving me a grim face.
I kept cutting to her. “What? Just tell me. What is it? What happened?”
She hesitated, and this was Heather Jax. She never hesitated. Ever. She was the queen of kicking ass, I mean, after Bren. They were both up there, taking no bullshit. Bren was in an actual fisticuffs way, but you still didn’t mess with Heather Jax. She’d cut your balls off.
But the hesitation did me in, and I whipped out my phone.
“Ava—” Bren started to stand up from her stool.
I turned my back and read the text that was just sent through.
Unknown number: This is Zeke. I got arrested. I’m fine. Lawyer Kade should get me out soon. Don’t worry about me. I swung on someone, but there was reason. Don’t let anyone twist it, please. Let me tell you what happened first.
I texted back:
Me: Whose phone is this?
Unknown Number: This is his lawyer. Working on bail.
My God. Bail.
He swung on someone? What did that mean?
Unknown Number: Don’t talk to anyone. That’s imperative.
I frowned. Talk to no one?
“What did that just say?” Bren had come around to my side of the bar, and she was looking at my phone.
I put it away, even warier because I liked Bren. Like I said, she’d been a sort of protector of mine, but I backed away. “I—it was his lawyer. I’m not supposed to talk to anyone.”
“Who’s his lawyer?”
I glanced at Heather, who was finishing her drink. She looked concerned, but also not that concerned because she was looking at her drink like she’d just discovered chocolate for the first time.
“It said Lawyer Kade. I—I’m not sure who that is.”
Heather’s head jerked up. “Logan?”
“Wait.” Tasmin shot a hand up, her drink done and pushed over for a second. “Logan Kade is in town?”
She and Bren looked in Heather’s direction, which made sense since Heather was friends with the Kades. Her husband was also really good friends with Mason Kade, Logan’s brother. Both were well-known in the area, considered legendary by some. Lord knew, I was aware how much Zeke was fan-obsessed with Mason Kade. He told me one night that he kept a picture of him in his locker in high school.
I laughed so hard that I had to run to the bathroom.
Heather looked startled. “I—uh—” She laughed, a sheepish grin showing. “I’m sorry, but I’m so distracted.” She picked up the glass. “This is the best drink ever, and I know the recipe, but you added something extra to it. What did you add?”
Some of my tension eased a little. “I’m not telling my secret.”
She shook her head, a slight laugh coming from her. “I could drink seven of these in thirty minutes. This is that good. Ava, you’re like magic. Pure liquor magic.”
More of my tension eased again. “Thanks, Heather. Means a lot coming from you.”
“Can we keep to the issue at hand. Zeke’s in jail, and we were sent to help you.”
“Help me?” That ball just wound back up again. “What do you mean?”
“The fight was over you.”
“Bren!” Taz said.
“Over me? What? What do you mean?”
“It’s all fine.” Heather finished her drink and pushed it over to me. “Give me a refill, please.”
“Me too!” Taz grinned, holding her glass up.
“Guys.”
“It’s fine, Bren.” Heather shook her head. “Logan’s here. Logan’s on the case. Logan will get him out.”
Bren snorted. “You might think Logan Kade is a god, but I don’t. With what Race said, the case is clear cut. Open and shut. Zeke full out just took a bat to the guy.”
“What?” I almost shrieked now. Because, what the hell? “What happened?”
Bren gave me another grave look. “That’s the other reason we’re here. You and Zeke. Your relationship.”
Taz held a hand up. “Um, I like their relationship. Zeke is different with Ava.”
Bren looked her way. “Zeke’s slept with almost all of my friends, excluding you. And he would’ve slept with you if you hadn’t already been dating Race.”
“Those were Aspen’s friends from college, but yes. I see your point. You made other female friends later, and he did sleep with them.”
My stomach was now like a rock.
Taz kept talking. “But he loves her. He said it tonight.”
I’d been holding a glass, prepared to dip it in for some ice, but those words—I dropped it.