Fallen Crest Home (Fallen Crest High #6)(31)

“I know.” She took the beer. “And you already explained, but I gotta give you a hard time.”

I shot her a rueful grin. “I feel like an asshole.”

“As you should.” She grinned back. “I’m just kidding. I have to give you some shit.”

“But still…it’s your business.”

She shrugged. “It’ll be fine. Your safety is more important, and it’s not your fault that your boyfriend has enough clout in the community to pull people from one business to another.” She closed her eyes, a soft smile on her face. “Oh, what it would be like to have a normal best friend with a normal boyfriend.”

“Shut up.” But I was laughing.

“For real, though…” She opened her eyes to look at me. “I just want you to be safe.”

“I know, and I think I am.” I glanced around the busy tables. Heather was right. The group that had been hanging out at Manny’s moved with Mason to the beer garden. It wasn’t just our peers—those who had stayed home after high school or the ones home only for the summer—but much of the rest of Fallen Crest as well. Channing had stopped in a few times, but he remained close to Manny’s, so Heather wasn’t hurting as much as she was teasing me about. I knew most of the Roussou crowd had taken Manny’s as their new spot. Which had me thinking: “If Channing’s running his own bar, why’s he in Fallen Crest so much?”

“He’s running it with his cousin. Channing takes the day hours, and Scratch has the evenings.”

“He brings a lot of people over with him. Why don’t they stay in Roussou and go to his bar?”

“Because Channing isn’t there.” She said it so simply. “And because his bar is geared to a rougher crowd. It’s a hardcore biker bar.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “It’ll taper off in the winter months. He’s over here because of me right now, and I’m here because of the summer hours. Then all the summer folk will head out, and Manny’s will go back to normal. I can take a few more nights off.” She rolled her eyes. “Plus, Channing’s got his own pull now because of his fighting. I’m hoping he’ll stop in the fall.”

“Really?” I felt like a parrot.

“I’m not here to talk about my relationship and business,” Heather announced. “I’m here to check in with you.” She eyed the far table where Mason and Adam had set up camp, laptops, books, and notebooks spread out between them. “How’s that going?”

“What do you mean? That Mason’s here to protect me from Caldron? That he and Adam are working together here, or the fact that they’re working together?”

“Any and all of that.”

A customer came up, and I started to fill the order, but I couldn’t help looking back to Mason’s table. After Caldron’s attack, the rest of the week had seemed almost boring. I worked at the beer garden every night, and after the first few passed with no incidents, Petey had relaxed. He realized I wasn’t going to fuck things up for him, and the rest of the workers accepted me once they learned an increase in their tips came with me.

Even Keifer had stopped coming over and glaring at us every night. He still came in, but he only glared half the time. The other half he spent arguing with Petey or laughing with my coworkers. He hadn’t checked in today. Yet. He would, and every time he did, he stared at Mason for a good ten minutes. Mason had stared back the first night, but when Keifer didn’t do anything, Mason stopped paying attention. Or that was how it seemed to everyone else. I knew he was on full alert, and not just because of my boss. He was waiting for Caldron’s next move. So far, nothing had happened.

So far.

It was going to happen, and I knew Mason was also counting down the hours until Nate arrived. He should be rolling into town at any moment.

“Things are okay,” I told Heather.

“Really?” Her eyes found mine.

I shrugged, filling another order. “Well, I can say Mason will be relieved to have Nate here, too.”

Heather waggled her eyebrows. “Where’s the hottie Hawaiian?”

“You should know. He spends more time with you guys than with us.”

That wasn’t completely true. He’d stuck to Mason’s side like glue for the first two days after Caldron’s attack, then began heading to Roussou more and more after that. A certain blonde who had been wrapped around him on Channing’s fight night kept calling. It didn’t take a genius to figure out she was wrapping around him on a more consistent basis.

Heather snorted. “Right. He shows up for pussy, then after he gets his fill, he’s off to find you guys.” She turned to Mason’s table. “He’s not here, and I know he’s not with Channing’s crew. He must be at Tiffany’s.”

“That’s her name?”

“Yeah. She’s not bad, actually. But I don’t think she realizes he’s leaving for Cain U in a few weeks for football.”

“Really?”

“She’s not mentioned it, and I know her. If she knew her new boy-toy was a big footballer, that’d be the only thing she talked about.” Heather grew pensive, her eyebrows dipping together. “Why didn’t he go pro?”

“He stayed back to play one more year with Mason.”