He swallowed. “It didn’t help that my mom accused me of killing him in front of the police.”
“Damn,” Jayden breathed out. “That’s fucked up.”
“My whole life has been fucked up.” Why would he expect anything else?
“Yeah, but it’s the present that counts. You’ve got to leave all that garbage in the past and start making decisions that will guarantee you a better future,” Damon offered.
Braxton and Jayden stared hard at Damon.
“What?” Damon scowled.
Jayden shifted his weight uncomfortably. “Jesus, man. You sound like fucking Dr. Phil.”
“You’re not going to hug me now, are you?” Braxton arched his brow.
“You both can go fuck yourselves.” Damon gritted his teeth.
Jayden sighed and smiled. “Now there’s the Damon I know.” Jayden slugged him playfully in the shoulder. “Don’t go around saying shit like that. It’s scary.”
Damon returned the slug to the shoulder, knocking Jayden backward on his ass before heading out of the bar.
***
Kate jerked upright in the chair at the ringing of her phone. She’d fallen asleep trying to wait up for Braxton and Damon to get back from town. She’d tried to talk Braxton out of going, but she knew it was fruitless. Braxton was going to do what Braxton wanted to do, and there was no talking him out of anything.
She reached for the phone and rubbed her stiff neck. Next time, she was going to wait up in bed instead of the chair.
“Hello?”
“Kate. Hope I didn’t wake you.” Oliver Bigsby’s voice gave her chills over the phone.
She frowned and glanced at the wall clock. “It’s two o’clock in the morning. Why are you calling this late?”
“I was just going to let you know that the police are investigating that murder at my construction site.”
“You couldn’t wait to tell me in the morning?” What a douche.
“I was just trying to be nice and warn you.” The polite tone turned haughty.
“Warn me about what?” She never should have answered the phone.
“I thought I’d warn you that the police are looking into any new people that are in town. Like your guest.”
Kate felt her blood go cold.
“Which guest are you referring to?”
“You’ve got more than one?”
Kate smiled. “Yes, the Bella Luna is full.”
Bigsby cleared his throat, apparently not expecting this new turn of events. “Well. I don’t know what to say, Kate.”
“Congratulations would be nice. If this keeps up, I won’t have to worry about foreclosure.” Kate smiled, hoping he’d catch the sarcasm in her voice.
He snorted. “It’s going to take more than a couple of days of being booked to make up your late payments.”
Kate felt the smile slide off her face. “How do you know that?”
He tsked. “Oh, Kate. You’re so innocent when it comes to financial matters. You know, I could come over and help you with your books sometime.”
“No thanks.” Kate gripped the phone. She wanted to pull his condescending face through the phone and punch him in the nose.
“Well, you know my offer stands.”
“Good night.” Kate slammed the phone down on her nightstand.
“What’s wrong?” Braxton’s voice filled the doorway.
“You’re back.”
“Yeah. Tell me what’s wrong.” Braxton glanced at the phone. “Who were you talking to?”
Kate sat down on the bed and sighed. “Bigsby.”
Braxton growled.
She cleared her throat. “He was letting me know that the police were looking into the murder.”
“That’s newsworthy, why?”
“He also said the cops were looking at anyone new to Eureka Springs.”
Braxton narrowed his stormy eyes. “Meaning me.”
“I told him I had lots of guests at my place, not just one.”
Braxton grinned. “I bet he loved that.”
She bit her lip. “Yeah, but he also said it would take a lot of booked weeks in order to catch up on my mortgage payments.”
“How the hell does that little prick know how much you owe?”
“That was exactly my thought before I hung up on him.”
Braxton reached for her hand and tugged her up. She melted against his strong chiseled chest and closed her eyes, inhaling his warm male scent.
“It’s going to be okay. You won’t lose the Bella Luna.”
Kate’s chest ached, a sickness filling her body like a child missing her home. It had nothing to do with the fear of losing the Bella Luna and everything to do with losing Braxton.
Shoving away her sadness, she looked up into his gorgeous face. “What about you? Did you find out anything tonight?”
“Not really. At least not anything about my father’s murder.” His hands went up and down her back in a slow, comforting caress. “Have you been waiting up this whole time?”
She laid her head on his chest and nodded. “Just wanted to make sure you got home okay.”