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"You have no idea what I uy shoved his way between them and slammed his hands down on the bar Obviously already two sheets to the wind--hell, one--he waved a drunken hand in Jax’s direction "Hey, dude, hurry the fk up We need another pitcher at our table, pronto!"

"That’s the last thing you need," Sawyer said

The guy whirled on hi with ready-e hooked on his belt, then pointed for the guy to go back to his table

"Iuy did just that She waited a beat "You’ve had a long day"

Sawyer lifted a shoulder

"Heard about the fatality"

He didn’t reply Nothing to say But she just kept looking at hiaze He didn’t want sy his naain

She didn’t break eye contact, and as tended to happen when he got sucked into her vortex, everything else seeeneral din of the bar, the music, the faces of the two …it was just hiers over his shoulder, and though his body tightened, he felt himself breathe a little easier

Her mouth slowly curved Her eyes are and quite possibly concern

He didn’t want the concern

But the challenge…yeah He’d take that

"You’re tense," Chloe said Standing up, sheher fingers into his tight th, until he ainst his ear, ainst hi? The only way for this to be better would be for them to be alone and nad But someone called her na after her while pretending not to be Yeah, they were playing at soame, and he was pretty sure that he didn’t have a co sohts Her gaze drifted to his Yeah, definitely soht it was his iination After all, she had always baited him, and he’d done the sa they were justmore

But now they were one spark away from a fire that could burn them both to cinders, and that couldn’t happen He’d worked too dale day, he had to walk the straight road Discipline was the only thing that he could count on Not even his friends could help him if he went off the rails as an adult Coburn was dead, his father didn’t count, and Ford and Jax were busy starting new lives They deserved to be happy and not have to worry about hiic and reason

But whether it was exhaustion, or the ic and reason didn’tneed to have Chloe Traeger

Chapter 8

"A closed h that’s

hard to reer

Nor at the Love Shack when it was full like this She loved the warmth and connection of the people that lived here in Lucky Harbor She enjoyed the easy caone for the past few days working Usually sitting on a barstool listening to stories filled her with a sense of calht She’d been in San Francisco for a few days, and it’d gone well She had new orders for her skincare line, and she’d evenfriends she hadn’t seen in a while They’d wanted her to stay a few more days, and she could have easily stretched the work to justify it But for the first time, she’d been anxious to come back to Lucky Harbor

Home

On the drive, she’d started to think of ways to stick closer to home next time and alleviate some of the travel time

The idea wasn’t new It’d first coo, and it wouldn’t leave her alone She wanted to be ht watch for their guests She wantedin She wanted to be a part of the place in the way Maddie and Tara were She’d even thought of a perfect way to do that--open her own day spa at the B&B Several tiuest to a complimentary facial in the sunroom, but this would be different Every day Officially

No doubt her sisters would remind her how much time she spent away, but why couldn’t she come up with a co to say she couldn’t slowly ease into it, proving she could pull it off Hell, she could still travel on the days she didn’t have anything booked That would be the best of both worlds, keeping one foot here in this place but being able to get out and spread her wings when she needed

She’d like that

Sawyer’s na Lucille, telling her a story about his oild, uided youth, one that happened to include Sawyer Apparently the good sheriff had also been a wild, e of fourteen, Sawyer had been running a little fake ID business He’d made both himself and Jax a pair of fake IDs, which they’d attempted to use to buy alcohol

It hadn’t ended well

Lucille, wearing her custo, neon-pink sweats and white headband, cackled in her been-s-for-seventy-years voice "Oh, honey," she said to Jax "Do I reave the both of you boys a stern what for"

"Yeah, more than a what for," Jax said with a re no attention to the story He was finishing up his French fries with singular concentration, chasing them doith the last of his beer

Chloe had never seen hiht that the guy behind the badge would have once upon a ti, stupid kid or no It was hard to reconcile the two very different ies she had of hi at the waitress who took it for him Clearly distracted, he rose to his feet andinto the back rooe a look with Jax Obviously, they knew soood because she didn’t feel that tangling with Sawyer tonight would be the wisestto make wise decisions

And yet…hell Neither Ford nor Jax were going after him She waited another minute, remembered the careful blank look on Sawyer’s face and knew that it , she drew a deep breath and went herself