Chapter Twenty-Two

Kinsley

Tanner refused to leave me at work until Becky and Brad arrived — together mind you. I’ll need to ask her about that; I’ve suspected something has been going on between the two of them for a long time, but she’s never confirmed nor denied it.

“Hey, guys!” I call out as I walk into the bar.

Working the opening shift means we can all hang out for a while before the regulars filter in; right now it’s still only us here.

“I know I’ve been away on and off since the break-in, and I want to apologise. I also wanted to make sure everything is going okay —” The two of them glance at each other, not knowing where this is going, clearly the photos have shaken me up more than I had thought. With a sigh, I cut straight to the point, “— I need to know if you have noticed anyone suspicious hanging around, or anyone causing trouble?”

“I haven’t noticed anything, nothing out of the ordinary anyway,” Becky says, rubbing my arm in comfort. “It’s been business as usual here.”

Brad pipes up from behind the bar, “Want me to comb over the security camera footage?”

Hell to the yes. Why didn’t I think of that earlier? From the conversation Tanner and Jesse were having earlier it wouldn’t surprise me if someone had already checked the footage, multiple times.

“Oh no, honestly — please don’t stress. It’s all good.”

Brad pins me with a knowing look. “Kinsley, if it’ll put your mind at ease, I’ll do it. It’s no trouble.”

I smile, we aren’t super close but this little work family I have created, they always look out for each other. “Okay fine, only if you get a chance, no pressure!” I say.

Before long the regulars fill the empty booths and bar stools, the drinks are flowing and the jukebox is playing old school hits. I almost forget about the problem at hand, that is until the small crowd parts as Jesse enters the bar.

“Daddy’s home!” he sings out, making an entrance as always. He picks Becky up with one arm and throws her over his shoulder. She punches his back, whilst laughing, and he plops her down on a bar stool next to me.

“I’m calling a family meeting,” he announces.

Internally I facepalm, knowing Jesse is going to stroll in here and go completely over the top. He will want to invite everyone over once the bar closes and throw some extravagant party to keep me distracted. Always attempting to play the role of my protector in his own quirky way.

However the reality of the situation is, Jesse is the one who needs the distraction. If he was to ask me? I would beg him to take me home.

Sarah joins us at the bar as Brad smirks and shakes his head; he too knows Jesse has concocted some plan to try to get us all out together tonight. When Twisted Sister first opened it was a weekly occurrence. We would all get together for drinks, whilst I secretly checked out the competition. You know the best cocktails to have on the menu and what not.

“Alright, what’s the deal?” I say, throwing my hands up in the air. “Spit it out, Jess.”

“I vote we close this place down early and hit up the town.” He wriggles his eyebrows at me and I roll my eyes.

“Yes! Let’s!” Sarah chimes in. She’s young, flirty and freshly eighteen. She has also been school-girl crushing on Jesse since the day she first laid eyes on him. The whole thing is entertaining to say the least, mostly because Jesse is so oblivious.

He throws an arm over her shoulders. “See this one knows what’s up. How about it, Brad? Becksta?”

“I don’t know about you guys,” Beck says. “But I’m not going to be the one to explain to the boss why we closed up early on a Friday night.”

I lower my palm between the stools Becky and I sit on, offering her a silent high-five. When she reciprocates, I giggle and turn to face Jesse. I’m pretty sure Sarah is the only one here who doesn’t know the truth about who owns the bar, but I like to keep my cards close to my chest.

“Mmm, Becky’s right,” I add with a disapproving tone, Jesse flashes me an evil eye but stays quiet. “C’mon Jess, I’m done here anyway. These guys will survive without us.”

“Meeting adjourned,” Jesse mumbles, proceeding to walk head down, through the back of the bar towards my office; like a puppy with his tail between his legs.

* * *

“I’ve been waiting for one of you to call, I have some things you may find interesting,” Stanley greets, answering the phone.

“Fire away,” Jesse says.

Once I convinced Jesse that we were in fact not going to drink away our responsibilities, he drove us back to his place where we now sit, speaking with the one other person who knows the ins and outs of the past twelve years.

“Let’s start with the car that was following you a few weeks back. The name it’s registered in, I don’t suppose you connected the dots as to who that is?”

“Only today … unfortunately.” I glare at Jesse, narrowing my eyes.

“My apologies,” Stanley states, shock lingering in his voice. Jesse and I always thoroughly communicate all the information Stanley provides us with, and a lot of the time we connect the dots before even he does; yet this time, that wasn’t the case. “I’ll be sure to call back as soon as I have made any connections in the future, in case you haven’t done so yourselves. Moving on, I did a full check of him, and the reason he has slipped through our radar is because he requested bail for a second time, which was granted in April.”

I gasp, “Wait, Lance has been out for almost three months and we are only finding this out now?”

“I know this isn’t ideal, Kin—”

“Let’s just refocus,” Jesse cuts in. “Please go on, Stanley.”

He clears his throat before continuing, “Once I knew he was out of jail, I searched for any other vehicles, properties or businesses in his name. These were the hits I got —”

I scribble down the following as Stanley reels them off, but then zone out as Jesse wraps up the conversation with him.

The blacked-out SUV, we already knew of

A warehouse located, 45 minutes out of Melbourne

A white van then you can start from the beginning.”

I look to him for confirmation and see a silent tear fall down his cheek. Reaching up, I brush it away with my thumb. “I’m so sorry, Jesse. You should have never been responsible for something this heavy from such a young age.”

He shakes his head and I wish for a moment I was inside his mind. It’s the first time since I’ve known Jesse that I am left not knowing what he is thinking. The inner workings of Jesse’s mind isn’t something I have ever needed to consider, we can normally read each other so well, we don’t keep secrets and in many ways we are one. Until now.