Total pages in book: 77
Estimated words: 73817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73817 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 369(@200wpm)___ 295(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
I hop off the wall. “You hungry? My bar is still open. If you prefer dumpster diving, that’s your prerogative. But if you come with me, I’ve got chicken wings, nachos, and all the damned nuts you want. The difference this time is I’m actually offerin’ you the food, on the house.”
“The nuts were free. They were on every table.”
That’s a battle I won’t win. “C’mon, Sunny. I’m pretty sure all of this chasing around town has worked you up an appetite. I won’t take no for an answer.”
For the first time, he doesn’t fight me on it.
The bar is just as busy and out of control as my worst nightmare would have revealed. Adrian is long gone, and Mars and Chase are scrambling behind the counter to keep up with the customers. Sweat drips from their brows. Even August our cook is delivering drinks to customers all over the room, his apron stained with three different sauces.
Easy Breezy is anything but easy and breezy tonight.
I head behind the counter and grab hold of the reins, sending Mars to the floor and August back to the kitchen. The kid hangs around in the back by the windows, his big bright eyes scanning the room guardedly.
In ten minutes, he’s got a hot basket of chicken wings, fries, and nachos which, between customers, I observe him devouring. Despite us being slammed by the business, just the satisfied, grateful, overjoyed look on his face as he eats is enough payment for everything.
And as the crowd starts to ebb near midnight, Mars at last gets a chance to nudge up next to me at the bar, her eyes on the boy. “You really think that’s a good idea?”
I glance at her. “What do you mean?”
“Indulging in this … thief kid you don’t know the first thing about.”
“I know he isn’t dangerous,” I tell her. “I know he just needs a little help. Place to stay. Food in his belly. I can’t just leave him on a weekend as busy as this. Who knows what kind of people are around here? Horny guys who will take advantage of him. Drunk guys who lose their sense. I don’t want to risk him being around any of that.”
Mars gives me a baffled look. “You’re talking like that guy is some struggling lost nephew of yours you’ve known all of your life. Do I have to keep repeating myself, Coop? You don’t know him. At all.”
He’s licking his fingers. I smirk. “I know he’s hungry.”
Mars rolls her eyes. “You and your daddy complex.”
I give her a look. “It isn’t my fault the boys flock to me. And I happen to be good at looking out for them.”
“Well, someone needs to look out for you, Coop. I do remember the last one, y’know.”
That stops me. “The last one?”
“I was too young to really get what was going on, but I heard all about it from my mom. That one young guy you took under your wing a while back … the one who took advantage of you and ended up breaking your heart. He was about the same age, too.”
I haven’t given him a thought in years. “Marcia …”
“I’m just saying. I don’t want to see you hurt again. You’re too nice sometimes. You don’t see how harsh and cruel the world can be.”
Really? She’s half my age and going to teach me about the cruelty of the world? “He’s just a down-on-his-luck kid who has nowhere safe to stay tonight, Mars,” I point out. “If I judge everyone I meet after one bad seed, how is that fair? This kid needs my help. Doesn’t matter that I don’t know his story yet.”
“Well, you’d better learn it fast before you go inviting him into your home and he robs you blind.”
“I’m not taking him to my house. I’m gonna … I’m gonna figure something out for him.” I keep gazing at the boy from across the room, struggling to work a solution out in my head. “I just need to think.”
I’m still telling myself that an hour later when the bar is officially calm again, and Chase tells me he can close up later on if I want to head off now. The kid still lingers in the back at an empty table, picking at a loose thread on his shirt and staring out the window.
I hope I don’t regret this.
Chapter 5 - Seany
Is tonight my luckiest night, or is this a trap?
His house is cozy to say the least. It immediately opens to a tiny kitchen area on the right and a living room straight ahead, with a couch and coffee table on one side, and a TV on the wall opposite from it. Past the couch, a sliding glass door opens to a small lit porch and the beach beyond.