“I don’t have that kind of money floating around, big guy.”

He paid me a fair salary and my cost of living was practically nil, but when you died on an operating table and they brought you back to life, it cost a fortune. With no insurance, that meant every extra cent I had went back to paying the medical bills that were astronomical. Ayden and Jet had offered to help, but as soon I settled into my job at the Bar, I refused to let them. It was the first time in my life I was actually owning up to the consequences of my actions.

His mouth quirked and he pushed off the desk so that he was on his feet. “So give me a hundred bucks. It’ll be the best money you ever spent.”

I swore at him and got to my feet. I still had to look up at him, but he seemed less imposing now that I wasn’t sitting down.

“Look, I appreciate the offer and I would jump at the chance, but I can’t, and I can’t let you give me a free pass like that.”

He opened his mouth to argue with me but I cut him off by putting a hand on his massive shoulder and shaking my head.

“I’ve always taken any shortcut I could find. When I didn’t get shit handed to me, I took it because I thought I was entitled to it. I can’t do that with you. Not after everything you’ve done for me, Rome. If I ever get in a place where I can legitimately buy my way into a partnership with you, and the offer is still there I’ll jump on board. Until then, you just let me know if you need help with anything. I can be your go-to guy.”

“You’ve been that since the first day you started work here.”

I cleared my throat as heavy gratitude pressed in on me from all directions. “Thanks for trusting me enough to even consider getting into some kind of business with me.”

He grunted and we both left the office. “You’ve never given me a reason not to trust you. I know there was ugly shit before, but that doesn’t have anything to do with now. I’ve had to learn to leave the past where it belongs or it really fucks up the good stuff happening in the here and now.”

We were both pretty solemn as we walked back into the front of the Bar. Brite was gone and Dixie was standing behind the bar watching Dash, who insisted we all just call him Church like Rome did, as he walked around straightening tables. Rome gave the cocktail waitress a one-armed hug and stuck his head in the kitchen to let Darcy know he was leaving. He also gave Church a fist bump as the other dark-skinned ex-military man walked up to the bar and then looked at me with lifted eyebrows as he turned to go. “Lemme know if you change your mind, Opie.”

“Will do.” The nickname was ridiculous. I was so far from being the innocent southern kid in overalls at the water hole it was laughable, but a drunk kid had once lobbed the name as an insult, and not surprisingly it stuck.

Since it was a Saturday night I ran through what we were looking at business-wise for the night and told both Dixie and Church that Rome wanted to look for some more staff. I told them if they had any recommendations to send them my way and then went into the kitchen to make sure Avett had at least showed up for her shift. She was standing by the big walk-in cooler and Darcy was in front of her.

The older woman had her daughter’s chin in her hand and was screaming at her, “I know goddamn well you did not trip and fall and give yourself that black eye, Avett.”

Avett’s gaze darted anywhere but at her infuriated mother and landed on me. I saw her bottom lip tremble and I frowned at her over the top of Darcy’s head.

“If he’s putting marks on you that other people can see, it’s only gonna get worse. Not only does that mean he doesn’t give a shit about you, it means he doesn’t give a shit that you actually have people that might not want to see you hurt. That’s dangerous. You should cut ties and run like a rabbit with its tail on fire.”

Avett’s swirly eyes narrowed at me and she jerked away from her mom. “You don’t know anything. Neither one of you do. Jared was drunk. It was an accident. Leave me alone or I’ll walk out and you won’t have anyone to work the busiest night of the week.”

She was shaking and I knew she didn’t believe her own words. I could see it as she bit the inside of her cheek. You had to be able to lie to yourself before you could lie expertly to other people. Avett wasn’t quite there yet, and maybe there was time to stop her before she got there. I was done playing babysitter; it was time to let the bad guy out and maybe he could get results where coddling this troubled girl had failed.

I told her flatly, “You walk out, you aren’t walking back in. I’m done playing your spoiled-brat games. You don’t wanna be here, well, guess what, I really fucking don’t want you here either, but I owe your dad and your mom is a good lady, so I endure working with you. This”—I waved a hand around the kitchen to encompass the dramatic scene I had interrupted—“is the threshold for my bullshit tolerance.” I made sure I looked at Darcy so she could see how dead serious I was before I walked back out of the kitchen.