Brides on the Run (Books 1-4): Small-Town Romance Series

by Jami Albright

  “I see what you’re saying,” Roger said. “If she sold, you guys could make a killing. The land alone is worth a fortune.”

  Her father shook his head. “I wish you’d talk to her about it.”

  “I plan to, but not today.”

  What? Roger had never expressed an opinion about the bar. Not once.

  She sidestepped a couple of guests with a head nod and a fake smile, on her way to the two men discussing her business.

  “Hey, what are y’all talkin’ about?” The mannequin-like smile she’d plastered on her face was still in place.

  “Your lack of sense when it comes to this place.” Her father’s bushy brows formed a V above his grey eyes.

  “That’s not exactly what we were saying.” Roger smoothed his tie down. “We were discussing the fact that you have several options when it comes to the bar.” His casual tone meant he was totally oblivious to the maelstrom into which he’d waded.

  “Several options?” Her lips wouldn’t do what she asked them to and began to turn down at the corners.

  Roger slipped his hand into his front pocket and smiled, still not understanding the fuse he’d lit. “Yes.”

  “Like sell?”

  He gave a little shrug. “That is one option. But we can talk about it another time.”

  “The only option,” her father murmured.

  “Ed, let’s go say hi to Wardell and Honey.” Carol led Hailey’s nemesis away by the arm.

  “Roger, I want to talk—”

  “Hailey, are you ready to start?” Justice of the Peace Norris asked.

  “Um, can you give me a second?” She needed to know what Roger meant. Was he only stating a fact, or was he siding with her father? If the latter, then they had a huge problem.

  “Mooooom!” Lottie called as she ran toward their group. “When are we starting?”

  JP Norris plowed his fingers through his hair. “Actually, I have another wedding to get to, so now would be better.”

  Roger adjusted his tie. “Now’s fine.” He held out his hand. “You ready, Hailey?”

  “I’d really like—”

  “Woohoo!” Lottie skipped around with petals falling out of the basket she held.

  “Um…” They should settle this. Shouldn’t they?

  Roger kissed her cheek and led her to the entrance of the beer garden.

  Everyone took their seats in white chairs that had been set into six rows with an aisle down the middle. The instrumental music playing through the speakers did little to calm the heated annoyance and confusion muddling her thoughts.

  “Now, Mom?” Lottie bounced around like a jumping bean.

  Hailey laughed at her girl’s excitement. It helped to loosen the muscles that had her shoulders jacked up to her ears.

  “Lead the way, Lottie,” Roger said.

  There was no reason for them to walk down the aisle, but Lottie desperately wanted to be a flower girl. So, she and Roger had decided to walk in together. They waited as her kid meticulously dropped petals on her way to the makeshift altar.

  It was the perfect day for an outdoor wedding. A light breeze blew, birds sang, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. She wished she could say the same for her emotions. They roiled like the waters of a South Texas flash flood.

  She had to know. Bad timing be damned. “Roger.” The word was only a whisper of sound.

  “Yes?”

  With her voice still low, she tilted her head toward his. “I heard you tell my dad that if I sold the bar, I could make a killing. Were you saying you think I should sell?”

  Her groom peeked around at the audience. “Do you really want to talk about this right now?” His smile never dropped, and he spoke out of the corner of his mouth.

  What was she doing? Fiery, stinging heat spread up her neck and over her face. She waved her hand in front of her face. “I’m sorry. You’re right.” She sucked oxygen through her nose and blew it out several times.

  He never glanced at her but nodded.

  But she couldn’t let it go. “It’s just… I need to know what you meant when you were talking to my dad.”

  “Fine.” A muscle at the corner of his jaw that she’d never seen before jerked and spasmed. “What do you want to know?”

  Despite how serious this subject was, a ghost of a smile pulled at her lips when Lottie stopped and twirled halfway down the aisle. “Were you agreeing with my father about me selling the bar?”

  “I suppose I was. I don’t find your dad as unreasonable as you, I guess.” Roger chuckled with the rest of the crowd at Lottie’s moves. “I can’t see the wisdom of trying to revive this place when the land is so valuable.”

  If he’d hit her in the head with a frying pan, she would’ve been less stunned. He’d never said one word to her about the bar. Ever. The flowers in her hand quivered and shook. From nerves or anger, she couldn’t entirely say.

  Her beautiful daughter stopped at the front row of chairs and glanced back at them expectantly. That was their cue. Roger squeezed her hand that was looped through his arm and began to step forward, but her feet stayed planted where they were.

  “Hailey?”

  Lottie cleared her throat and made a come-here motion with her hand. Still, Hailey couldn’t move.

  Her future mother-in-law turned, confusion written all over her features. Someone to her right snickered. Everyone was watching her, judging her. Hailey Odom making another scene.

  That was enough to get her moving.

  She made her way down the aisle on Roger’s arm. Every step was like slogging through wet concrete.

  Lottie moved to sit next to Charlie and Hank in the first row.

  Hailey and the big fat traitor took their places in front of JP Norris and faced each other. Roger, whose biggest crime to date was being a little boring and inattentive, smiled like he hadn’t just shifted the axis of their relationship.

  Hailey glanced over her shoulder. Her father’s emotionless face was in her line of sight. The stab of betrayal cut through her. Her father’s? Roger’s? She wasn’t sure.

  What was she going to do? Stop the proceedings in front of all these people? Her inability to form cohesive thoughts was part of the carnage from the bomb he’d dropped.

  Roger seemed to sense he’d lost her for a moment. He leaned forward and whispered, “Are you alright?”

  She could only nod.

  The JP cleared his throat. “Folks, we’re gathered here today to witness the union of Hailey and Roger. It’s always a pleasure…”

  No matter how hard she tried to concentrate on what Larry Norris was saying, she couldn’t. The tornado of uncertainty twisting inside her made it impossible.

  Her vision went fuzzy.

  Her legs wobbled.

  The air skipping in and out of her lungs was inadequate to feed her brain.

  If things would stop for a second, she could get her bearings.

  Roger’s oblivious smile irritated the shit out of her. He leaned forward and whispered, “You do look pretty.”

  The sentiment that only thirty minutes ago had seemed perfectly adequate now sliced another tether that tied her to him. Why was his lackluster description of her appearance what her mind refused to let go of in this moment? She didn’t want to think about that too hard, afraid she wouldn’t like the answer.

  Whatever the reason, it was the thing that had her raising her hand to the JP. “Excuse me, Larry. I need to…” The words were out before she could call them back.

  The nervous titter from their guests was like fire ants crawling over her heated skin. This would be talked about for months at the Dip-n-Do and the City Cafe

  Screw it. She couldn’t marry someone who knew so little about her that he thought asking her to give up one of the most important things in her life was no big deal. “I can’t do this.”

  “Hailey?” Roger and Larry said together.

  She moved away from them, then inched her foot back toward the entrance of the beer garden.<
br />
  Roger threw up his arms in obvious exasperation. “Oh, for the love of God. Is this about the bar?”

  Who was this man? Where was her mild-mannered fiancé? Her feet moved back a few steps of their own volition. “I guess it is.” And so much more.

  Roger’s hands went to his hips, and he dropped his head. A huge inhalation of air was the only sound for several long seconds. Finally, he raised his head, and his brown eyes weren’t unkind, just resolved. “You’re ridiculous.”

  “Do you think I should sell the bar?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I’m not ridiculous.” She waited for anything resembling regret to hit her. It didn’t.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hank and Charlie quietly get up from their seats and take Lottie and the baby out of the beer garden. Bless them. She didn’t want Lottie to see this. It was already going to be hard enough to explain all of this to her daughter.

  “If you leave, I won’t come after you.” Roger’s voice was as flat as her feelings for him.

  “I know.”

  The whispers followed her up the aisle. She’d pay for this in the Zachsville court of public opinion, but she didn’t care. Head held high, she made her way out the door and away from her groom.

  A bride walks out of a bar…

  Chapter 3

  Beau pulled to a stop in the driveway of his rental and slammed the palm of his hand into the steering wheel of the leased car he was driving. “Fuuuuuck!”

  In a matter of twelve hours, he’d gone from being on top of the world to having it all blown to hell. Another smack, another curse, and he dropped his forehead to the steering wheel.

  What was he going to do?

  His phone buzzed. Shit. Only one person would be texting him at four thirty in the morning. He swiped the screen and read the text.

  Jack: You home?

  Beau: Yeah.

  Jack: Good. Stay there.

  Beau: I need to pick up Walter.

  Jack: I’ll bring him to you later. Keep your ass at home and off social media.

  He hadn’t missed the fact that Jack didn’t want him at his house.

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  Fucking Dawn. Motherfucking Rick.

  This was all their fault, and his career was on the line. They’d get another job. Everyone needed a bass player and a backup singer, but he may not be able to pull this situation out of the toilet and salvage his career.

  The stench of the shit show he’d just left filled the car. His gut churned, and bile scorched the back of his throat. He needed to get out of this vehicle and try to sleep this mess off. Moving as slow as his grandfather had when he was sick as a dog, he opened the door and stood. He wasn’t drunk—any celebratory drinks he’d had after the show had long since been burned away by adrenaline.

  The cool night air chilled his overheated skin and the stress sweat had his shirt sticking to his damp back. He opened the trunk and grabbed his overnight bag and guitar. The bag hadn’t quite survived the altercation at the hotel, so he pulled the sides together and stuck it under his arm.

  He climbed the three steps to the back door. The house was dark as a tomb, and there wasn’t a street light or moon to illuminate his way. He banged his guitar case into the screen door trying to open it. The fingers of his free hand fished around in his front pocket for the key. The keychain got caught around a loose thread of his jeans, and he swore.

  He couldn’t catch a break. Weariness pulled on his bones. The only other time he remembered being this exhausted was during the last days of his grandfather’s life. Clyde had been a stubborn mule and fought like a bear, but in the end, the cancer was stronger than his or Beau’s will to keep the old man alive.

  A ragged edge of agony ripped at him. The events of the night only exaggerated the enormity of his loss. His grandfather had been the first person he wanted to call when the shit hit the fan earlier.

  Another yank on the keychain and it pulled loose from his pocket. He smacked his elbow on the door jamb. Prickles of pain shot up his arm. It hurt like hell. Once the feeling came back to his fingers, he slid the key into the hole and turned. Nothing happened. “Are you kidding me right now?” His neck wouldn’t hold his head up anymore, and he rested his forehead against the door. He didn’t want to have to sleep in the car, but that was what would happen if he couldn’t get into the house.

  Wait. What had Hailey said? He straightened and jiggled the key. The lock slid open. Thank God. All he wanted was to pass out and forget this night.

  Hailey stared into the blackness of her room. With Lottie gone she’d unplugged every nightlight and turned off every lamp. She was hiding, but she didn’t care. That was why she’d driven around for hours, then hidden her car in the garage. The last thing she wanted was to see anyone.

  Mostly she was worried about a run-in with her dad or Derek. She’d believed Roger when he said he wouldn’t come after her.

  Roger. His Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde routine at the wedding only proved how little she really knew him. He wasn’t a bad guy, but hours of driving around and some honest introspection had made it clear that he wasn’t her guy and never really had been. During this mobile come to Jesus meeting she’d admitted that he’d been convenient and easy, which was monumentally unfair to him.

  To make matters worse, she’d done all of this with a kid. The sickness swimming in her belly made a run for her throat. She choked it down. Lottie was already having a hard time dealing with Derek’s new family. Now she had to deal with the gossip from this debacle.

  Thankfully, she’d been able to speak with her girl before Hank and Charlie took her home with them. A smile broke through her self-loathing. Lottie’s biggest concern when they’d spoken was that she wasn’t going to be able to spend the night with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. Once she’d been assured that her plans wouldn’t be changed she’d appeared fine. But Hailey knew Lottie was probably confused and upset, something she’d have to deal with in the morning.

  She punched her pillow and flopped to her side. As hard as she tried, sleep evaded her. Every mistake she’d made over the last ten years clicked through her brain like an outtake reel after a terrible movie. Starting with letting a silver-tongued golden boy have every part of her at sixteen. But no matter the heartbreak Derek had dealt her over the years, she could never regret Lottie. She was the very best part of the last ten years.

  The movie continued with that terrified sixteen-year-old telling her eighteen-year-old boyfriend she was pregnant the night before the biggest football game of his career. He’d played like hell, resulting in the Zachsville Raiders losing the State Championship.

  Most of the town held her responsible and never forgave her.

  Neither had her father, but for about a million different reasons.

  Her mom had been the only one not to judge Hailey. The no-nonsense woman had hugged her, told her it was time to grow up, then given her a job at the bar. Something she could be good at, a place to hide. No. Not hide…thrive.

  A noise from outside caught her attention. What was that? It sounded like a car door. She lay perfectly still and waited for it to happen again. When the silence remained, she chalked it up to her paranoia.

  Her dry, scratchy eyes burned from exhaustion. She was so damn tired…of everything. Her twenty-five-year-old body ached like she was seventy years old. Actually, she was pretty sure that Scarlett Bain’s aunt, Honey Jenkins had more energy and fun than her.

  Bam!

  She shot bolt upright in bed. Okay, she hadn’t imagined that. The blanket fell to her waist, exposing her bare breasts. She reached for her phone to call the sheriff’s department.

  “Zachsville Sheriff’s Department.”

  “This is Hailey Odom. I think someone’s trying to break into my house.” Her whispered words sounded ear-piercing in the silence.

  “Hailey?”

  “Yes, Janelle, it’s me.”

  “Oh, gosh. Give me your address, and I’ll get so
meone over there.”

  “Thanks.” Thank God it was one of the few people in town who didn’t care about hometown football, or she might never get any help. She whispered her address.

  “Stay on the line with me until they get there.”

  “Okay.” Her answer barely made it past her dry tongue.

  “I was sure sorry to hear about you and Roger, Hailey.”

  Was Janelle kidding right now? She was nice, but she had shit timing. “Um… Thank you.”

  “I always liked Roger.”

  She wasn’t at all surprised that the word was out about the wedding, but she wasn’t going to have this conversation. “Janelle—” A muttered curse from the outside sent a slice of fear and anger through her chest. She couldn’t just hide out here while someone broke into her home. “I gotta go.”

  “Hailey—”

  A poke of her finger and the call was disconnected. What to do until the authorities got here? Right now she was a big, fat sitting duck. A weapon. She needed a weapon. Nothing immediately came to mind. A light would be useful right about now, but she didn’t dare risk it. She slipped from bed wishing she’d heeded her mother’s warning not to sleep naked. Well, partially naked. She had on panties. In her defense, her mother had warned against a potential fire, not an intruder.

  Who the hell cares, Hailey. Focus!

  As quietly as she could, she slipped from the bed and immediately stifled a scream as her foot came down on something spiky. Barbie. The doll’s pointed toes were as sharp as a knife. She froze, then reached down and picked up the lethal toy. A bubble of madness gurgled up her throat. If this worked, then she’d just created a new marketing ploy. Move over Malibu Barbie, Weaponized Barbie’s in the house.

  Slowly, quietly, she made her way to the kitchen. She marked off the steps by counting the pounding beats of her heart, until they became too fast to calculate. It was like a machine gun lodged in her chest.

  She needed better weapons. A doll and a cell phone weren’t going to do her much good.