Sinner(16)
“So tell me about this time you went crazy.”
“Pardon?”
“You just said I was wrong in thinking you’re this little buttoned up church girl who doesn’t know how to have fun or go crazy. So, let’s hear it.”
“I’ve done plenty of crazy things.”
He grins. “Oh? Got a tattoo somewhere I’m not seeing?”
I blush. “No.”
“You sure? Should we check?” He winks at me as he drops the cases on the truck tailgate and turns to head back to the bar.
“Quite. And no.”
“No wild mornings where you woke up next to a stranger?”
My face wrinkles. “Ew, no, of course not.”
“Shocker. Grab that box.”
I frown as I grab a case of plastic cups and follow him back out to the truck. “And I supposed that makes me open for ridicule? Because I’ve never… you know.”
“Banged a stranger?”
My face goes hot. “Yes, that.”
He drops the second load of soda into the truck bed and turns, shrugging. “No, it doesn’t. It’s just shocking.”
“Why?”
“Because you’re a knockout.”
I freeze, eyeing him, but he just keeps walking back to storeroom.
“I was-”
Why are you telling him this? There’s no need to tell him about-
“I was engaged.”
He turns, a brow sharply raised. “Seriously?”
I nod. “It’s over now though.”
“What happened?”
“I was in Korea, doing ministries outreach.”
He nods. “Ahh, you met someone else, huh? Some handsome young minister swept you off your-”
“He did.”
Rowan’s face sours. “Dick move. Sorry.”
I shrug. “No, I mean, I should have been there.”
“What?”
“I shouldn’t have gone on the trip. I should have stayed behind and been with him. It was mostly my fault.”
He’s silent, but when I look up, he’s staring right at me.
“What?”
“That’s just…wow.”
“What?”
“That’s fucking depressing, that’s what.”
“What, the engagement breaking off?”
“No, you somehow believing that asshole leaving you for some other girl is your fault.”
“No, you don’t get it.”
“I do, believe me. Here.” He passes me the untouched beer I left behind on the shelf.
“Oh, I don’t-”
“You do, trust me.”
I eye him, my mouth going small before I finally take the beer.
“Shit after that story, I need a drink.”
I grin.
“So I guess this means you’re single, huh?”
I blush, my eyes snapping to his.
“Well, my father’s been telling me that he has a new suitable match picked out for me.”
Rowan chokes on his beer. “What?”
There’s a coughing sound behind us, and we both whirl towards the doorway.
I gasp and take a step back at the sight of the huge man in the black leather jacket glowering at us.
“Jesus, Gus,” Rowan swears. “There’s a front fucking door, you know.”
The man smiles thinly. “You want me doing this out front in your packed bar?”
Rowan’s face goes dark. He doesn’t say anything.
“That’s what I thought. So you want to go get it? I’m on the clock, Row.”
“What are you, hourly?”
The man grins a crooked, somewhat scary smile.
Rowan mutters under his breath. “Hang on, I’ll grab it.” He grabs my wrist and starts to haul me after him. “Let’s go.”
“Where-”
“You want to wait with him?”
I shake my head, letting him pull me past the big man, into the hallway, and into his office. Rowan shuts the door and drops to his knees by the safe. He cranks it open, and my brows go up as he pulls out a large stack of cash.
“What are you doing?”
“Paying the man.”
“Who is he?”
“Beer delivery guy.”
I frown at the wad of cash in his hands. “That seems like a lot of beer.”
“You’re an expert?”
“No.”
“Trust me,” he mutters as he closes the safe and stands. “You don’t want to know.”
We head back out to the large man, who’s outside now leaning against the front of Rowan’s father’s truck.
“Here.”
The man smiles as he takes the cash from Rowan’s outstretched hand. “That wasn’t so hard was it?”
Rowan glares at him.
“Hey, just doin my job, Row. How’s your head.”
I freeze, the dots connecting in front of me.
“Still attached, how’s yours? Still half empty?”