All Chained Up (Devil's Rock #1)(51)

She stared at her ringing phone for a moment in astonishment before answering it.

“Hi,” she greeted, hating that she sounded out of breath even though she wasn’t doing anything more strenuous than folding towels.

“Hi,” he returned, and then a pause fell. She heard muffled music in the background and guessed he was at work. She felt a little better knowing he had made the effort to go to a back room to call her. “You all right?”

She hesitated, not sure how to answer that. Did he expect her to be upset because she wasn’t pregnant? It’s not like they were hoping for a child. “Of course. I told you there wasn’t anything to worry about.”

“Yeah. You said that.”

Another awkward silence fell. “So how’ve you been?” She winced. God, she sounded lame. She might as well announce that she missed him. That she hated the way he’d stormed from her apartment like he couldn’t stand the sight of her. Her voice rang with neediness even to her ears.

“I’ve been busy. Working at night and patching things up around my uncle’s place. Been gone a long time. Lots of things need fixing.”

“Oh. Busy is good.” Lame response, take two. “I’ve been busy, too,” she flung out almost desperately. “Flu season is kicking into gear.” She’d made more kids cry today than she could count.

He hardly let her finish her last comment before cutting in. “Look, Briar, I better go. People are getting off work and the place is starting to get busy.”

She flexed her fingers around her phone. “Yeah. Sure.” Other words hovered on her lips, but she bit them back. She didn’t want to come across as clingy.

“ ’Bye, Briar.” His words rang with a finality that she heard clearly over the line. What she heard was good-bye forever. “You have a good life. You deserve that.”

She sucked in a breath. No mistake about it. This was it. He was dumping her. “Yeah,” she said tightly. “You, too.”

The phone went dead in her ear. She lowered it in her hand and stared at it for a long moment, wondering at the sudden sting in her eyes.

It wasn’t like a real breakup. They’d never declared themselves a thing. Besides, maybe she was wrong. Maybe she would see him again. Maybe he would show up again at her door for another midnight booty call. Yeah, and how long would that satisfy her? Better it ended now. Before she really got hurt. She already felt pretty terrible. She didn’t need to feel any worse.

A text beeped on her phone. Her heart jumped, thinking it might be Knox. She flipped her phone over. Nope. Her sister. BBQ for Caleb this Sunday. You in?

She typed back. Yes.

Good. Boss’s son will be here.

Briar blew out a breath, remembering that her sister wanted to set her up with Caleb’s boss’s son. An accountant, if she remembered correctly. Great. The BBQ was going to be a blind date.

Her fingers flew over the keys. Please no. Don’t make it weird.

She waited as Laurel texted back. Can’t promise that. That’s what big sisters do.

She snorted. At least she was honest. Luv you. Night.

Her sister texted back. Luv you too.

Sighing, she carried the towels to her linen closet and put them away, cringing when she thought about her sister’s reaction if she knew the main reason she wasn’t interested in meeting anyone right now was because she was getting over an infatuation with a hardened felon.

Laurel wouldn’t just get weird then. She’d lose her shit.

Fortunately, she would never have to find out. Briar would never tell her about Knox. Because there was no longer anything to tell.

KNOX SLIPPED HIS phone in his back pocket and leaned his head against the outside wall of Roscoe’s. He needed to get back inside, but he couldn’t imagine facing a room full of carousing drunks just yet. Not after ending that call with Briar.

The phone call had been a shit move on his part. When her text came through, he’d debated whether he should see her in person and explain why they shouldn’t continue doing whatever it was they were doing, but then he doubted he would have kept his hands to himself. And he wasn’t dick enough to f*ck her and then end it with her in the same breath. So he’d called. And he’d ended it. Them. Whatever they were, they were done.

He should have f*cked her out of his system by now—God knew that’s what he had been trying to do—but he wasn’t tired of her, and a stab of alarm told him he might never be.

A couple of guys walked up from the parking lot. One locked eyes on Knox and stopped hard before catching back up with his friend. He elbowed him and nodded toward Knox, whispering something indiscreetly. They paused again, eyeing him like he might be something contagious.

Knox tensed, watching from hooded eyes as they resumed walking again, approaching the long stretch of porch where he lurked. He’d gotten enough stares and whispers since he was paroled to know they recognized him. Knew him. Killer Callaghan. He’d heard it whispered around Roscoe’s ever since he got out. Luckily, most of their clientele wasn’t too discerning.

Up on the porch, the two guys shot him several more glances. “Hey,” the first guy said, stopping in front of him before going inside. “You, uh . . . are you Knox Callaghan?”

“Who wants to know?” He braced himself, wondering if they were going to give him shit. There were plenty of people in this town that definitely wanted to see him with his face in the dirt. In his current mood, he would gladly take them on.