Whispers of a Broken Halo by Abbi Glines

Hazel cut her gaze toward me then. “I don’t think she smashed yer Jeep, Rio. She’s good. The kind of good you can’t fake. It’s in her eyes. She paid you back for the Jeep. More’n your deductible was, and Pops had paid that. The way she argued that she owed you more the time I gave her back the last envelope, that was character. That is a good person.”

When was Bryn going to stop coming around my family? Couldn’t she just stay the fuck away, like I’d told her to? Did she have to stalk everyone related to me?

I jerked open the truck door. I loved Hazel, but I wasn’t going to listen to her praise Bryn. I wasn’t in the state of mind for that. She’d paid me back because she’d bashed my damn Jeep. If she hadn’t done it, then why pay me back? I wasn’t going to argue about this with Hazel though.

I closed the truck door, but Hazel wasn’t done talking.

“I love you, but you can be an ass,” she said, and I turned to get into my Jeep without responding to that comment.

When I was safely inside, she stared at me, and I mouthed the words, Go HOME. I’ll stay , because I wasn’t rolling down my window, so she could keep saying shit to me I didn’t want to hear.

She finally nodded and started her truck. I was relieved when I saw her pull out of the parking spot and drive away. Getting her to leave this week had been almost impossible. I didn’t see how my sitting here in the parking lot helped Pops or Gramma. I lived three miles from the hospital. I could be here quicker than Gramma could get outside if she needed me. Nonetheless, I rolled down the windows and drank my coffee. I’d told Hazel I would stay, so I would stay. Even if I knew Gramma didn’t expect it of us.

My text message alert went off, and I picked it up to see Drake’s name. He had been headed to hear Jack Knife play at Stonies tonight when I left the house earlier. I figured this was him asking me if I was going or not even though I had already told him I was headed to the hospital.

That crazy Tory bitch is working at Stonies. Serving motherfucking drinks.

I read the text twice. I was relieved she had a job. Henley hadn’t mentioned her or Bryn again since I had told her not to hire Tory. Either she’d listened or Tory just hadn’t gone in to see her. Whichever it was, I was just glad Stonies was stuck with her.

I didn’t respond to his text and laid the phone back down in the seat. Taking another drink of my coffee, I looked at the people walking down the street toward the main street in town. Watching the visitors come and go from the hospital doors depressed me, so I didn’t want to look in that direction.

Pops had saved me after my mother’s death. I was difficult when they first brought me here. Seeing their life, I couldn’t understand why they’d left me with my mom for so long. They must have known what she was like and the way I was being neglected. It took some time, but soon, I understood just how much my grandparents had helped us and how much they hadn’t known about my mother. Until her death. In time, it had been easy to forgive them. They loved me in a way I had never been loved.

It wasn’t time for Pops to go yet, and he knew that he was needed. He’d fight to live. It was why he was still alive.





Chapter Twelve

Bryn

Tonight should have been easier, but the two new girls that Marley had hired struggled. That had left me to take up the slack since Trix had been onstage all evening. My head was pounding as I slipped my oversize hoodie over my head. It fell halfway down my thighs, covering my shorts, but I didn’t care. It was comfortable and baggy.

Being covered up after a night of being bare was a relief. I was slipping on my sandals when a knock sounded on the door before it opened. The three solid raps were Saint’s signature. I knew it was him before he entered.

“Hey,” I said. He was normally busy, cleaning the front of house and making sure things were done properly this time of night. “Is everything okay?” I asked him, taking in the scowl on his face.

He gave me a singular nod but said nothing. I picked up my bag and put the strap on my shoulder, waiting for him to speak. He was the broody sort, and I was used to his scowls and delayed talking. I always imagined that he was deep-thinking his words before saying them. I respected that. I, too, had to think about my words but for different reasons.

“We have a rule,” he stated.

I knew the rules. I hadn’t broken any. I just nodded.

“Management doesn’t date the employees,” he said.

I didn’t know of any management dating employees.

“Yeah,” I agreed, unsure of why he was in here, telling me this. He was the one who had slept with some of the dancers and didn’t follow the rule. I hadn’t done anything wrong.

He ran a hand over the top of his head and made a sound that was somewhere between a growl and a sigh. It was his frustrated noise. I had heard it many times before. Even tonight, when Blondie—that was her floor name—had dropped her second tray of drinks, then slipped in the spilled alcohol and landed on her butt.

“I’m considering changing the rules. Just need to speak to Marley about it.”

That was interesting. He hadn’t seemed to care about the rule before. I nodded again and waited.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “Bryn, do you understand anything I’m saying?”

Not really, and I was confused by why we were discussing it. “Uh, you want to change the rule about management dating employees,” I replied.