Page 25 of Seamus's Basement
“Who’s your friend?” a deep voice boomed.
Startled by the loud sound in the otherwise nearly silent house, he snapped his gaze toward the doorway where the sheriff was glowering at them.
“Um,” Todd whispered, seeming confused at the sheriff’s demeanor. That made two of them. “Rich, this is DJ.” He held his hand toward DJ. “Deej, Rich.” He moved his hand in the sheriff’s direction.
“You didn’t mention you had a date lined up for tonight. Would’ve been nice to know.” The sheriff was furious, his fists clenched, as he towered over them. “Will you at least be back by the time Molly wakes up in the morning? Or is a booty call more important than your niece?”
“Dude!” DJ said, offended at the accusation. He was married, not that anyone in Hope knew that, but regardless, he hadn’t been behaving inappropriately with his friend. “What the hell?” He could understand Sheriff Davis wanting to make sure thebaby was well-cared for, but that wasn’t an excuse for him to make disparaging assumptions and lose his temper.
Still facing the sheriff, Todd said, “Shh.”
Sheriff Davis ignored Todd and looked at DJ menacingly, his muscles bunching. On the plus side, the big man’s rage was focused entirely on him, so Todd was safe and he didn’t look scared. But DJ couldn’t handle more hits that night, especially from someone that huge, so he needed to get out of there before things went from bad to worse.
“Whatever. I don’t need this. I’m out of here.” He carefully made his way around the distressingly unhinged sheriff and over to the front door.
“Your money!” Todd said from behind him.
“Keep it,” he said, rushing out of that house as quickly as he could manage. “This day is fucked.”
Chapter 8
“Mike! Hey. I heard you were in town.”
Steve Faus’s college-age son took a seat at the bar, looking downtrodden. “Hey, Seamus. What’s good?”
“You okay?”
“I’m out of beer and the will to live.” He dropped his forehead onto the bar. Mike was almost always upbeat and jovial so this was unusual.
“I can help with the beer and I’m guessing the other issue is about a woman?”
“Yeah,” he said despondently and then sighed.
“I have a red ale on tap that I think you’ll like.” Seamus set a coaster down. “Want to try it?”
“Yeah,” Mike said, using the same tone. “Give me two.”
“Two?” he asked in confusion.
“Can’t drunk dial your crush if you’ve got a beer in both hands.”
“So we’re going for high drama tonight, got it.” Seamus chuckled and poured the beer. “Want to tell me about her?”
“Five-six, long brown hair, more than a handful up top”— he cupped his own chest —“and out back.” He reached his arms behind his back, presumably doing the same thing to his ass.
“She sounds brilliant and kind.”
Mike raised his head, frowned, and then said, “Yeah, that too. Probably.”
Seamus laughed and put a single beer in front of him.
“Hi, Seamus. Sorry I’m late,” said his bartender, Laura.
He turned around and blinked in surprise to find her in his personal space. She tended to stand too close, which annoyed him, but he understood that they were in tight quarters so he had always ignored it. “Not a problem. Thanks for coming in on such short notice.”
“I never mind keeping you company back here.” She leaned into his chest.
“Cool.” He scooted to the side to get around her and over to his phone so he could check the time. It was almost ten, which meant DJ should be there soon. “I’ll get as much cleanup done as I can in the next little bit and then I’m going to take off.”
