Epiphany (Legacy of Payne) by Christina Jean Michaels

Author:Christina Jean Michaels [Michaels, Christina Jean]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Christina Jean Michaels
Published: 2013-07-16T14:00:00+00:00

* * *

A freakish November thunderstorm ushered in the evening, and a sense of excitement infused the Pour House. The crowd of customers was surprisingly large for mid-week. Of course, Christie and her cohorts were in the thick of it.

“Word is you’re shacking up with your coworker.” She sat alone at the bar while the other two women she’d arrived with were busy rubbing against a couple of guys at the other end. “So tell me”—she perched an elbow on the counter and smirked at me, chin in hand—“is he good in bed?”

I set another shot down in front of her, the sixth or seventh of the night. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Aidan offered me his guestroom because someone broke into my apartment.” Thunder boomed, causing the lights to flicker.

“Whatever,” she said, though her nasty expression contradicted her indifferent tone. She demolished the shot.

“Look, Christie, I know today was your dad’s birthday.” I was taking a stab in the dark on this one, but she seemed off tonight, like something was eating at her. Otherwise she would have joined the girls-gone-wild group a few feet away. Christie didn’t normally do the alone thing.

“What do you know about his birthday? You don’t know anything about my dad.”

“You’re right, but I wish I had known him. I grew up without a father, and to learn that maybe I could have changed that—” I clamped my mouth shut. My anger over the situation wouldn’t help her right now. “I’m sorry. I guess I’m just trying to say—”

“Oh stuff the ‘poor me’ speech.” She got up on wobbly feet, and her dark hair swung in her face. “Not everything is about you.” She stumbled away and joined her friends.

I gave her a wide berth for a while, until she started waving at me. “We’re dry over here, honey! Stop cooling your heels and load us up.”

Filling a tray with another round, I approached them. Christie let out an obnoxious laugh as the blonde to her left made a pyramid out of the empties. Blondie threw her head back and joined in the laughter.

“It’s not that funny,” said the woman on Christie’s right—a near replica of Christie herself. “Let’s see you walk twenty blocks in fuck-me boots.”

Blondie arched an eyebrow. “Sounds like the only thing that got fucked were your feet.”

“And my pride. Remember Elmo? Well he ditched me. Can you believe that?”

Christie laughed again. “Wish I’d stuck around for that one.”

“Hey!” she cried. “Don’t be hatin’. Turns out he was a jerk anyway. I saw him arguing with some girl.” She folded her arms. “I can’t believe you left me on my own.”

I narrowed my eyes as their words sank in. If they were talking about Elmo . . . that meant they were talking about Brad.

Had he been arguing with Six?

I turned around and bumped into Aidan. God, he had a way of sneaking up on people. He trained his attention on the three drunken women. “You heard that?”

“Yeah.” He leaned down and spoke into my ear.

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