Hunter popped the fry into his mouth. “He cheated on her. Repeatedly. Kenna was always one to play by the rules. She didn’t party, barely hung with anyone but Bell and Caelyn. So, Grant pretty much had free rein at parties.”
Ford slid a beer to a customer a few stools down. “I didn’t know that.”
“You were already gone when his partying got really out of control. It wasn’t really my scene, but I heard about it plenty.”
I forced myself to release the death grip I had on my glass. “Kenna didn’t know? Her friends?”
Hunter shrugged. “It was mostly rumor at the time. I think she thought it was girls acting jealous and making stuff up.”
My urge to find Grant Abbot and deck him was increasing by the second. Sure, we all did stupid things in high school, but cheating on a girl whose trust was so fragile? It was cruel. “He’s an asshole.”
“He’s gotten everything he’s ever wanted in life. It would be impossible for him to turn out any other way,” Hunter said.
But Hunter was wrong. I’d had just about anything I ever needed or wanted, too. Other than parents who actually gave a damn, anyway. But I guessed Grant was in the same boat there. I didn’t use people the way he did, though. Didn’t crush them to get whatever it was that I wanted. Affluence as a reason for bad behavior was just an excuse.
Ford began wiping down the bar. “His parents always made any repercussions for his bad behavior disappear.”
Now that was something my parents didn’t do. When I screwed up, I had to face the music. “That can make a kid an asshole teen and young adult, but he’s in his late twenties now. Blaming his behavior on Mommy and Daddy is just an excuse.”
“You’ve got a point there,” Ford agreed.
The stool next to me scraped against the cement floor. “Looks like it’s my lucky day. Three handsome men to keep me company.”
I turned at the sound of the husky voice. The woman looked to be in her fifties, but it was hard to tell for sure. Her hair was dyed a red that was in no way natural, and the makeup caked on her face just made her wrinkles stand out more. “Ma’am.”
“Please do not call me ma’am. That’s reserved for my mother.” She scooted in closer, and I could smell a hint of alcohol and cigarette smoke on her breath. Apparently, she’d already been hitting it hard today.
“Fair enough,” I agreed. “Miss, it is.”
The woman held out a hand with red nails that matched her hair. “I’m Janet. It’s nice to meet you…”
“Crosby. I’m Crosby, and this is Hunter and Ford.” I did not want to be singled out by Janet, but at the same time, I found myself fighting a chuckle. I had to admire her fearless game.
“Well, fellas. What do you say to some shots?”
Ford held up both hands. “I’m working.”
Janet pouted. “Spoilsport. What about you two?”
Hunter shook his head. “I have to be on a job site at six tomorrow morning.”
“Sorry, Miss Janet, I’ve got an early day, too. Looks like you’ll just have to party for the four of us.”
Bell appeared behind the bar. “But you’ll have to do it somewhere else. You’re not welcome here. Get gone, and don’t come back.”
I was instantly on alert at the look of rage on Bell’s face, and Ford took a step closer to his fiancée.
Janet let out a dramatic gasp. “Well, I never. Who the hell do you think you—?” She froze for a moment. “Isabelle Kipton?”
It was a sign of the progress Bell had made that she didn’t wince at her full name or pour a beer over the woman’s head. “It’s Bell, and this is my bar. The best part about that is that I get to say who stays and who goes. You will never be welcome here.”
Janet pushed to her feet. “You always did think you were hot shit. Turned my Kenna into thinking she was the same.”
I stiffened as Kenna’s name fell from the woman’s mouth. Her Kenna? No. There was no way this was Kenna’s mother.
Ford wrapped an arm around Bell as Janet stormed out of The Catch. “Your bar, huh?”
She grinned up at him, but the action didn’t ring entirely true. Anger and worry still tinged her expression. “You’re marrying me, aren’t you? What’s yours is mine.”
Hunter chuckled. “Careful, brother. You step out of line, and she’ll take you for all you’ve got.”
Bell pressed a kiss to Ford’s jaw. “And don’t you forget it.”
“That was Kenna’s mom?” My mind was still swirling around everything that had happened in the past five minutes. The woman looked nothing like Kenna, and she certainly didn’t act like her. My gut soured. That was what Kenna had been forced to live with for the first eleven years of her life.
Bell straightened. “That woman is a lot of things, but a mother isn’t one of them.”
I couldn’t argue with the assessment. “Did you know she was back?”
Bell shook her head, her lips pressing together. “I wonder if Kenna does.” The last thing Kenna needed was to be blindsided by her mother. I stood, pulling out my wallet and tossing a few bills down to cover my dinner and beer. Bell eyed my movements. “You going to her?”
“What do you think?”
A war of emotions flickered across Bell’s face, a battle between hope and fear and a few other things that passed too quickly for me to identify. “Be careful with her, Crosby. She comes across strong, but she’s been hurt. Bad. She’s more fragile than she’ll ever admit.”
I gripped the side of the bar. “You gonna tell me about that hurt?”
“I can’t. It’s not my place.”
My back molars ground together. “If you’re not going to tell me, then quit with the cryptic warnings.”
“Crosby,” Ford warned. “Watch your tone.”
I bit back the words I wanted to let free and headed for the door. I knew Bell was just worried about her friend, but she wasn’t helping anything. I blew out a breath as I stepped into the night air. It wasn’t Bell’s fault. I was pissed because there was so much flying at Kenna, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.
26
Kenna
The knock on the door jolted me out of my blank stare. I was pretty sure I’d read the same paragraph about ten times. I set the book on the side table and pushed to my feet. Crossing to the door, I stopped a few steps away. What if it was Janet, back for round two?
“Open the door, Brown Eyes. I know you’re in there.”
Something in me eased at Crosby’s voice, warmth spreading through me. The fact that somewhere along the line, he had come to signify safety was concerning. I pushed the thought from my mind and opened the door. “Hey.”
Crosby pushed by me and into my space as if it were his own. Typical. “I need to give you a heads-up on something.”
I turned, shutting the door behind me. “Case-related?”
“Family.”
I fought the wince that wanted to surface. Crosby’s presence here with a familial warning could only mean one thing. “You met Janet.” My voice was flat, images of my mother making a fool of herself in front of Crosby flashing in my mind.