Page 181 of Will Bark for Pizza
“You’re nothing without me. All this,” he said, using his arms to make an exaggerated sweeping movement that nearly knocked him on his ass. His pitiful expression hardened into the cold monster I remembered. “This is because ofme. You wouldn’t have any of it if it weren’t for me. I’m the reason this all happened. Youoweme.”
“Did you write the fucking books?” Thelma piped up.
God, I loved that woman.
“This was all medespiteyou. Despite you constantly putting me down. Despite you telling me my success was a fluke. Despite you making me believe I had to hide who I was because no one would accept me if they knew I wrote vampire smut.”
“She writes excellent vampire smut,” Lotti chimed in.
Several readers agreed in earnest.
“I never—I mean—I helped you?—”
“You didn’thelpme,” I fired back. “If anything, you hindered me. You constantly tried to hold me back. It’s amiracle I was able to write at all with how much you constantly tore me down. But that’s over now. I’m not going to protect you anymore.”
For once, Travis was speechless.
“You are not welcome in my bookstore. You are not welcome in my town. You are not welcome in my life.”
The final piece of his mask fell, and in its place was pure hatred. It was the same rage I saw the day he cocked a fist in my face. If I ever wondered whether I exaggerated things in my head, I didn’t now.
“It’s time to go,” Luke said, grabbing him by the arm. Travis tried to shrug him off until he noticed who had him. He was a lot of things, but stupid enough to get arrested was not typically one of them. He valued self-preservation above all else. “Is that alcohol on your breath? Tell me you didn’tdrivehere.”
Okay, maybenotstupid enough to avoid arrest.
Travis struggled against Luke, but Connor and Beckett quickly jumped in. Together, the three wrestled him into submission. Husker let out a sharp bark.Good boy, Husker.
The remaining crowd watched in rapt attention. And when Travis was pushed through the open doorway, back outside, everyone erupted in cheers.
“Thatta girl!”
“Diana Davenport is a badass!”
“Yeah, she is!”
Husker rushed to me, Opal running after him, leash in hand. I didn’t care that he’d get blond hairs all over my black dress. I knelt and squeezed him in a hug, one he didn’t try to squirm out of for asolid five seconds.
“You’re such a good boy, Husker.”
With a deep breath, I prayed for Mom to help me get through the rest of this day. I clung to the adrenaline rush with a death grip, the one that made me feel empowered and brave. It was the only thing that would hold me together until the store closed. Once I locked the door,thenI could fall apart.
SIXTY-ONE
BECKETT
“Have you seen Kira?”Connie asked me, scanning the mostly empty bookstore. The doors had closed an hour ago, everyone making quick work of resetting the store so they could open for regular business tomorrow morning. Somehow in all the chaos, Kira had slipped away.
“I thought she left?”
“She sent Husker home with Connor and Opal half an hour ago,” Connie said. “But I thought she was still here.”
My gaze zeroed in on the door to the back room. The one with the staircase to the upstairs apartment. I locked it, of course. But she’d been using her new keys. I hoped she was there, and not out at the lake. I wanted to blindfold her and make the reveal extra special, but I’d take a spoiled surprise over jumping in a cold lake in the dark any day.
“I’ll go look for her.”
“Thank you, dear.” Connie patted my arm. “Beckett?”
“Yeah?”
