“Hey, Mom,” I said softly, leaning down to hug her.
“How you doing?”
“Good,” I answered with a nod.
“Yeah?”
I glanced at Kate laughing with her dad across the room and smiled. “Yeah.”
* * *
Later that night, we piled into Kate’s SUV while Anita and Henry bitched about having to sit in the very back. I didn’t know why they bothered; as the youngest they’d pretty much always been bullied into getting the last piece of pizza or the worst seats in the car.
“Karaoke!” Anita yelled once I was pulling out of the driveway.
“Do you know a karaoke bar around here?” Kate asked excitedly, turning to face me.
“That’s where you want to go?” I asked, reaching out to take her hand in mine.
We didn’t do public displays of affection normally. Kate was too nervous for that kind of shit—like it mattered in the long run what people thought about our relationship. So I was surprised when she turned her hand and laced her fingers through mine.
“Yeah!”
“Okay, I know of one. Here—” I pulled my phone out of my pocket. “Call Miles and tell him where we’re going.”
“I’m having the best time,” she said, scrolling through my phone.
“We’ve barely left the house.” I laughed.
“It doesn’t matter.” She smiled, lifting the phone to her ear. “It’s already the best birthday ever.”
* * *
Trevor agreed to be the designated driver, and by the time I was a few beers in, I knew that had been a bad idea.
The girls were happy, singing 1980s pop songs every time their names were called. Between their turns, which happened about every half hour, they danced and laughed throughout the bar.
My eyes followed Kate around the room as she had fun, but the longer we stayed and the more alcohol we consumed, the more the mood at the table shifted.
Miles sat next to me, watching Anita as she shook her ass, completely oblivious to the man sitting next to him watching Miles.
“So, you and Katie,” Henry said jovially over the noise of the crowd. “Did not see that coming.”
“Yep,” I murmured back as Bram’s eyes moved from Miles to me.
“How the hell did that happen?”
I glanced at Kate, laughing at something Anita said, and ignored the question. I wasn’t going to get into the story surrounded by a hundred strangers in a bar. It wasn’t any of Henry’s business anyway.
“He fucked her,” Bram said nastily after an awkward silence. “Got drunk and knocked her up.”
“Shut the fuck up, Abraham,” I growled, refusing to look his way.
“It’s the truth,” he chuckled drunkenly. “On the anniversary of Rachel’s death, no less. Good timing, that.”
Kate glanced at me, and her eyes widened as I stood abruptly from the table.
“Shut your fucking mouth,” I said to the asshole across the table.
“Come on, Bram, knock it off,” Trevor said quietly as Bram jumped to his feet.
“Wonder how long you’d been waiting,” Bram mused, looking me up and down. “Must have been a while since you’d gotten your dick wet. Some good luck that Kate was right there in your house—ready and willing to scratch your itch.”
I launched myself over the table, slamming Bram into the floor with the entire weight of my body. “You know nothing,” I said, punching him in the mouth. “Keep your fucking mouth shut!”
He jerked his body, throwing me off, and soon we were rolling all over the floor, taking down chairs and tables as we fought.
It couldn’t have lasted more than a few minutes, but by the time Miles pulled me off a bloody Abraham, Kate was sobbing.
“Out,” a bouncer yelled as he reached us.
“Yeah, man, we’re going,” Trevor assured him, nodding to Henry, who was holding Bram from behind in a bear hug.
Miles pushed at me as I tried to move toward Kate. “Not the place, man. Wait until we get outside,” he warned quietly, ushering me out of the bar.
I wiped the blood from beneath my nose with the back of my hand and followed as Anita escorted Kate out ahead of us. They were speaking quietly while Kate brushed the tears off her face.
“Miles, you got Shane?” Trevor asked as we got outside.
“Oh, hell no,” I mumbled, moving toward Kate’s SUV.
“You are sure as shit not getting into the car with Bram right now,” Trevor told me, shaking his head.
“The fuck, Trev? Did you hear the shit he was saying?” I asked, turning my head to meet his eyes.
“I heard him. Dumb fuck has been itching for a fight since we got here.” Trevor rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m not putting the two of you in a confined space with Anita and Kate, man. Not happening.”
“Fine.” I glanced toward the SUV and met Kate’s sad eyes, sighing. What a great fucking birthday. “Let’s go, Miles.”
We climbed into Miles’s truck and followed the rest of the group back to my house.