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“I know my assets,” he responded with a grin, following me down the hallway.

Baker was a dutiful assistant, holding crates while I pulled bottles down and recorded what stock was left on the clipboard Hudson used for inventory.

He didn’t harass me about Tripp anymore, deciding to tell funny stories from the fire station to fill the silence, careful to avoid mentioning the handsome cowboy firefighter who was the elephant in the room.

“Annie, are you back here?” Hudson’s voice carried down the hallway and I put the bottle I’d just pulled down in the crate on Baker’s lap.

Poking my head out the doorway, I frowned as I saw Charley dressed in barn clothes dotted with straw following Hudson down the hallway. “Hey, what’s up? Does Noah need me out front?”

“Someone needs you out front,” Charley said, a mischievous grin tugging at her lips.

“We’re in the middle of something right now,” I replied, gesturing to the imposing firefighter—holding a crate full of liquor—who’d followed me into the hallway.

“Hi, Baker,” Charley greeted, and he winked at her in return. Hudson narrowed his eyes at the younger man, but let it go.

“Annie, you need to go out front. Because they can’t stay out there all night, and they’re asking for you.”

“Who is asking for me?”

“Just, don’t worry about it.” Walking past Hudson, Charley grabbed my arm and towed me down the hallway. Curious stares followed us toward the front doors of the bar, and I frowned as I saw several people abruptly sitting who had been looking at something outside through the windows along the front of the building.

Pausing at the front door, I pulled Charley to a stop. “Seriously, who’s out there? I have no desire to be fodder for the gossip train this week.”

“Too late for that now,” she replied, pushing open the door and grabbing a hold of my wrist to tug me into the parking lot.

While I’d been expecting one of two men to be out there, waiting to yell at me for being an idiot, that wasn’t exactly all that was waiting for me in the parking lot.

Tristan

Hurryingdownthewoodensteps, I rounded the corner for the front door, my chest slamming into my cousin’s shoulder.

“Dude, where’s the fire?” he chuckled, grasping me by the shoulders.

Footsteps thundered down the stairs behind me, and I braced for the impact, but Jay skirted around us, flinging the front door open.

“Fuck, did she leave?” he asked, looking back at our cousin expectantly.

Reid glanced between the two of us, a hesitant smile pulling at his lips. “You two gonna play nice now?”

“Where did Annie go?” he asked again, practically bouncing in place. If I wasn’t still irritated by the way he’d talked to and about her earlier, I might have found it comical. The dude was almost as hyper as his golden retriever, Jameson, sometimes.

“Didn’t answer my question, Jay,” Reid drawled, and I shook my head, pulling out my phone before I remembered she still didn’t have a replacement phone. A frown formed as I tried to think about where she would go.

“Yeah, yeah. He screwed my—” his voice cut off abruptly at the dark look I aimed in his direction. She might not be mine, but she sure as hell wasn’t his.

“If he stops talking about women like property, we’re good.”

“I’m sorry. We’re good,” he replied, gesturing toward me impatiently. “You gonna just stand there, asshat, or are you going to go after her?”

Reid crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at me. “I take it you’re planning to go find your girl?”

“I…”

Would she even want me to? I suddenly wasn’t convinced. Maybe I’d just been romanticizing our time together. Now that we’d come out of our forced proximity and the adrenaline had worn off, maybe being involved with me would be too much. I couldn’t control who I was related to, but I could see how this situation would feel impossible for her. She just didn’t stick around long enough for me to tell her I didn’t care that she’d been involved with him.

“Hazel isn’t exactly happy with either of your behavior,” he said, eyes still narrowed.

“Where did your girlfriend take her?” Jay asked, crossing his arms and staring right back at Reid.