AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“More cousins?” Shane asked.
“Yup.” Connor grabbed a pint glass and filled it up a quarter of the way with Hippidy Hop, an IPA from Five Leaf Brewery, before taking a sip. “Gabe, Bryce, and Dixon are Uncle Patrick’s kids. They live in Connecticut, but come summer, they’ll be popping their heads in here for free beer.”
“I can’t wait to meet them.” Shane didn’t try to hide the sarcasm in his tone.
“They’re not bad. Not as cool as me, but not many people are.”
“How many more cousins do I have?” Shane kept his eyes on Olivia.
“Other than those three, there’s Aunt Bridget’s kids, Abbey and Brianne. Stick around long enough and you’ll meet them all. Mimi has a big family get-together every year to kick the summer off.”
Olivia stormed from the table and into the kitchen. Shane patted Connor on the chest. “Cover me for a second.”
He hurried after her. She thrust her ticket at George who was manning the grill and about-faced it right into his chest. His hands gripped her biceps, and he held her back.
“Whoa,” he said. Fire burned in her eyes but softened when they settled on him. “You okay?”
“Fine,” she growled.
He pressed a finger to the edge of her lip. “The tightness here says otherwise.” His finger trailed the perimeter, and the fire simmered out completely.
“My ex is here,” she admitted.
Shane’s face hardened. If the asshole did anything to upset her more, he would toss his ass out into the street. “I’m guessing you’re not going to go back to the city with him?”
She scoffed. “I should have known that with him there is always strings attached.”
“Want me to get rid of him?”
“How? He won’t leave. I told him he couldn’t stay if he didn’t order anything, so he put an order in.”
“Refuse service.”
“I can’t do that.”
“I’ll bring his food to him then. Stay back here.”
Her gaze immediately went to the red exit sign above the back door. “We’re short-handed to begin with. Besides I can’t keep running from my problems.”
A protective urge came over him, wanting to carry her away from here, but he knew she needed to settle things with her ex. “I’ll be behind the bar if you need me.”
“Thanks, but I need to do this on my own.” She kissed his cheek and pushed through the kitchen doors. Pride swelled in his chest as she marched into the lion’s den.
Shane fully respected Olivia’s wishes to handle her ex on her own, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t stand in his place behind the bar and continue to observe.
Olivia’s hands went up in front of her, moving as fast as her mouth. Anger tightened the skin around her eyes. Shane took a few drink orders but kept his attention on Olivia.
“Go to hell,” Olivia’s voice floated over the chatter of the pub. Her face twisted in rage. Her lips continued to move, but Shane couldn’t hear her over the chatter. She spun on her sneaker away from the table, and Daniel grabbed her wrist, yanking her back to him.
Shane’s body jolted forward, but he dug deep and stopped himself. Olivia wanted to handle this on her own, and he wouldn’t take that away from her. He picked up the rag, needing to keep busy, and wiped down the empty space of bar in front of him.
“Leave me alone!” Olivia wrenched her arm away from him, and any control Shane had snapped. He catapulted himself over the bar and didn’t stop until he was firmly planted between Olivia and her ex. Confusion marked Daniel’s face, and the chatter in the pub came to a deafening silence.
Shane stared into the asshole’s eyes, refusing to show any sign of fear. He didn’t fear people who hid behind wealth and knew nothing about real life struggles. “She said to leave her alone.”
“Who the hell are you?”
“Shane, and you must be Daniel, the douchebag that was dumb enough to let Olivia go, but you know that, don’t you? Because why else would you be here?”
