Page 20 of The Spice Is Nice

I found Sage near the far end of the bar, half a beer in hand, talking with friends. I caught her eye. She smiled and was fine. I moved on.

The crowd had thickened. I was cutting through the space between a cluster of high-tops when I stopped dead.

Seth Brewster stood five feet away. Closeenough that I registered the particular scowl that he had mastered. He clocked me at the same time, his jaw tightening, and stepped forward.

Ice raced through my veins. No, I can’t deal with him right now. Where was Colt when I needed him?

I turned on my boot heels and threaded back through the crowd with my pulse in my ears, aiming for the hallway near the bathrooms and the fire escape beyond it. I needed air, a wall at my back, and Seth far away from me.

I made it to the hallway entrance and collided hard with a solid wall of chest.

Hands caught my arms. “Whoa, Wylde—” Colt locked me down with his brow creased. His eyes went from my frantic face to the crowd behind me and back. One second was all he needed to tell something was wrong. “Come with me.” He steered me toward the door without asking questions.

The smell of garbage, old grease, and empty beer bottles hit us. But the alley was at least empty of people. I leaned against the brick wall, pressed my palms flat against the rough masonry, and breathed in the cool Montana air. I tilted my head to the big sky; nothing but stars on this clear night to greet me.

Colt didn’t say much. He leaned a hand against the wall beside my head, close enough to be present with me, and waited. His patience had a way of outlasting every wall I built. Maybe that’s why I had the strong desire to open up to him. Right now.

“I wasn’t always just Seth’s girlfriend.” The words pulled out by the quiet and the dark and the steady presence in front of me. “He used me.”

Colt listened, shifting his weight closer.

“He’d take me places. Bars, shops, events. He’d tell me to cause a scene. Soon, that became our thing. Start an argument with a bartender. Knock something over. Make a commotion at the front of a store while he slipped out the back with whatever he was there to take.” I pressed my palms harder against the brick, shaking my head. “I was so desperate to be wanted by him I did anything he asked.”

The silence stretched. Then Colt sighed. “You were young.”

“I was old enough to know better.”

“You were old enough to get out. And you’re lucky you did. That’s the part that matters.” Colt pushed off the wall, pacing away a few feet with his hands in fists. “He used you, took advantage of a young woman. If he were standing here right now… good thing he isn’t.”

My throat ached, and tears burned my eyes. “If anyone found out I helped him, even in small ways, I could be considered an accessory. The things he stole, the people he intimidated—I was part of that. I know too much.”

“You should talk to the sheriff. He could cut you a deal.”

“And tell him what? If I come forward and the Brewsters find out, they won’t just come after me. You don’t know the Brewsters like I do. They’ll come after Daisy, Sage, Poppy. My sisters are all I have, Colt. I can’t put them in that position.”

Before he could respond, the back door of the Sapphire banged open, and two figures stumbled into the alley.

“Get the fuck out here and explain to me why my fatherdoesn’t have a signed deal with yours yet.” That was Seth’s voice.

Colt moved fast. His hand closed around my wrist, and he pulled me behind the dumpster in one fluid motion, pressing me against the brick with his body between me and the alley. His hand was over my mouth before I could make a sound, and for one wild second the only thing I registered was the heat of his palm and the controlled urgency in his eyes telling me to be still.

I didn’t move a muscle, hardly even to breathe.

Through the gap between the dumpster and the wall, I could see Seth had a young man by the front of his shirt, shoving him against the brick with enough force to make the guy’s boots scrape the pavement.

I recognized him. Tanner Hollis. Early twenties, from a good family that had a small ranch outside of town. He would always pull off his hat when I walked by and called me ma’am.

“Hollis Ranch isn’t for sale,” Tanner seethed.

Colt went rigid. Not the controlled stillness he used when he was being careful—something sharper. His whole body locked up, and I heard him inhale through his nose, a tight, involuntary breath. In the light cast from the corner of the building, I almost thought Colt’s skin had paled.

Seth had Tanner pinned by the throat with one hand and was yelling right into his face. “You tell your father he made a deal with the Congressman, and we expect him to follow through. Those papers better be in his hand tomorrow, or there’ll be hell to pay. Because if I can get to you, I can get to anyone in your family. You wouldn’t want to seeyour folks get hurt, would you?” Seth sneered and shoved him sideways.

Tanner stumbled, catching himself on a railing. Seth didn’t look back. He walked to the far end of the alley where a motorcycle was parked in the shadows, swung a leg over, and the engine roared to life. Then he was gone, the sound fading down Main Street.

Colt’s hand left my mouth. I ducked under his arm and stepped into the alley.

“Wylde—” Colt hissed behind me, but I was already moving toward Tanner.