Page 64 of Will Bark for Pizza
“You should have heard what Kira said about him.”
“Cut her some slack,” Kat said, her firm tone hinting at gentleness.
Kat Hayes had a reputation for being a hard-ass. You had to be, to run a bar and grill in a small tourist town. But underneath that armor, I suspected she was a big softy.
“She was going through a rough time,” she said.
“Still doesn’t excuse the way she acted.”
“Luke Mason, get off your damned high horse, or I’ll put jalapeno seeds in everything I serve you tonight, iced tea included.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
I hid my smile behind my sweating glass of water. Thoren didn’t bother hiding his at all.
I scanned the crowded bar and grill as Kat wove through the tables back to the kitchen, my gaze landing once again on Kira. She held a dart, her arm bent at the elbow as she lined it up, and fired. It hit somewhere on the inner circle. I didn’t have to wonder if she was good. The confident smirk she wore when she pulled her dartsfrom the board and spun around said she knew what she was doing.
I bet she was competitive. An idea was taking form in my brain—a really stupid idea involving darts and side bets.
“So, Alyssa’s in town,” Luke said, effectively wiping the cheeky grin right off Thoren’s face.
“She’s just here for Mom’s party,” Thoren said flatly, downing half his lager in a single long swallow.
“Is it really out at the cabin?” Luke asked.
“Shocker, right?” Thoren said.
“The cabin on Ghost Lake?” I asked.
Luke nodded.
“I thought—” I cut myself off before I sounded like a fucking gossip, too. Guess that meant Karl wasn’t selling the cabin after all. Probably why he didn’t return my voicemail. I could survive a few more days staying across the hall from Kira. Especially since she was doing everything in her power to avoid me.
“Fixed you boys up a sampler platter,” Kat said, dropping a massive plate filled with nachos, quesadillas, poppers, wings, and three different types of dip in the middle. “If you still want burgers, I can get those going.”
Luke ordered his usual to-go.
“Extra jalapenos,” Thoren said to Kat.
“Not funny.”
“It’s a little funny,” I added, remembering the jalapeno hoax we pulled on him in Afghanistan. He’d probably hold a grudge about that for the rest of our lives. But fuck, it was worth it.
Luke grumbled.
I helped myself to some nachos.
“I forgot how fucking good this food is,” Thoren moaned.
Kat served bar food, but she had to have a few special ingredients up her sleeve. Like crack, because it wasthataddictive. Much better than any typical bar food I tried anywhere in the country.
“You reenlisting, then?” Luke asked Thoren, the question throwing me.
“It’s what I do,” he said on a shrug.
“Where you headed next?”
“Trying to get Alaska.”
