Dallas cornered his younger brother on Wednesday morning, before Patrick even crawled off the couch where he’d spent the night. For once, Dallas was determined to have a normal Saturday instead of pouring beers. “Patrick, would you be able to cover for me on Saturday—not this one but the next, for the day and night shifts?”
“Huh?” Patrick blinked at him, his sleepy expression clearing when Dallas waved a coffee mug under his nose. “Why? Are you going out to the cabin?”
“No, I want to go to the beach.” No harm in telling Patrick what he intended to do with his time off.
Patrick gaped, his mouth dropping open in an unattractive manner.
“Better shut your mouth,” Dallas said. “It’s a welcoming haven for bugs.”
“Fuck you,” Patrick said without heat. “Why do you want to go to the beach? I don’t care what they say on TV about it being the start of spring. It’s bloody cold. There’s still snow on the Desert road.”
“So they say.” Dallas remained unperturbed. He wanted to take Laura away for the weekend. They’d stay at a cute bed and breakfast farther down the coast, if he could get a booking or— No. A better plan fell into place. One of the guys he’d worked with years ago owned a luxury lodge. Better for privacy. Some of the owners of bed and breakfasts were nosy old men and women. “Will you do it? Will you cover for me?”
“No problem. I don’t have anything better to do.”
“A sad statement of your love life.”
Patrick scowled. “Tell me about it. And you’re off for a dirty weekend. Who are you taking? The mystery blonde?”
Everything inside Dallas softened, and he felt a goofy smile take possession of his lips. “Yeah.”
“Sounds serious.”
“Maybe.” Dallas shrugged, not intending to say more. “I’d better go and finish stocking the chillers before Gloria gets here.”
“Give me five minutes and I’ll help before I head off. Least I can do for the hospitality.”
With Patrick’s aid it didn’t take long to ready the bar for the first customers of the day.
“See you later, and thanks.”
“No prob,” Patrick said, heading for the rear door.
Dallas opened the windows to help air the place, and glanced up when Patrick reappeared minutes later. “Did you forget something?”
“You’d better come outside and see this.”
Mystified, Dallas followed his brother outside, and he came to an abrupt halt once he exited the alley running down the side of the pub. Neon green spray paint covered the painted black bricks on the front of the pub, to the left of the door.
A message. The debt will be paid.
“What debt?”
“Fucked if I know,” Dallas said, but his mind leaped to Laura. Her family—they wouldn’t do this. Would they? Sneaking around didn’t seem their style, and not in this area. “I need to clean this off.”
“I’ll help.”
“It’s okay, bro. You go. I’ll sort it.”
Patrick hesitated before leaving. Dallas went for cleaning supplies and gave mental thanks he’d paid to get the front of the building treated with graffiti guard. It would make the cleanup easier.
Laura rang him during her lunch hour, and he told her about his upcoming day off and the graffiti.
“What do you think?” he asked, going for blunt confrontation of the Drummond-O’Grady feud. “Your family?”
“I don’t see any budding artists in my family, although they’re capable of paying someone to commit the crime.”
There was a moment of startled silence before he laughed. “I expected you to shout at me for even putting forward the suggestion.”
“Did you take a photo before you cleaned it off?” she asked.
“Hell.” He dragged his free hand through his hair, pissed for not thinking of photo evidence. “Hopefully it won’t happen again, but if it does, I know to take a photo.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to contact the police either or check with the other businesses around the pub. Find out if other businesses got the graffiti treatment.”
“When did you get so clever?”
Laura chuckled, the sultry sound grabbing him by the nuts and making him wish she was with him right now. “Since I started hanging out with you. I’d better head back to work. The people here are nice, and the secretary is teaching me about PowerPoint presentations. I love learning new things.”
Dallas grinned at her enthusiasm, and the way she dived headlong into every new experience. “Have fun. Will I see you later?”
“Sorry, Dallas. It’s the night I have to go out with James to his work function. Remember, I asked you last week?”
Crap, she had. “I’ll miss you.”
“And don’t forget I have dinner with my family on Friday. See you on Saturday at the house,” she said.
“Yeah,” he said, trying to sound enthusiastic. “Ring me later or text me.”
“Count on it. Bye.”
Dallas ended the call and took a moment to scan the photos he’d taken of Laura. Two of her bound on his bed and another casual shot when she was laughing at something he’d said. The beginnings of something—hell, jealousy—pulsed to life, even though he knew the emotion was stupid. James and Steven seemed happy together, and James presented no threat to his relationship. He knew this, yet the emotion gained traction. Laura meant something to him, something more than casual. He didn’t know what happened next and the uncertainty gnawed at his happiness.
Friday morning at O’Grady’s was quiet, and Gloria had everything under control. Dallas decided to get a jump on his paperwork. “Call me if you need me.”
Gloria flapped a hand at him and continued pouring a black beer. “Sure thing, boss.”
He stopped by the kitchen to grab a sandwich and wandered up to his apartment. He checked the email, forwarded from the pub website, and answered several queries about bookings for their function room on the second floor. The last email didn’t have a subject. He opened it and read the single line of text.
The debt is due now.
What the fuck? Dallas stared at the email and decided to fire one back.
What debt? Send an invoice, he wrote and hit send.
Then he starred at the screen, waiting for something to happen. His finger hovered over delete before he reconsidered. Laura’s suggestion to keep evidence was an excellent one. Instead, he hit print and put the copy in his desk drawer.
The internal phone buzzed. “Yeah, Gloria.”
“Someone to see you, boss. A woman. She said it’s about hiring the function room.”
“I’ll be right down.” Dallas grabbed his appointment diary and hurried down to the bar.
It wasn’t a prospective customer. Instead, Maria stood waiting for him, her curves showcased in a bright orange dress that drew every male eye in the territory. Her dark brows rose, as if she expected him to compliment her appearance. She leaned closer, extending her arms, and he sidestepped her embrace.
“I’d like to speak with you in private.”
Dallas ignored the suggestion radiating from every pore of her body, and shifted his gaze north. “Why are you here? I’ve made it clear I’m not interested.”
Her welcoming smile faltered at his abrupt tone. She glanced past him and appeared to gather herself. “I told you, lover. I made a mistake, and I want you to give me a second chance. After our history together, don’t I deserve the opportunity to make things right? We should take this private. People are looking.”
“You kicked me to the gutter when a better offer came along.” Dallas didn’t bother sugarcoating their past. “If you don’t leave, I’ll call the cops.”
“And tell them what?” she scoffed, regaining some of her usual fire.
The very thing that had attracted him to her in the first place. He didn’t mind a woman who could hold her own, but Maria worked on her agenda. It had taken time to pierce his thick skull but his money, the money he’d earned the hard way, was part of his attraction for Maria.
“I’ll tell them you’re stalking me.”
“Don’t be silly.” She patted his shoulder before he could step from her reach.
“You’re barred from this pub. You are not welcome, and my staff won’t serve you.”
“Please, can’t we speak in private?” A gleam entered her eyes, sly and gloating.
He heeded the warning in his gut. “Say your piece here.”
“But I’m sure you won’t want people to hear about your girlfriend.”
His warning bubbled over to panic. If Maria thought to hurt Laura, she’d better reconsider. “Say what you’ve come to say.”
“She’s cheating on you with another man. I saw her last night at the function center where I work part-time.”
“No.” He didn’t even hesitate.
“Go on, ring her and ask.”
“I know where she was last night,” Dallas said. “She attended a work function with her friend.”
“You know?”
“She went with my blessing. Anything else?”
Maria’s eyes narrowed, her mouth shaping to an ugly line. “She’s after your money.”
“Nope,” Dallas said, happier now that he’d bested Maria with minimal bloodshed. “Although you appear fixated on my bank account. Leave, Maria. If you try to come back, my employees will toss you out.”
“You can’t do that.”
“I believe I already have,” Dallas said and walked away.
“Whoa, boss. Maybe I should check your back for holes,” Gloria said when he slipped behind the bar to help with a sudden rush of customers.
“She’s not welcome here, Gloria. Don’t serve her, and if she asks for me, tell her I’m unavailable. Pass on the word to the other staff.”
“Yes, boss.”
“What will it be?” Dallas asked a beefy man waiting for service.
“Same again,” the man said holding up a bottle of imported beer. “Are you the owner?”
“Yes,” Dallas said. “Can I help you with something?”
“Nope, just curious. Is the woman in orange with you?”
Dallas stared at the man. “Fuck no. She’s an ex. You’re welcome to her.”
The man handed over a ten-dollar note. “She’s a looker.”
“She’s all yours,” Dallas said.
Friday morphed into night, the evening passing the same as many others before Laura’s arrival in his life. Hell, he missed her and wished she hadn’t needed to go to the family dinner. Every time he let his mind run free, his thoughts darted to Laura and how she looked in the morning, all mussed and sleepy after lovemaking. How good it felt when he was buried balls-deep in her.
“Last orders,” he hollered.
He dealt with the influx of customers wanting a last drink and started clearing up for the night.
Half an hour later, he locked the door behind Gloria and the other bar staff and trudged up the stairs to his apartment. He checked his phone, saw he’d missed a call from Laura and muttered an oath. Too late to ring her back now.
Once in bed, he tossed and turned, sliding into the dream zone, reaching for Laura and waking when he couldn’t find her. Damn, he had it bad.
A sudden burst of drunken shouts outside the pub woke him properly. The smashing of glass had him bounding from bed. He fumbled for his jeans, his T-shirt and switched on the bedside light to find where he’d kicked his shoes.
Seconds later, he was rushing downstairs. Another window smashed, closer this time and he cursed when he realized he should have grabbed his cell phone before tearing down to investigate. The whoops and hollers receded, telling him the bastards had gone. He keyed in the code to still the warning beeps coming from the alarm and scowled at the broken window.
Changing direction, he went for the landline and rang the cops. They promised him a car would arrive in the next ten minutes and to leave the culprits to them.
When he couldn’t hear any more noise outside, he switched on the main lights to survey the damage. The main front window was smashed, along with two of the smaller windows. A few minutes later, he saw the lights of a car, identified it as the cops and unlocked the front door to greet them.
That was when he saw the new art additions to the brickwork. The debt is due now. This time it was written in crimson paint and reminded him of blood.
“Did you recognize anyone?” one of the cops asked after they’d identified themselves.
“Didn’t really see them,” Dallas said. “We have a gang in the neighborhood, but I’ve never had any problems. This is the second night in a row I’ve had graffiti left on the exterior walls.”
“Did you report the last time?”
“No, I cleaned it off. I didn’t even think to take photos, but the message was similar to this one.”
“Do you know what debt they’re talking about?”
“No. I don’t owe anyone money.”
The two cops took details for their report and said they’d keep an eye out for other graffiti. Dallas snapped photos and spent the next hour clearing glass and boarding up the broken windows.
He managed to grab a couple hours of sleep before he dragged his butt from bed and made a quick call to Laura, which went to voicemail. Disappointed, he moved on to deal with insurance companies and replacing the windows. No one wanted to drink in the pub that looked like a prison. Sighing, he started to remove the latest layer of spray paint.
Patrick arrived when he was almost finished. “Damn, I missed the party.”
“Yeah. I called the cops this time. What are you doing here? Haven’t you got stuff to do at the new pub?”
“Nothing for me to do in Clare right now. The builder is doing the alterations, and I don’t have anything to do until tonight when I start interviews for staff. What debt are they talking about? Do you have a debt in your secret life?”
Dallas sent his brother a stink eye.
Patrick laughed. “Just askin’. What did Quinn say?”
“Haven’t told him. Until last night, it wasn’t anything to worry about. I received an email via the pub website too.”
“Do you think it would be worth shelling out for security guards? Until things settle.”
“Yeah. We don’t want to scare off customers. The broken windows and graffiti aren’t a good look.” He glanced at his watch. “The window people should be here any minute.”
That night in the pub, Dallas kept a close eye on the customers. A few guys from the local gang popped in for a beer, but they kept to themselves and didn’t cause any trouble before they left again. Dallas started to relax.
His mind drifted to Laura, and he worked on automatic pilot, counting the minutes until closing time. She’d already be at their house. The thought gave him pause, and he realized he was grinning.
“Dollar for your thoughts,” Patrick said, appearing a few minutes before closing time.
“Private,” Dallas said. “How did the interviews go? Any excitement in Clare?”
“Stop trying to change the subject. When are you going to introduce her to the family?”
“I’m thinking about it,” Dallas said, surprising himself.
“I thought I’d stay the night here,” Patrick said.
Dallas shot him a look, not trying to hide his surprise. “You’re welcome, but why?”
“My flat mate’s girlfriend keeps coming on to me, and since she’s moved in, it’s making my life difficult.” Patrick sounded disgruntled.
“Maybe it’s time for you to move out.”
“The thought has crossed my mind,” Patrick said.
“You’re welcome to move in with me. I’m here a couple of nights a week, less in the future, if I have my way. You take the bedroom, and I’ll take the couch when I need to stay.”
Patrick nodded. “You’re on. Thanks, bro. Are you staying here tonight?”
“No, the bedroom is yours. I’ll shift my stuff next week.”
After making sure the pub was secure, Dallas left Patrick alone in the apartment. The drive to his house was much shorter at this late hour, and soon, he was unlocking the front door and stepping inside.
“Hey, honey, I’m home!”
Laura appeared, a welcoming grin on her face. “Perfect timing. I’ve made a light snack. Did you have more trouble at the pub?”
“I don’t want to talk about work,” he said, curling his arm around her and snatching a kiss. “I missed you.” Her kiss told him she’d missed him too.
“My mother found out I’m not spending my nights at the apartment,” she said as she drew him into the kitchen. “She’s demanding details.”
“And?”
Laura didn’t seem worried and admiration flooded him on seeing her slight smile. “I refused to furnish details. It’s a standoff.” She rolled her eyes. “She’s called in recruits.”
“Your father?”
“My oldest sister. I don’t want to talk about my family.” She pushed him down into a seat. “A beer or would you prefer hot chocolate? I have my own special recipe.”
“Hot chocolate it is. Do you have plans for next Saturday?”
“Spending time with you.”
“How do you feel about a day at the beach?”
“Sounds great.”
“Patrick said he’d cover for me.”
“Count me in.” She opened the oven and pulled out a selection of savories. The scent of egg and cheese drifted to him, and his stomach let out a sharp rumble. With deft movements, she slid the savories onto a tray, which already held a selection of cold snacks. “Start eating. The hot chocolate won’t be long.”
A feeling of contentment settled in him. A few years ago, he would have finished work and headed out to party. Right now, coming home to find Laura waiting, fulfilled him, made him happy. “I’ve been wondering where we should go next.”
“What do you mean?” The microwave pinged, and she opened it to remove two mugs. After testing one, she walked around to join him at the table.
“I’m tired of sneaking around.” The words burst from him, taking him by surprise.
Laura’s happy expression faded. “Are you breaking up with me?”
“God no.” He reached for her hand and laced their fingers together. “I want to take you out and spend time with you in public. That’s what I’m saying.”
“But what about our families?”
Dallas sighed. “That’s what I keep coming back to. We don’t have to do anything drastic, but we need to give the matter some thought.”
“Mother wanted to know when I was going to Clare for an entire weekend instead of a few hours. She’d heard I went to the business dinner with James. I got the full interrogation over dinner.” Laura pulled a face. “James is nice, but there is no way I’m letting my mother maneuver me into marriage with him.”
We could get married. The thought popped into Dallas’s mind like a magical genie. He opened his mouth to voice the thought and bit his tongue.
“Are you enjoying the hot chocolate?”
“Someone has raided my booze cupboard.”
“Yeah, but do you like it?”
“Everything is delicious. Thank you. Walking into the house to find you waiting for me makes my day.” And his mind was back to marriage again. Something to consider. They hadn’t known each other for long, yet happiness filled him each time they were together, the rightness of a good thing. For the first time, he was thinking beyond the next week and into the future. Despite the possible fallout, maybe marriage between them wasn’t impossible.