Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(68)

Yeah, we weren’t going to go there. Gut instinct was telling me this wasn’t an everyday activity for her. I gave him a quick nod, hoping to hell I was right. “Where is she?”

“Sitting in one of the booths by the front door, waiting for a cab that ain’t coming. How are the roads?”

I pulled my leather gloves off and shoved them into my coat pocket. “Slick.”

“Speaking of slick, Benny was in here tonight.”

The short hair on the back of my neck prickled. “Benny?”

Kip nodded. “He was sitting by her most of the night, hitting on her something fierce. He got a little pushy with her when I announced last call so I put her in my office until he shoved off.”

My anger flared up hearing that. “Pushy?”

Kip drew in a deep, even breath through his nose. “He was trying to convince her to leave with him. Even yanked on her arm a few times. One of my boys intervened. We got him to leave.”

“Thanks, man.” At least I had friends out there watching my back. But Benny? I’d kill the weasel the next time I saw him. What he was doing sniffing around Erin was even more concerning. Could someone be tailing me, trying to use her to get to me?

Kip shrugged it off. “No problem, bro. I’m going to finish locking up. Try to make it quick, okay? I still haven’t put my snow tires on.”

I maneuvered out into the bar, catching a shock of long blonde hair that was resting on folded arms. The place was shut down for the night; only a few of the recessed lights were still on, which cast a dim shadow over her still frame.

“She asleep?” Kip asked.

She looked so peaceful all bundled up in her dark blue ski jacket and white knit hat, scarf, and mittens; her long hair obscuring most of her face. “Looks like it. How much did she drink?”

He shook his head. “Apparently too much. There were a few guys playing pool earlier who bought her a few, too.”

My soaring anger spiked up another notch. He could have saved me from that detail. My molars started to hurt visualizing that scenario all too clearly. My stitches pinched when I balled my hands into fists. “Beer or mixed drinks?”

Kip tossed a leftover menu onto the bar. “Dude, I don’t know. I think she had a mixture, probably a few shots. I was in the kitchen most of the night so I’m not sure. She seemed fine one minute and then pissed drunk the next, okay? She was sitting by herself for a long time. I thought she was waiting on someone, but I think she was crying, staring out the window most of the night. Anyway, I want to get the f*ck out of here. Just take her home.”

I slipped a long lock of her hair off her face, trying not to let the knowledge that she’d been crying kill me. I gave her a nudge. “Doc. Time to wake up.”

She startled a bit, blinking up at me with heavy eyes. “Mhh, what?”

Yeah, there would be no way should could drive, even though we were only a mile or two from her place.

“Time to go.”

She grunted, or was that a groan? “Adam, what? Why are you here? I called for um, a taxi. Just go.”

Erin was great at waving me off. Don’t know why it surprised me to receive it again. After the way I’d left her last time, I shouldn’t have expected anything else.

“Cab isn’t coming. Come on, Doc. I’m taking you home.” I tried to pull on her arm, which got her to at least slide to the edge of the bench.

“I don’t need you. I can drive. Just need coffee first.” Erin tried to push me away which, after a couple of days of trying to convince myself otherwise, hurt a hell of a lot more than I wanted to admit.

Her anger and sadness was my doing, so I’d take the heat from her disappointment. “Roads are slippery, Erin. I wouldn’t like the idea of you driving on them sober let alone drunk.”

“I’m not drunk,” she mumbled, searching through her purse.

Yeah, I think I’d said the same thing quite a few times. Flashbacks of others carrying my sad sack of a drunken ass out of a few bars—this one included—hit me hard. I must have been a huge disappointment so many times to my family and friends after my partner was killed. I tightened my grip around her waist. That’s when I noticed her shiner. “What the hell happened to your eye?”

I tried to tilt her chin up to get a better look.

She covered her face. “Stop.”

“Let me see it. Who hit you?” Thoughts of someone raising a finger to her blistered through me like wildfire.

“Just leave me alone.”

“Not until you tell me what happened.”

“I don’t want you to see it.”

“Too late, sweetheart. I’ve already seen it. Now tell me, who hit you?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Erin.”

“What?”

I pegged Kip with a glare. “This happen here?” He’d better answer no because if this shit went down on his watch and he didn’t call me the second it happened, we’d have another major issue to deal with.

He held his hands up. “Not in my bar, brother.”

Back to square one. “Erin, one last time. Who hit you?”

She pushed my forearm away and then covered her face with her mitten. “I wanna go home now. I’m going.” She tried to elbow me out of her way. Tried, but failed. “Move please.”