Page 14 of Never Stop

I spotted Traver first, and he nodded toward Avery who was behind the bar talking to a brunette. They both took a shot, and then Avery turned to go down the bar to help another customer. My blood boiled as I stalked toward the dark oak bar ready to grab Avery by his black Halo shirt and drag him to our office.

As I got closer, our eyes met. “What are you doing here?”

“Traver called me.”

“Why?” He looked over at Traver.

“Come with me to the office.” I silently prayed that he wouldn’t put up a fight. Luckily, he didn’t, stumbling as he made his way up the stairs. Once we were behind the closed office door, I questioned him, “Drinking on the job?”

“Fuck off,” he slurred.

“I get it, Av. Trust me, I get it. But you can’t drink in front of our customers and staff. You’ll give them the wrong idea.”

“I know, man,” he snapped.

“Plus, it’s illegal and we can lose our license.”

“I know!”

“Look, sit down on the couch and sleep it off. I’ll cover for you.” I grabbed his shoulders, trying to steer him to the couch.

“What about Brooke?”

“We’re done at the doctor’s.” He knew I’d needed today off because of her doctor’s appointment.So much for that.

“What happened?”

“I’ll tell you when you’re sober. Just sleep it off, and I’ll wake you when we close.”

He stared at the couch for a few seconds, then looked back at me. “How many girls have you screwed around with on this thing?”

I smirked at him. “You don’t want to know.”

Since Brooke came into my life, I hadn’t wanted Cheyenne to feel as though I’d replaced her. Sure, Chey approved of her. If she didn’t, I would never have allowed Brooke to move in with us. And now that I had my head out of my ass and I wasn’t spending all my hours at Halo, I needed to make time with my peanut.

While Brooke took some time to herself, I took Cheyenne out to dinner. It was something that we never used to do because I was always working, and there wasn’t a day I didn’t kick myself for that. I let her pick the restaurant and the entire drive over to Cowgirl, where Cheyenne enjoyed eating aFritopie out of a bag ofFritos, and while we waited for our waitress, she was glued to her phone. It bugged the fuck out of me. Kids these days were glued to their phone like it was an arm.

“Do you want to play softball again?” I asked after we ordered our meals.

Cheyenne rolled her eyes as she continued to stare at her cell phone. “Of course, Daddy.”

“And you still want to play third?”

“Yep.”

“We need to work on your batting.” I took a sip of my water.

“I know.”

“Are you going to stare at your phone all through dinner?”

“I’m playing Minecraft and our food’s not—”

It was my turn to roll my eyes. “Put the phone down, Peanut.”

“But—”

“No buts. We’re having dinner, and I want to talk to you.”