Page 108 of Mountain Daddy (Mountain Men #2)

Luther

Someone crashes into me.

I grunt, reaching out to catch the arm of the person in front of me.

It takes a moment for my vision to cooperate. “Jessie?”

We’re standing in the alleyway between the bar and the motel rooms, and I don’t know why she’s out here.

She pushes at my chest. “Get back.”

“Huh?” I look down at her hands. “What are you doing?”

“You have to turn around.” She pushes again, but she’s so weak it doesn’t do anything.

“Your muscles are so puny.” I poke at her bicep.

“Focus.” She slaps my hand away. “You need to disappear.”

My face scrunches up. “What? Why?”

She leans in, lowering her voice. “Because Kendra is here.”

The sentence slithers into my brain one word at a time.

Kendra. Is. Here.

My eyes lift over Jessie’s head to the door just feet away.

Here.

Kendra is in my bar.

I take one step forward into Jessie’s space.

“She’s not alone.” Jessie shoves at my chest again.

“Not alone?” Red sparks in my vision.

“Joe is with her.”

The jealous rage vanishes as quickly as it appeared.

Joe.

Fuck.

Kendra isn’t here looking for me. She’s here because Joe wants to be here, for whatever reason, and she couldn’t tell him she didn’t want to come.

Because I’m certain she didn’t want to come.

Jessie drops her hands as she feels the fight leave me. “Go lie down. I’ll tell you when they’re gone.”

I pull the keycards out of my pocket, double-checking the numbers before I hand one to Jessie. “I owe you.”

She takes the key for a room on the second floor. “I take payment in the form of airline vouchers.”

I huff. But as I stumble back to room number two, I figure I owe my sister a whole vacation.

Because I can’t have Kendra see me like this. As a drunk, un-showered mess.

I need Kendra to be okay. I need her to find someone better than me.

And if she sees me looking like hell…

Her heart is too big. She’ll know I’m struggling, and she’ll know I…

She’ll know I love her too.

And I can’t let her know that.

I need her to believe me.

I need her to believe she’s better off without me.