Page 29 of Cowboy Heat

Worried I’d move on.

My grip on the beer bottle tightens. I feel every slight movement in the hold.

Self-loathing mixed with pain.

My leg hurts.

The small bell over the bar’s front door sounds.

A man walks in, and everything except the inside of my head quiets.

June tenses at my side. Kissy sees her reaction, eyes the other patrons, then turns to see who the newcomer is. I don’t recognize him, but it’s clear everyone else does.

He looks around and stops just short of the bar.

The bartender says something, but it’s under his breath. I can’t hear it.

The man doesn’t seem to care about whatever it was, though.

He scans me and is uninterested too.

Kissy, though.

Kissy he stops at.

For a moment, no one says a word. Like the whole bar went and lost its voice.

The silence is almost too much.

Kissy breaks it. She turns back to us with a smile. Polite. Not at all real. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be back in a second.” She’s up and out of the booth in one fluid movement. The man standing there watching her waits until she’s at the door to follow her out.

The bar fills with noise again, but it’s softer than it was.

“Who the hell was that?” I ask June, someone who also is unfreezing.

She doesn’t pretend to be polite. “That was Damien Guidry.”

Guidry. There’s that name again.

June shakes her head and looks out of the window next to the booth. From our seats, we can’t see the part of the parking lot they’ve walked out into.

“What does he want with Kissy?”

June’s voice is cold but quick. “Nothing,” she says, matter-of-factly.

That’s not the answer I was looking for. “He obviously wants something.”

June sighs. She turns back to her drink then to me. “I know he wants nothing from her becausenobodyin this town wants anything from Kissy.” She wipes a finger down the condensation along her glass. There’s defeat in her words. Some sadness too. “Not since his brother made it clear she’s allhewants.”

Before I can dissect that too much, she shakes her head again.

“Damien might be the one talking to her now, but I guarantee you it’s all Everett behind it.”

CHAPTERTWELVE

Kissy

“He’s gone,Kissy. I can’t find him anywhere. Have you seen him? You’ve gotta tell me if you have.” Damien is all puffy and tense. He’s talking before we’ve made any kind of distance from the Branch.