Page 44 of Dark Obsession

“Maybe his internet’s out?”

She smirked. “What about you, Stretch? What brought you in tonight?”

“Me?” He swallowed hard, hoping the dim lighting hid it. “Nothing. I just wanted to have a beer in a new place.”

“I see. Tired of the Hollow Leg?”

“What?” Cold zipped through him, head to toe. “How’d you…?”

She shrugged slightly. “Calculated guess. To find us out here in the country, you’d have to know the area pretty well, so you must live close by. And the Hollow Leg’s the only other watering hole available without driving all the way to Harriettville.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, I’m just here until I finish this beer.” The phone screen in the booth lit up again. Cody managed to keep from looking that direction. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“Neither do I.” She raised an eyebrow then turned her back. He released a long, slow breath and wiped his palms on his thighs. His thumb brushed along the cross. It was probably time for him to leave.

But Annie’s brother was sitting right there, all alone. He wouldn’t be able to avoid Cody. It would only take a few minutes to ask him about this bar, see why he’d driven all the way out here and had to psych himself up in the parking lot to come inside. He could kick off the conversation asking if he went to Parson’s Hollow High.

Before he could talk himself out of it, Cody slid off the stool, left a few dollars on the bar as a tip, and, taking his beer, strolled to the booth. A pendant light hung low above the table, but the bulb was either out or had been loosened. Andy glared up at him, dark eyes nearly swallowed up by shadows, and his mouth a thin slash of red beneath a flat nose that had been broken at least once in his past. Underneath the attitude, Cody could see the anxious kid he remembered from high school, and his heart went out to him.

“Move on,” Andy said, voice rough.

Cody slid into the booth, reminding himself to play things cool. “I think I know you. Did you go to Parson’s Hollow High?”

“You’re not my type.”

“No, I’m not…” He laughed softly. “You’re Andy, right?”

Andy stiffened. It wasn’t much, a tightening of his jaw and in his fingers around his beer, but Cody caught it.

“You guessed my name, congratulations. Now get lost.”

“You have a twin sister, right? Annie?”

Andy turned sharply to look around, then leaned in and, in a fierce whisper, said, “Don’t say her name.”

“Okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend you.” He shot a glance at the bar where Marlowe stood cleaning glasses and watching them. “It’s just that I remember you both. You were a year ahead of me in school.”

Andy fell back against the booth. “Yeah? Great. Have a great night.”

“I asked her out once, and she laughed at me.”

Andy snorted quietly and shook his head. “I remember you, too. You were a jock. She wouldn’t have gone out with you in a million years. You don’t have enough of an edge.”

Cody nodded slowly, hoping his act was holding up. “Oh, yeah. She kind of liked the bad boys, didn’t she?”

Andy’s mouth tightened. “Still does.”

“Uh oh. She into something bad?”

“Look, are you deaf or just plain stupid? I told you to fuck off.”

“Is that why you’re here? Are you trying to find her?”

Andy came halfway out of the seat, lurching over the table and rattling their beer bottles. Cody pushed back against the booth, heart slamming and his hands pressed against the sticky vinyl seat. Andy’s jaw was set and his knuckles blanched where he gripped the edge of the table. From the corner of his eye, Cody saw Marlowe standing completely still, watching.

“Don’t mess with me, man, all right? I don’t care how far back we go, you don’t know shit about my life or my problems. Just get up and walk out of this bar right fucking now.”

“Hey, look, I don’t think either one of us should be here, you know? Come on, walk out with me. I can help you try to track her down.”