Page 4 of Time Out

“I’ve got her tab, Lou.”

“No, you don’t.” Those full cherry lips pressed into a thin line.

“Save the money. Sounds like you’ll need it.”

“And what do you want for being so nice to me?”

It was delivered with a sneer, telling me most likely she’d already dealt with enough shit from men tonight.

I shrugged. “Not a damn thing.”

Wasn’t like her few drinks and maybe a meal would break my bank.

“He’s good for it,” Lou said. “And if not, it’d be on the house anyway since it sounds like you’ve had a hell of a night, and before you ask me what I want, just that you get home safely. You do have a safe place to go tonight, right?”

This time she laughed, shook her head, and another flip of her hand with her hand. “Amazing. Yes, I have a place to go.”

“Pick your poison then.” He gestured to the bar.

She slid her gaze in my direction, arched a brow in question, but I wasn’t going to stop her. “No strings, except I’d like your name, but that’s up to you.”

Her red lips pushed to one side, and she glanced back at the wall lined with liquor. “Two shots of Patron, no lime or salt, and a beer. Whatever he’s having.” She nodded in my direction without looking at me. “Maggie.”

Lou grabbed her drinks as Maggie rolled around in my head. Was it a nickname for something? Margaret?

Once Lou was done, he headed my way, and I leaned over the bar. Maggie was shooting her first shot of tequila, thumb scrolling on her phone screen.

“Any chance you can change the screens off sports?”

If she hadn’t seen my face yet, I didn’t want her to. Sure, it was the easiest way to get a girl’s attention, but I didn’t need my post-game interview showing up on the ninety-two-inch screen behind me either.

“You got it.”

He grabbed the remote, and as he turned on the guide, Maggie’s attention drifted to that same massive screen. “Your choice, Maggie,” he said. “Got a preference?”

“You guys really know how to make a girl feel at home.” It was said with the same amount of distrust as earlier, but whatever. I had no clue what her night or week had been like.

Lou kept scrolling, and I took a drink from my beer.

“No preference. Not like anything can help after tonight.”

She scowled and then drowned in her drinks, and for a very brief moment, I swore there was fear in her eyes before she blinked it away.

“What do you mean?”

She had no obligation to tell me anything, but if my sister said something like that to me, I’d be ready to ride at dawn in a heartbeat.

“Nothing.”

Lou, however, did not let that go. “Somebody hurt you?”

He was a big guy, round in all the old guy places, but he also had five daughters. A protective bear was Lou.

“Nothing that doesn’t typically happen at bars around here. It’s whatever.” She flipped a hand through the air and grabbed her second shot. “It’s fine.”

“That’s not fine. And it’s not whatever. You telling me somebody touched you, and you got fired for it?”

She cringed. “It might have been me breaking a bottle on the bar and shoving it in his face that was the part that got me fired.”

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