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“Hey, I’d pretty much sobered up by the time we got home, and he never had a drink all night. Called himself a recovering addict which I totally respected. Said he’d been sober for almost twenty years, thanks to a good friend.”
“Not surprising. This is Nashville.”
“According to Jess, he was pretty messed up back in those days, both him and his brother Julian. He knew Luke then too and said they ran with the same crowd for a while. After Luke took off, something happened, and he changed his life. Turned himself around and started working behind the bar instead of drunk and in front of it.”
Honey’s mind was whirling from everything Melanie had shared. But one thing stood out that she had to ask. “If he’s a recovering addict, why is he working in a place where they sell booze and is surrounded by partiers all high and having a good time. Doesn’t that bother him?”
“You know, I asked him the same thing. He said that at first, the smells from the drinks got to him, but eventually coffee replaced those urges. Much worse was quitting drugs and then weed and cigarettes. Now, it’s those awful smells that annoy him more than the alcohol.”
“I’ve heard that from another friend who gave up smoking. He’s the convert from hell. Used to smoke four packs a day and now hates the stink so much, he’s known to pick fights with anyone near him with a cigarette. You say Jess has been drug-free for twenty years. Gotta hand it to him. He cleaned up pretty darn nice. I guess I’m surprised he wasn’t in with one of the bands.”
“See… he was. Back then. Turns out, he plays guitar and even sang. Won’t touch any instruments now though. Wouldn’t say why, and I didn’t dig.”
A strange suspicion struck Honey. “You say he knew Luke back then too?”
“Yeah, guess they used to hang together before Luke took off.”
“Why’d he take off?”
“Jess never said. But then, I never asked.”
Son of a bitch. Shivers streaked across Honey’s back, and her body suddenly weighed a ton.
Chapter Thirteen
All the next day until he started work, Luke tortured himself over the way things had ended between him and Honey the night before. When she’d first shown up in the bar with her gorgeous hair and the face of his personal angel, he’d almost fallen off the stage. After the Zed incident, his instincts were to get close and learn more about the woman.
Until he remembered the investigation. That’s when a bomb detonated in his skull. Don’t get involved, dummy. Now’s the worst time to get into a relationship.
He would have backed off completely… well, until he ended up watching her fight off three street people and walk away hating him for letting them go. Little did she know, everything inside him wanted to call the police, but he couldn’t take the chance that one of the cops would have recognized him, and he’d be outed.
Normally, he couldn’t care less what most people thought about him, but she was different. The idea of her finding out he’d been blackballed from the FBI for stealing drugs or had anything to do with that shit made him ill. No way did he want her to get the wrong impression. Chrissakes, hadn’t he gone through years of toiling and schooling to erase that image from his past?
Declaring his innocence wouldn’t work either. After his behavior, why would she care? What mattered was that instead of protecting her like he normally would have done, he’d forced her to let those pervs get away.
***
Now that he was back on stage, he performed but without his usual zeal. Every time the crowd insisted on celebrating his birthday, he flinched. Fuck, he wished Linda and Jess had forgotten the date altogether. Once the girls behind the bar knew what the day was, it became a reason to hold a party. Being a weekend, the place normally buzzed anyway, but now it had become crazier than usual. So many customers bought him drinks that he finally told Linda and Jess not to deliver them. “Darlin’ tell the folks to put the money in the tip jar instead… or you do it for ‘em, okay?”
Just then, Luke saw Jess cleaning off an empty table close to the stage and then wave over two of their regulars to sit. His buddy still looked strange… kinda happy and yet terrified, and Luke’s sympathy grew.
Poor guy had approached him the moment he’d arrived earlier. “Have you got a minute, Luke. I did something really stupid, man. I messed up bad.”
Luke took his arm and pulled him to the room behind the bar. “Slow down, bro. Just tell me what happened.”
“You know that pretty girl you asked me to dance with last night?”
“Yeah… Mel something.”
“Well, we hit it off.”
“You did? That’s good, right?”
“Not so good. I got scared. After we got to her place, I took off. Left her hanging. Ran off like a stupid scared baby. Fuck me, I didn’t know what to do, Luke.”
“Jess. Calm down. You’re good, man. Just call her and explain that you’re shy. No need to be ashamed of that, dude. There’s worse things, trust me.”
“I tried to call a dozen times, but I couldn’t. Didn’t know what to say.”
