Didn’t care. She wasn’t my problem.
I drained the last of my beer and gestured to Rocco for another. I needed to calm down. Wound up this tight, I’d probably punch the first guy who looked at me wrong.
While Rocco poured my beer from the tap, I cast a quick glance over my shoulder. Audrey’s back was to me and Sandra had scooted closer to her. Their heads were down in quiet conversation. Sandra’s eyes flicked to me and her mouth twitched in a grin.
I looked away. Rocco slid my drink across the bar and I took a long swallow. I could feel other eyes on me, could practically hear the whispers. Great. By morning, half of Tilikum would be talking about how Josiah Haven had chased off some guy who’d been bothering the new girl in town. And the other half would hear about it by lunchtime.
A light touch on my arm wrenched me from my thoughts. Before I even looked to see who it was, I had the offending wrist in my grip.
Audrey’s eyes were wide and her lips parted. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Feeling like an absolute jackass, I let go. “Sorry.”
She rubbed it with her other hand. “It’s okay.”
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
“Oh, no.” She held up her arm as if to prove it. “I just didn’t expect that. I startled you, you startled me. I guess we’re even. Except we’re not. What I mean is, I want to thank you for getting rid of Colin.”
“Sure.”
“He lives up in Pinecrest so it’s kind of weirding me out that he was here. Anyway, you didn’t have to stand up for me like that and you did, so I appreciate it.”
I grunted, keeping my eyes on the bar.
“Okay, well, I’ll quit bugging you. I probably talk too much when I’m nervous and right now I feel about as calm as a rabbit running through a field full of foxes.”
That almost made me crack a smile. “Nice alliteration.”
She laughed softly. “I’m going to go before I make this worse. Thanks again, Josiah. I’ll see you around.”
I tried not to look when she left—and failed. Sandra hesitated, like she was deciding whether or not to say something to me.
She stepped closer. “Thanks for that. She needed it.”
“Just do me a favor.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t tell my aunt Louise about this.”
Sandra chuckled. “She won’t hear it from me. But we both know she’ll hear about it.”
I groaned. “I know.”
“See ya, Josiah.”
I turned back to the bar. What did I care if people talked? Gossip was Tilikum’s favorite pastime. Nothing I could do about it.
But something about the whole thing kept eating at me. I met Rocco’s eyes and he stepped closer.
“That asshole I chased out of here. Have you seen him in here before?”
He shrugged. “Didn’t look familiar, but I don’t memorize faces.”
I nodded. That was fair enough. But a cocky jerk like that would stand out. Seemed like Rocco would have remembered him.
Did he come down here from Pinecrest once in a while just to have a drink in peace? Or had he been out looking for Audrey? Noticed her car in the parking lot and come in to see her?
And if so, did he go home? Or was he out there waiting for her?
I clenched my hands into fists. Damn it. She wasn’t my problem.
But I got up anyway.
I twisted off the stool, my boots hitting the floor with a thud, and was out the door in a few strides. I hadn’t paid for my drinks, but I didn’t worry about it. I’d square up with Rocco later.
Empty. Just a handful of parked cars, but no sign of Audrey and Sandra. Or Colin.
Audrey hadn’t gone out to the parking lot alone. Sandra had been with her. I knew Sandra O’Neal well enough to know that if Colin had been waiting, everyone in the bar would have known about it. That woman could be loud when she wanted to be.
But what if he’d waited in his car somewhere out of sight, and he was following her home?
I was being paranoid. The guy had probably come down to Tilikum to get a drink by himself, like he’d said, and running into Audrey had been a coincidence. But I couldn’t shake the thought that he might have followed her.
She wasn’t my problem.
I let out a resigned breath and stalked to my truck. She wasn’t, but apparently tonight I was making her my problem.
I drove the short distance to the rental and parked next door, on the other side of the dumpster. Her car was in her driveway and light peeked out from behind closed curtains in the widows. I got out, leaving the truck door open, and looked up and down the road. There weren’t any vehicles parked on the street. Nothing suspicious that I could see.