Keeper of the Peace (Graveyard Guardians #2) (9 page)

There was a pause from the Empress on the
other end of the line. “Do not disappoint me again, Aiden. You have
a long way to go until you have made up for your previous
actions.”

Just tell her what she wants to hear. “As
always, you’re right. I swear to prove my loyalty to you once
again.”

“And I am looking forward to that. Report to
me when you get to Napa.”

“Yes, Empress.”

The woman clicked off before the last word
was out of his mouth.

“Shit.” He threw his phone on the table and
headed back into the living room. “Sorry ladies, this party is
over.”

CHAPTER

8

HANNAH

After work, Hannah flew over the mountain
and rolled into Summer Hollow just after seven. The evening sun was
still high above the hills, leaving another couple hours of good
daylight.

The whole way home all she could do was
stress about the murder, her impending arrest and David’s
return.

As she passed Knights bar, she saw a few
people out on the sidewalk in front of the door and then, without
warning, the sudden urge to get plastered hit her hard. Normally,
she didn’t drink very much at all. She couldn’t do what she did for
a living with a hangover every day. But, this day … she deserved a
fucking drink dammit.

Doubling back, she turned down a side street
and took the back way. The dirt lot behind the bar contained
several cars already, considering it was still early. She pulled up
beside a blue Chevy truck and killed the engine.

It was only after she had gotten out of the
car and locked it that she realized she still had her scrubs on.
“Screw it.” She mumbled under her breath and slid the scrub shirt
over her head, leaving her in a white tank and black scrub pants.
What the hell did she care, she wasn’t here to impress anyone, she
was here to drink till she forgot all the terrible shit that
happened today.

She threw the shirt into her car and rounded
the corner to the front of the bar. A few of the patrons were
loitering outside on the sidewalk, outside the door. They waved and
smiled as she pushed open the heavy wooden door.

Inside, the jukebox blared, assaulting her
ears with pop music disguised as country. Reese waved at her from
behind the bar. “Hey Hannah, it’s a rare occasion to see you in
here.”

Hannah made her way over to the end of the
bar so she didn’t have to yell over the music and conversation.
“Yeah, but have no fear, I come on a mission.”

“Oh yeah, what mission would that be?” Reese
laughed and tossed a wave of dark hair over her shoulder.

“To get trashed.” Hannah pulled out a stool
and plopped down onto it. “What other reason would responsible
little me be doing in a bar?”

“You have a point there. So what’ll it
be?”

Hannah surveyed the bottles of booze behind
the bar. “Shots. Tequila shots.”

Reese raised an eyebrow. “You weren’t
kidding.” She reached under the bar and withdrew a couple of shot
glasses. “You have someone to drive you home?”

“I’ll call one of my brothers or sisters,
someone will come and get me.” She dropped her keys on the bar in
front of Reese. “If all else fails I can walk, it’s only a few
blocks.”

With a nod, Reese took the keys and hung
them on a hook behind her that was made from a crumpled license
plate. Hannah knew the story. That plate had belonged to Reese’s
father. He had owned the bar before her, but he died when a drunk
driver ran a red light and T-boned his car at the intersection in
town.

“Can I have a coke to chase this with?”
Hannah asked as she watched Reese fill the shot glasses.

“Sure thing,” Reese answered, returning the
tequila to its place on the shelf with the other liquor. After
pouring a coke and setting it on the bar beside the shots, she
looked at Hannah expectantly. “Bottoms up, woman.”

Hannah stared down at the tiny glasses full
of golden liquid and then picked one up. She put it to her lips and
tipped her head back. As soon as the booze hit her belly she
shivered and then did the same with the next shot.

“Ugh!” she scrambled for her soda and drank
about half of it in one gulp. “So nasty.”

Reese laughed. “Well you’re stuck with it
now. I’m not going to let you mix it up.”

Hannah pushed the glasses forward. “You’re a
bossy bartender, you know that.”

“Yes, yes I do.”

“Fill ‘em up again.” Hannah was already
feeling the buzz, since she didn’t drink very often.

Bringing the bottle back down, Reese poured
her two more shots. “Now who’s being bossy, huh?”

Another shot down, cringe, chase. “I’m the
patron. I can be bossy if I want.”

“Ohhh, and sassy when on the booze.”

Both women laughed and Hannah had just
lifted her shot glass when to take her next shot when the door
swung open and David marched into the bar.

“Oh fuck.” Hannah shook her head in
disbelief. She had never wished for a do-over day so badly in her
entire life.

“What?” Reese asked, following Hannah’s
stare. “Oh shit, is that…”

Hannah nodded. “Yup. That’s him.”

“I’ll get the tequila down again.” Reese
turned and reached for the bottle.

Hannah and David were pretty much common
knowledge among those who had grown up in Summer Hollow and were
around her age. She and Reese were both thirty, so they had been in
school together.

She knew that she should stop staring and
turn around before he saw her, but she just couldn’t bring herself
to do it. He stopped just inside the entrance and moved his eyes
over the patrons.

Reese filled her shot glasses. “Did you know
he was in town?”

“Yes,” Hannah answered with a nod. “He came
into the morgue today for a case he’s working on.”

“Oh,” she wiped some spilled tequila off the
bar with a damp white rag, “That’s right, he’s a detective. But I
thought he was with the LAPD.”

“I don’t know what he’s doing.” Hannah
shrugged. “I don’t really care either.”

“Sure. Like I believe that.”

Hannah turned back to face the entrance just
in time for David to meet her gaze. Quickly, she turned back around
and slammed one of her shots. “Ugh!” her hand went to her mouth to
catch a few drops of liquor. “Tell me,” she asked Reese “why does
he have to look so damn good? Why couldn’t he have gotten fat and …
bald?”

Reese laughed. “I will admit, he’s even
better looking now than he was in high school, and he was hot then.
Uh oh …”

“What?” Hannah widened her eyes.

“He’s coming over here.”

“Dammit.” She didn’t want to turn around, so
she grabbed her purse and pretended to be looking for something
inside.

“Hannah.”

Crap, he was right behind her.

Slowly, she spun around on the stool to face
him. “Detective.” She was perfectly aware that she was slurring her
words, but there wasn’t really much she could do about it now.

His blue eyes were radiating intently as he
stared down at her. “I wanted to apologize for earlier. I didn’t
know that you were working there.”

“Uh … don’t worry about it.” What did he
really expect her to say?

“David,” Reese came to the rescue. “It’s
been a long time.”

David nodded. “It sure has. I heard about
your dad a few years back. I’m sorry, he was a good man.”

“Yes,” Reese smiled, “he was. Now, would you
like a drink?”

“Absolutely. Surprise me with something good
off the tap.”

“Sure thing.”

While Reese was keeping David occupied,
Hannah opened her purse and discreetly set some cash on the bar.
Then, she slid off the stool in a poor attempt to sneak away.

“Where are you going?” David asked her, his
voice soft.

“I … I was just heading home.”

He glanced at the bar and then back at her.
“You still have a shot to do.”

“You can have it. I have to go.” Ack. Why
didn’t he just leave her alone?

“Please stay and have a drink with me.”

Hannah shook her head. “Sorry, detective. I
have plans.” Intending to leave without any further confrontation,
she took a stepped to the side and moved around him.

“Please, Hannah. I just want to talk.” He
reached out and wrapped his fingers around her arm, gently turning
her around to face him.

“Don’t touch me! I already told you to leave
me alone.” She yanked her arm out of his grasp.

Unfortunately, David could not be swayed so
easily. “Well, at least let me drive you home.”

By nature, Hannah was a fairly calm person,
but this was getting ridiculous. When a girl says no it means no,
dammit. She felt the anger spreading through her body like a deadly
disease. “Fine, you want to talk. Let’s talk!” She threw her purse
on the bar and stepped forward so that, if she had been taller,
they would have been nose to nose. “You left, I get why, but we
can’t just pick things up where they left off.”

David glanced around at the patrons in the
bar. People had started to stare at them, wondering what the
confrontation was all about. “I was thinking a more private
conversation would be appropriate.”

She shook her head vigorously. “No way,
buddy. You wanna talk, we can do it right here. Everyone in this
town will know about it by tomorrow anyway.”

“I had to leave, Hannah.”

“I know that, you asshole. But, it doesn’t
make the hurt go away.” She reached over and snatched the last shot
off the bar and slammed it back. After swallowing down the urge to
puke, she set the glass back on the bar and pointed at him. “I
spent all those years trying to forget you. I wanted to leave it in
the past, and I
did
. But, now your back and opening those
wounds that took twelve fucking years to almost heal.”

Completely losing her composure, she pushed
him in the chest so hard that he took a step backward. “So go back
to L.A. and leave me alone.”

David wasn’t swayed by her outburst even one
little bit. “I can’t go back.”

“Then go anywhere but here,” she spat.

“I’m going to fix this between us, Hannah.
I’m not asking to go back to the way it was. I just want to help
heal those wounds you mentioned.”

“Fuck off.” She spun around to leave again
and like before, he grabbed her arm, pulling her back to him. He
turned her toward him so she had to look into his eyes. His grasp
was tighter than before, as he held onto both of her shoulders. “If
you think you are the only one who has wounds, you are an idiot.”
He gave her a little shake. “I hurt too, Hannah. I didn’t want to
leave you … I wanted to make something of myself and I fucking
did
.”

“Well good for you! Now let me go!” She
struggled against him, but he tightened his grip a bit more.

“I know that nothing I say will ever change
what happened but we can try to forgive and start new.”

“I don’t want to start anything with you.”
Despite the anger, she felt tears welling in the corners of her
eyes.

“David,” Reese’s voice came calmly across
the bar. “You need to take your hands off of her.”

No sooner were the words out of her mouth,
than the door swung open and a shit storm walked over the
threshold. Lucy and Daniel Estmond strode into the bar with Jack
close behind them.

Hannah didn’t see them come in. She didn’t
see Daniel spot the confrontation between the two of them and she
didn’t see his eyes flash with anger as he practically pushed other
patrons over to get to his sister.

She
did
see when he grabbed David
from the back of his jacket and yank him backward. “Don’t ever
touch my sister!” he bellowed.

Surprised, Hannah staggered backward as
David released her. “Dan!”

Dan ignored her and stepped in between his
sister and her ex-boyfriend. “I told you before if you came near
her again that I would give you another ass kicking.” He spread his
hands wide, “And look where we are now.”

“Dan, I can take care of myself.” Hannah
could not believe that this was happening. She grabbed the back of
Dan’s trench coat and tried to pull him away from David. She wanted
David to go away, but she didn’t want her brother to beat him
bloody.

“Stay back, Hannah,” Dan ordered.

Hannah moved around him and squeezed in
between Dan and David. The sudden turn of events had her mind
reeling. Only a moment ago she was yelling at David to get away
from her and now she was standing in between him and her brother,
trying to save his ass.

“You don’t need to protect me, Hannah. Get
out of the way.” David tried to move her aside so she didn’t get
hurt.

“I’m not going anywhere until you two calm
down.” She placed her hands on Dan’s chest and pushed just a
little, trying to get him as far away from David as possible.

“Move Hannah,” Dan ordered.

Right, like she was going to move out of the
way and let Dan beat him up. David was a freaking cop for crying
out loud. They didn’t need this shit right now, with all the other
stuff going on.

She peered around Dan and saw Jack and Lucy
standing nearby. Jack looked like he was ready to jump in if he
needed to and Lucy glared at David with a furious expression.
Suddenly Hannah was afraid that Lucy might jump him too.

Reese with her bat in hand, had come around
the bar so that she could also step in if needed. Hannah tilted her
head, indicating that Reese should do something.

Taking the hint, Reese moved forward and
poked her bat at Dan’s side, “Hey, back off.”

Dan shifted his eyes and glared down at her,
then gently pushed the bat away.

She poked him in the ribs again and sighed.
“Dan, you of all people know that I will hit you with this if I
have to.”

There was a scoff from Jack. “Dude, did she
hit you with that thing before?”