Page 65 of The Pieces We've Lost

“Goddamn!” The rest of the boys looked away, snickering as Mikey pursed his lips.

“Rerack ’em, boys.” Reid laughed. “I know who I want my pool partner to be from now on. No offense, Hayden.”

Hayden just shrugged as the corner of his lip turned upward, a small dimple showing.

“Oh, no, I’m done. I’ve proved my point.” I gave the pool stick back to Reid and sat down.

“All right, well, you tryin’ to get in on our game?” Mikey nudged Colter.

“Maybe the next one.” He put his hands up before he grabbed my hand and nodded toward the bar. “Let’s get some drinks.”

We walked over to the bar, and I grabbed one of the empty stools. Colter waved over the bartender and ordered a beer for himself and a tequila soda for me.

“So, those were the guys.” Colter chuckled. “Sorry about Mikey.”

“I can see what you mean about him being a handful. Don’t worry, though. Like I said, I can handle him. I’vedealt with worse.” I rolled my eyes at the thought of Mikey trying to hit on me.

The bartender brought back our drinks, and Colter closed his tab before leaning against the bar and turning to face me.

“What did you think of the wild horse racing?” he asked me.

“That was probably one of the craziest, most chaotic things I’ve seen in a while.” I laughed. “I enjoyed it, though.”

Before Colter could say anything else, there was a crash from the back of the bar and people yelling.

“What the fuck?” He jumped up, putting me behind him. He started walking toward the yelling and gestured for me to stay put.

Like hell I was.I followed closely behind him because, well, I was nosy, and it wasn’t like I hadn’t seen a bar fight before.

Glass was on the floor, and Reid was pulling Mikey off a guy who was clutching his nose, blood seeping through his fingers.

“Get out of here and don’t come back if you’re going to act that way!” Mikey snapped at him.

The guy gave him a glare and started walking toward the entrance of the bar, still holding his nose.

“What the fuck, Mikey?” Colter demanded. “What happened?”

“He was talking shit. I put him in his place.” Mikey wiped his hands off on his pants, his knuckles bloody.

“You know damn well you could have gotten arrested for that shit.”

“The guy was belligerent and saying shit about you. I did youa favor.” He shrugged.

“He’s telling the truth, Colt. Honestly, I would have done the same thing if Mikey hadn’t jumped at the opportunity,” Jake added.

“We’re brothers, man. I’m not just gonna stand by when someone talks about you like that.”

I watched their exchange, honestly impressed by Mikey’s loyalty to his friends. Was punching a guy the right way to do it? Probably not, but it got the point across.

“All right, well, we’re gonna head out before Rocky over here punches anyone else. I’m not trying to bail you out of jail tonight.” Colter put his arm around me and started to lead me out. “Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid again,” he directed his friends.

I wondered how many times Colter had bailed Mikey out of jail. Clearly enough times that he didn’t want to be the one to deal with him tonight.

We walked down Main Street and passed the band again who were playing an old George Jones song.

Someone in the crowd hollered, “Play ‘Free Bird!’” and I had to suppress a laugh.

The lead singer retorted, “No,” in between the chorus and the verse and then continued on with the song.

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