Page 10 of Second Chance Saloon

Jackie snorted. “They’d need to triple the size of the police force if they wanted to pay attention to all of the college students drinking.” Seeing that her words didn’t smooth the worry lines on his face, she added: “Relax, Mitch. I’m a regular at Betty’s. Nothing’s going to happen to you tonight, aside from good fun.”

CHAPTER FIVE

Mitch

Mitch brought the empty glass to eye level. He peered inside it. “The whisky’s gone.” There wasn’t even a drop of liquid left. With a sigh, he put it back on the bar.

A tall glass of water slid in front of him.

“You’ve had all the whisky. Drink this now,” Hunter said in an even voice.

Mitch frowned and blinked at him. “Where did you come from?”

“I’ve been here for the past two hours.” Hunter lifted his own, half-full whisky glass. “Came back as soon as I sorted everything with the catering staff.”

Mitch cursed under his breath as the enormity of today hit him square in the chest. The wedding, his wedding. The live sex transmission of Eve and …

“Lionel fucking Webster,” he muttered, taking a large gulp of water. “I’ve always hated the guy.”

Hunter snorted. “You liked him.”

“That was before I knew he was screwing my fiancée.”

“Fair. If it makes you feel any better, I saw him in the bathroom, looking like a sad piece of shit.”

Mitch smirked to himself as snatches of his conversation with Eve came back to him. “She broke things off with him. Apparently, he loves her.”

“Karma.”

“Precisely.” Mitch tugged at the collar of his shirt. Previously crisp and white, now it felt like he had worn it for a few rough weeks. He blew out a breath, drinking some more water. “How did this even happen? The video, I mean.”

“Yeah, I asked about that. There was a live virtual conference yesterday for something to do with finance and someone chose the wrong output connection for the TV or something. The wedding coordinator was very apologetic.”

Mitch huffed. “Finance conference. What a load of crap.”

Hunter put his hand on his friend’s shoulder and squeezed. “I’m sorry, man. I know you love Eve.”

He pressed his palm to his temple. “Guess it’s better to find out now she’s a cheater who didn’t love me, rather than after we got married.”

Now that the whisky had stopped flowing into him, he realized he was rather tipsy. Not to the point of slurring his words or seeing double, but enough to worry he might be unsteady on his feet. His head slipped off his hand and his eyes shot open.

Hunter sat next to him. Even though his life was shit right now, Mitch appreciated having him there. “Thanks for sorting everything. I couldn’t go out there.”

He shuddered at the mere thought of facing Eve’s family. Or his father.

“Least I could do. But hey, if you want to go buy some eggs and throw them at Lionel’s car, we can go do that too,” Hunter said.

Mitch let out a low laugh. “Don’t want to get arrested on top of everything. He’d deserve that and more, though.” He drained the rest of the water. “Where’s Caroline?”

“In our room. She thought you and I might need to talk.”

“Not much to talk about. It’s over.” Mitch shrugged.

“At least her parents paid for the venue and catering,” Hunter supplied.

Mitch nodded, unsure if more to Hunter or himself. “Yeah.” Then he remembered one of the big items he had paid for. “Shit. The honeymoon.”

“What about it?”