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“You’re right. It was easier to forget about the pains of this place the longer I was away. But I still missed it.”

“I wouldn’t miss the town. Just the people,” I say, letting her see something deeper inside of me.

The bartender glares at me the way she always does, but once she notices Daisy beside me and the hand I have on her back, she strays from the usual. With a sharp laugh, Victoria’s mother, Pamila, makes a scene, shouting to the second bartender words that she hungers for me to hear.

“Look at this! Another victim for the infamous cold-hearted bitch to sink her teeth into. Is she the first Mitchell daughter you’ll be testing out, or have you already sampled the others?”

My throat constricts with a mixture of anger and embarrassment, the former being my focus. Daisy is stiff as a board beside me, but I don’t spend time contemplating the reason behind it before dropping my hand and storming over to the bar.

My skin beats with a pissed-off flush. Pamila is more immature than her daughter. I should have expected something to have been coming all this time. She’s been too quiet about my relationship with her daughter for too long not to have been itching to cause a scene. Seeing me with Daisy—the first woman since Victoria—has struck a chord.

Pamila doesn’t know the truth of what happened between me and her daughter, and I haven’t given enough of a shit to tell her differently. Victoria is a coward when it comes to her mother, and for a while after our breakup, I hated the part of myself that didn’t want to ruin their relationship the way I knew would happen if the truth came out. It shouldn’t have mattered whatdamage I left behind after she broke my heart, but for some fucking reason, it did.

I’m paying for that now.

“Wait!” Daisy calls before her fingers curl around my bicep. My attention snaps to her touch, my anger gone for the briefest of moments. “We’re not here to deal with that woman. She’s not worth it.”

“It is worth it. I’ve waited a long time to put her in her place.”

“Not tonight, Bryce. Please. This isn’t how it’s supposed to go,” she pleads, face scrunching painfully.

It’s that expression that has me turning my back on Pamila. I suck in a long breath and try to ignore the eyes I can feel sinking into me from every direction as I focus on Daisy’s.

“She has it coming. I’m not someone to hold my tongue, Daisy. I’d rather chomp it off than do that. Especially when people I care about are brought up to piss me off,” I snap, hoping that she doesn’t remove her hand as a result of my anger. “I’ve walked on eggshells in this place for years despite that. Just trying not to start shit with people who more than deserve it.”

Her fingers loosen before drifting up along my sleeve and settling on my shoulder. My chest grows tight, too tight to get a full breath in, but I keep completely still.

“Just one more night. There’s something more important about tonight than a cruel person who clearly thrives on attention. You want to make a point to parents? Let it go one last time, and tomorrow, you can make her life hell and teach her not to mess with you.”

“I want a drink,” I mutter.

She laughs, and it pushes back the black clouds in my mind. “Poppy’s already got it handled.”

With her hand on my shoulder, Daisy urges me to look back at the bar. The sight of my best friend leaned over the bar with a finger jabbing into Pamila’s chest is more than enough for meright now, but her words soothe the sharp edges inside of me that hadn’t quite dulled from Daisy’s.

“Keep your poison tongue inside your mouth, Pamila, or I’ll encourage that ‘cold-hearted bitch’ to cut it off and shove it up your ass.”

There’s a hush around us, but Poppy doesn’t care. She grabs two beers from behind the bar and takes them with a toothy grin.

“Consider this the start of an apology,” she drawls before turning to wink right at me and Daisy and gesturing around the bar toward where I know our group of friends are waiting.

Daisy strokes a hand up my spine and dips her chin at my best friend. Poppy leaves us then, her hips swaying confidently.

Pissed off doesn’t begin to describe my feelings, but fuck if I’m going to let it ruin my night. I’d rather be pissed than know I’ve hurt or disappointed Daisy by not being the bigger person here.

“Are you ready?” she asks.

“I’m sorry she brought you up like that. I’ve never thought about any of your sisters in that?—”

Daisy cuts me off with a finger to my mouth.

In the middle of Peakside, she touches my lips with the pad of her finger and steps close, closer than she has before.

A boulder smashes into my chest, stealing my breath. Something warm and charged fills the space between us and brushes my body with electric fingers. She’s not much shorter than me and probably weighs as much as one of the bar stools nearby, but she watches me with the determination and focus of someone ten times her height and size.

My mouth is dry, lips aching for me to reach out with my tongue and wet them. I’d taste her then. Probably wind up sucking the tip of her small finger into my mouth and moaning at the new connection.

Fuck, my entire pussy clenches at the idea. Would she like if I bit down on the soft pad of it? Just gently . . . enough to havethose pretty blues widening and pupils expanding with a dangerous mix of shock and lust.