Unbreak My Heart (Unbreak My Heart #1)(77)

We didn’t do public displays of affection normally. Kate was too nervous for that kind of shit—like it mattered in the long run what people thought about our relationship. So I was surprised when she turned her hand and laced her fingers through mine.

“Yeah!”

“Okay, I know of one. Here—” I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “Call Miles and tell him where we’re going.”

“I’m having the best time,” she said, scrolling through my phone.

“We’ve barely left the house.” I laughed.

“It doesn’t matter.” She smiled, lifting the phone to her ear. “It’s already the best birthday ever.”

*



Trevor agreed to be the designated driver, and by the time I was a few beers in, I knew that had been a bad idea.

The girls were happy, singing 1980s pop songs every time their names were called. Between their turns, which happened about every half hour, they danced and laughed throughout the bar.

My eyes followed Kate around the room as she had fun, but the longer we stayed and the more alcohol we consumed, the more the mood at the table shifted.

Miles sat next to me, watching Anita as she shook her ass, completely oblivious to the man sitting next to him watching Miles.

“So, you and Katie,” Henry said jovially over the noise of the crowd. “Did not see that coming.”

“Yep,” I murmured back as Bram’s eyes moved from Miles to me.

“How the hell did that happen?”

I glanced at Kate, laughing at something Anita said, and ignored the question. I wasn’t going to get into the story surrounded by a hundred strangers in a bar. It wasn’t any of Henry’s business anyway.

“He f*cked her,” Bram said nastily after an awkward silence. “Got drunk and knocked her up.”

“Shut the f*ck up, Abraham,” I growled, refusing to look his way.

“It’s the truth,” he chuckled drunkenly. “On the anniversary of Rachel’s death, no less. Good timing, that.”

Kate glanced at me, and her eyes widened as I stood abruptly from the table.

“Shut your f*cking mouth,” I said to the * across the table.

“Come on, Bram, knock it off,” Trevor said quietly as Bram jumped to his feet.

“Wonder how long you’d been waiting,” Bram mused, looking me up and down. “Must have been a while since you’d gotten your dick wet. Some good luck that Kate was right there in your house—ready and willing to scratch your itch.”

I launched myself over the table, slamming Bram into the floor with the entire weight of my body. “You know nothing,” I said, punching him in the mouth. “Keep your f*cking mouth shut!”

He jerked his body, throwing me off, and soon we were rolling all over the floor, taking down chairs and tables as we fought.

It couldn’t have lasted more than a few minutes, but by the time Miles pulled me off a bloody Abraham, Kate was sobbing.

“Out,” a bouncer yelled as he reached us.

“Yeah, man, we’re going,” Trevor assured him, nodding to Henry, who was holding Bram from behind in a bear hug.

Miles pushed at me as I tried to move toward Kate. “Not the place, man. Wait until we get outside,” he warned quietly, ushering me out of the bar.

I wiped the blood from beneath my nose with the back of my hand and followed as Anita escorted Kate out ahead of us. They were speaking quietly while Kate brushed the tears off her face.

“Miles, you got Shane?” Trevor asked as we got outside.

“Oh, hell no,” I mumbled, moving toward Kate’s SUV.

“You are sure as shit not getting into the car with Bram right now,” Trevor told me, shaking his head.

“The f*ck, Trev? Did you hear the shit he was saying?” I asked, turning my head to meet his eyes.

“I heard him. Dumb f*ck has been itching for a fight since we got here.” Trevor rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not putting the two of you in a confined space with Anita and Kate, man. Not happening.”

“Fine.” I glanced toward the SUV and met Kate’s sad eyes, sighing. What a great f*cking birthday. “Let’s go, Miles.”

We climbed into Miles’s truck and followed the rest of the group back to my house.

“He’s staying at your place?” Miles asked, shaking his head.

“Yeah. They all are.”

“What’s his deal with you?”

“He f*cking hates me. The shit that went down with Kate wasn’t good. I f*cked up big time—”

“I don’t need to know details,” Miles cut in.

“Yeah, well, neither did Bram, but apparently he knows more than I realized.”

We pulled up to the curb outside my house, and I swung my door open. “Thanks for the ride.”

“You need me to stay?” Miles asked as Bram stumbled out of the SUV ahead of us.

“Nah, his brothers will keep him in line, and their parents are in the house with the kids.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, even Bram wouldn’t start shit with the kids there.”

I waved as I walked toward the front of the house, coming to a stop outside the passenger-side door of Kate’s SUV. She was passed out, her head tilted back against the seat.