Evan threw both of them a furious look from across the wooden table. “I thought you said you were going to help me.”
“That was before we knew you did something so stupid. Jesus, Evan. Why couldn’t you just listen to Hope? She might be your sister, but she’s also a female. You betrayed Randi’s trust. There’s no getting around that.” Micah wondered how someone as smart as Evan could be so clueless when it came to relationships.
I may not be an expert, but I know better than to lie to a woman. They always find out the truth, and it’s never good when they do.
Micah had never been in Evan’s predicament. In fact, he’d been the one who had been shafted. He’d tried a serious relationship once, and his supposed fiancée had ended up sleeping with, and eventually marrying, his best friend. He hadn’t tried having another exclusive relationship since.
Evan slammed his empty glass on the table. “I know I kept the truth from her. But I was going to tell her.”
Micah looked at Julian and caught him grinning. “Don’t piss him off,” he warned. “He’s already going off the deep end.” He spoke just loud enough for Julian to hear him.
“I know. I can’t help myself. I can hardly believe this is our Evan,” Julian said in a low voice, still smirking as he looked across the table at his cousin. “He doesn’t get rattled about anything, but right now he looks completely destroyed. I feel sorry for him, but it’s really just a little bit scary to see him looking this way. And it’s all happening because of a female.” Julian shook his head.
Micah knew what Julian was thinking, but he also knew Evan was hurting . . . bad. The guy did look like somebody had taken him to hell and back, and that was so not like Evan. He rarely had a lock of hair out of place, and he wore his custom suits without a single wrinkle. It was pretty shocking to see that a woman had reduced him to his current state.
Turning back in Evan’s direction, Micah questioned, “When were you going to tell her? She probably thinks you were playing her.”
“That’s what she said,” Evan agreed, nodding his head.
Bingo! That was a problem. Once you burned a female by lying, she never forgot about it. Micah knew Evan hadn’t intended to be deceptive, but it had looked that way because he was totally clueless.
The female bartender interrupted their conversation, taking Julian’s empty bottle and putting down a fresh napkin with a full beer on top.
“Thanks, Red,” Julian told her with a wink.
Micah recognized her. If he remembered correctly, her name was Kristin Moore. He’d met her at both Dante’s and Jared’s weddings. “I know you. I thought you were a medical assistant at Sarah’s office,” he said, wondering why she was bartending here.
The curvy redhead nodded at him curtly, and then glared at Julian. “My name is Kristin, not Red. I hate that nickname, and if you say it again, I’ll show you the door. But not before I put your balls in your throat, superstar,” she told him irritably, then turned to Micah with a kinder gaze. “I do work for Sarah, but my parents wanted to go to the ball. I’m filling in for them tonight. I work here in the evenings fairly often.”
“Cinderella couldn’t make it to the ball,” Julian teased, unable to resist.
“I didn’t want to go,” she answered defensively.
“Of course you did,” he shot back. “It’s the event of the winter season here in Amesport.”
“Not for me, hotshot.” Kristin’s voice was cold, and her eyes were shooting icicles in his direction. “I don’t need a bunch of perfect Hollywood models to be happy.”
Micah was fairly certain the two of them had met before. Kristin was Mara’s best friend, and she had been at Dante’s wedding. She’d been at Jared’s wedding, too, but her broken leg had still been healing. “How’s your leg?” he asked, trying to dissipate the tension he could feel flowing between his brother and the feisty bartender.
He could feel the angst flowing between them, and because he was sitting right between the two, Micah was directly in the line of fire. What in the hell had happened between the two of them to make them so antagonistic toward each other? Julian was a smartass on the surface, but it was all a cover, his Hollywood way of dealing with the ton of rejection and lack of callbacks in the early days of his career.
Kristin was outgoing and incredibly blunt. From what little he knew of her, she didn’t take shit from anyone.
She was attractive, but not in any blatant way. She was slightly plump by Hollywood standards, and her flame-colored hair was pulled up in a ponytail. He could see some stray freckles on her face, so she was obviously not wearing much makeup. Kristin was the girl-next-door kind of pretty, not the supermodel type of bombshell that Julian was usually escorting around these days.
The two were bound to rub against each other. Julian acted like a jackass sometimes until a person got to really know him, and Kristin obviously didn’t take any of his crap.
Micah smiled at Kristin, thinking it was interesting that she was obviously unimpressed by Julian’s fame and success. He was an A-lister now, the actor everybody wanted for their next film.
The redhead didn’t seem to give a damn who he was at all.
“My leg is healed now. Thanks for asking.” She shot Micah a genuine smile, and he couldn’t help but grin back at her. She might not be conventionally attractive, but he thought she was much more appealing than any of the women his brother had been dating. Obviously Julian thought so, too. He was certainly baiting her enough to find her interesting.
“I’m glad you’re better,” Micah said honestly, finding her more and more attractive as she became happier and less guarded.
“Can I get you anything else?” she asked politely, looking from him to Evan.
She completely ignored Julian, a fact that made Micah want to laugh as he noticed his brother’s irritated look out of the corner of his eye.
“No, thanks. We have to leave soon,” he told her kindly.
“I’ve probably had enough,” Evan grumbled, squinting at his half-empty glass with a frown.
“You’ve had plenty,” Micah agreed emphatically. He was slightly worried that he and Julian were going to have to carry Evan out of the bar if he didn’t stop.
He’d never seen his cousin take a drink in his entire life. Evan was bound to be a lightweight when it came to alcohol, even though he was a big guy.
Kristin winked at Micah. “He’s cut off. He’s starting to tilt in his chair.” She moved to Evan and straightened his body with her hip. “Need help with him?”
“No. We’re good. We aren’t driving.” Micah had limited his drinking, but Stokes was now waiting for all of them out front. He’d take them all home.
Kristin nodded and walked away. The fact that Julian watched her all the way back to the bar didn’t escape Micah’s notice.
“I need to go talk to her,” Evan said as he sat up and slumped on the table, his voice maudlin and somewhat slurred.