Of course. Patrick is retiring soon. You remember him?’
Reen snorted. Patrick McCreary, chief of police, was one person in town she’d never forget. He’d been a staple of her childhood, but not in a good way. If there was one person she didn’t want to run into, it was him.
‘Oh yeah,’ she said. ‘Chief McCreary doesn’t come here, does he?’
‘Not usually. But some of the others might come by after leaving their posts.’
As long as he stays away. She took another sip.
‘Speaking of leaving,’ Brody said, and Reen choked on her beer.
He stood up straight, crossing his arms. ‘I mean, it was going to come up sometime. Did you expect me to forget?’
Reen held up a finger, wiping her hand across her lips. ‘First of all, I had no idea you worked here. I avoided The Siren for that reason.’
‘Good to know,’ he said. His tone held a hint of an edge. ‘And secondly?’
She hadn’t planned to go that far, but since he asked. ‘I’m not here for a reunion. I came to see Mom, and then I’m out of here.’
Brody shook his head. ‘You were going to come back and not say anything to me?’ He scoffed. ‘I’m not sure why I expected you to change at all, Reen.’
She tried to take a minute to collect her thoughts by taking another sip of her beer, but her throat closed. She should have left the second she saw Brody. But, over the years, she’d thought about him more than she would ever admit.
‘Listen—’ The door opened, and a shriek of giggles came from the entrance to the bar.
Every single person in the room turned to the four girls, dressed for the club, not a local dive. Their dresses were too short, and their makeup overdone for an afternoon in The Burrow.
‘This is fer locals,’ one of the older men at the end of the bar slurred. His nose was red, and sweat poured out of his face, enough that it started to soak into the collar of his shirt.
Two of the others locked on the girls and Reen couldn’t help rolling her eyes.
‘Want me to cut you off, Jimmy?’ Brody asked with a smirk. He tossed a peanut from the bowl in front of Reen toward the guy.
Jimmy shook his head quick enough that a few droplets of sweat dripped onto the counter. The others around him didn’t seem to notice.
Reen wanted to turn away. She knew she should have. But one brunette wavy-haired girl broke off from her friends and strode over to Brody. Her friends grabbed a seat in the corner of the room, their eyes glued to their phones.
Brody met the girl at the other side of the bar. She tucked herself against him and leaned her head back, smiling up at him.
Gritting her teeth, Reen turned away from Brody and the girl, but her ears remained perked up; for some reason she wanted to hear their conversation. Somewhere, deep inside of her, she had to know for sure if Brody was serious about this girl.
‘We’ll have rosé,’ the girl said to him.
‘It’s on me,’ said one of the guys. Reen could almost hear his wink.
She giggled, and Reen had the urge to gag. The beer rumbled around her stomach. More than anything, she wanted to flee. But she wasn’t about to show Brody how much he affected her. Sure, he was still upset she’d left. She didn’t blame him. But leaving again would only prove to him what he already thought. She fought against her instincts and settled into her chair. Letting go of a breath, she turned in her seat, lifted her empty glass and wiggled it in front of her. If anything, to separate the lovebirds at the end of the bar.
Brody glanced at her and gave her a curt nod before kissing the girl on the cheek. He turned his eyes to Reen, locking into them. She didn’t budge. He wouldn’t know how much he affected her. Seeing him brought back memories, but they both had their own lives now.
She wasn’t sure how long he’d last with some tourist girl, but it wasn’t her problem anymore.
A rough fabric raked against Reen’s cheeks as she pried her eyelids apart. They stuck together again. Shit. She hadn’t taken her mascara off the night before. She hoped they would pull apart on their own. The room was entirely too bright, and she squeezed her eyes closed, just as the night before crashed over her.
Her futile attempt to roll over was a mistake. Her stomach tightened, and she curled into a ball. More rough fabric against her skin pricked at every inch of her body. A loud yawn filled her ears, and she jolted, the movement sending another wave of nausea through her stomach, clawing its way up her throat. She’d had way too much to drink last night.
She wanted to know who’d yawned. Sitting up as best she could, she surveyed the rest of the room. Even though she had Rose’s key in her bag, she knew without a doubt that she wasn’t in Rose’s apartment.
A flash of the group of guys surrounding her at the Brews came back full force. They’d bought her drink after drink. How could she have been so stupid? She wasn’t an amateur, but she had been last night.
As she drew in several breaths to calm her pounding heart, the details of the room sharpened. The sheets were navy, and the plaid comforter sat in a heap at the edge of the bed. Across the way was a small kitchen; only a refrigerator, sink, stove, and a compact countertop hugged the corner of the room. Not far from the edge of the bed was a brown leather sofa and a flat-screen television mounted on the wall.
A studio apartment, belonging to one of the guys from the bar. She sifted through the dark memories in her head, but she came up empty. How did she get there and with whom? Through the window, Reen recognized the street. She was in an apartment above the bar. The familiar view outside Burrow’s Brews mocked her. At least her commute hadn’t been long. Maybe that was a selling point for her when she had been an idiotic drunken mess.
She darted to the side of the bed and slowly – painfully – swung her legs until they dangled off the edge. Her shirt clung to her body, but her crumpled jeans were on the floor next to the bed. Her hand fell to her stomach, and she winced, wondering if she’d drunkenly agreed to a one-night stand. The thought brought another wave of sickness through her, and she bounded to the other side the room to the door across the way. She prayed it was a bathroom.
The knob moved further away from her reaching hand. Before she could blink, she smacked into a hard and naked chest. A towel covered his face as he rubbed it against his hair.
‘Whoa,’ the guy said as Reen shoved him out of the way. She only had eyes for the toilet. She fell to the floor, her knees smacking against the cool tile. There wasn’t much in her stomach, but it squeezed the life out of her.
A cold cloth appeared on her neck, and she mumbled a thank you to the stranger. When she finished, she glanced over her shoulder. He was gone. Unwilling to soil this guy’s apartment any more than she already had, she wiped her hand across her mouth and went to the sink to wash up. Even though her insides were empty the room still moved on its own.
‘Here,’
