Page 64 of The Hearts We've Broken
“Actually, the night in Utah it stormed, and it rained so hard I was surprised they didn’t stop the rodeo. Mikey made it to eight seconds, but the bull charged after him, and I don’t think I took a breath until he was out of the arena.”
“Whoa.” Nico’s eyes widened, and Liv threw her hand over her mouth.
I was sure they’d asked me more questions, but the only thing I could think about was cooking dinner in the trailer and everything that happened after. It wasn’t sex, but the small intimate gestures filled my stomach with butterflies.
“Did somethingelsehappen?” Liv gaped. “You’reblushing!”
“What? No!” Even though I denied it, Nico and Liv’s faces told me I was caught in the act.
Guilty.
But by the grace of God, before they could interrogateme some more, a customer—a man I’d never seen before—walked through the front doors of the bar.
“I’ll help this gentleman,” I quickly rattled out, despite Liv’s, “June, wait,” before they could double team me and have one of them actually work while the other continued to grill me. “Hello, sir. What can I do for you?”
“Are you Juniper Ray?” he asked, standing a few feet from the bar, not bothering to sit.
“I, uh…” I hesitated, stumbling over my words.
“Is that Juniper Ray over there?” He pointed at Liv.
I tilted my head, confusion rushing through me. This whole interaction was raising red flags for me, especially with the article that just came out.
“I’m not comfortable giving out that information, sir. Is there anything I can get for you?” I politely stated, trying to recover from my speech mishap.
“You sure you’re not Juniper Ray?” The man continued to push as he walked directly up to the bar.
“Sir, this isn’t appropriate, and if this continues, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.” Even though my words were intended to sound firm, they came out a bit wobbly and unsure.
Instead of leaving like any normal person would, he reached over the bar and grabbed my wrist.
“Hey!” Nico yelled, storming over to my defense. “I don’t know who you are, man, but you need to leave right now.”
The man relented, yelling in Nico’s face, “I’m not leaving until I find out the information I need about Juniper Ray and Mikey Tucker!”
I flinched, jumping back as the few patrons in the bar got up from their seats to help.
All I could do was stand there frozen as it turned into afull-on screaming match, the man, who I now assumed was a reporter of some kind—or a crazed fan—flinging his arms around to avoid the gentlemen who were trying to lead him out of the bar.
In the midst of the chaos, Nico wrapped his arm around Liv, guiding her to the back office out of harm’s way and presumably to call the police.
The disruption must have been loud enough to hear from the street, because the front door flung open and the Silver Creek boys barged through. Where they’d come from, I wasn’t entirely sure, but what I did know was that Mikey’s face was written with murder, anger painting his features.
“Hackett, you need to get out of here right now before I do something I’ll regret.”
I’d seen Mikey get annoyed with reporters and cameramen before, but that was nothing compared to this. His nostrils flared and reddish-pink streaks crept into his cheeks. His strides had an urgency to them, wasting no time getting to me.
“Oh, yeah? I’d like to see you?—”
Hackett’s response was cut short by Mikey’s fist connecting with his nose.
“Ow! What the fuck?” Blood ran from Hackett’s nose, and he brought up his sleeve to wipe it away.
The split second he was dazed gave Colter and Reid enough time to grab hold of his arm and lead him out of the bar.
“Mikey!” I gasped. Mikey was shaking out his hand. “What the hell? Why was your first thought to punch him instead of, I don’t know, calling the police?”
“They were already on the way. Liv called.” Nico appeared around the corner at the same time Mikeyblurted out, “Juniper, he was harassing you. He wouldn’t shut his mouth, and I warned him.”
