Whisky State of Mind Read Online Free PDF Page A

my God! So what happened?”
    “He sprang that he was a cop on me. It caught me off guard and I covered him in coffee and snot. Kill me now,” she groaned, close to mortified tears.
    “Come on, if he’s a cop chances are he’s been covered in worse than that before,” Bella soothed helpfully.
    “I blew it. I won’t ever see him again.”
    “You can’t let this put you off. Come on, this is a major breakthrough. He ordered you a coffee!”
    “And then wore it. He must think I’m a complete a moron.”
    “I bet he laughs it off.”
    “He was kinda’ worried that I thought he was some kind of stalker,” Sky hedged, for the first time able to get past the coffee-through-the-nose part.
    “There you go. See ?”
    “But I don’t think I can face him tomorrow.”
    “Maybe give it a day or so, I’m sure he’ll have forgotten all about it by then,” Bella suggested, giving Sky her first glimmer of hope all morning. “I’ve gotta’ go, it’ll be okay. I promise. He bought you coffee! That’s huge.”
    It was kinda’ huge, she had to admit and felt a smile tug at her lips. Okay, maybe she’d slightly overreacted. People snort coffee through their nose all the time…it was no big deal… right?
    ****
    As she walked home that evening her phone beeped and she reached into her bag to retrieve it. Frowning, she stared at a number on the screen she didn’t recognize and wondered who it belonged to. “Hello?”
    “Do you always walk home alone at this hour?”
    Her heartbeat skid to a halt as she recognized the voice. “How did you get my number?”
    “You didn’t answer my question,” he hedged.
    “And you didn’t answer mine.” She stopped and turned around on the pavement glancing up and down the quiet street. How did he know she was walking home alone? Then she spotted him. There he was, large as life, sitting on his bike, looking all tough and shit, talking on his phone as he watched her.
    Who did he think he was? She snapped the phone shut and stormed across the road. “What do you think you’re doing? It’s illegal to stalk people.”
    He put his phone away and leaned forward so that his arms dangled loosely over the front handlebars. “I was making sure you got home safely.”
    “Well stop it. I didn’t ask you to play guard dog. Go away.”
    “We’re not finished talking. I had to wait until you weren’t working.”
    “I’ve finished talking. My father doesn’t get to order me around anymore—he gave up that right ten years ago when he gave me away like an unwanted pet.”
    “When did you turn into such a selfish brat?”
    “When did you turn into a mobster thug?”
    “Mobster?” he chuckled… Chuckled!
    “I don’t want anything to do with the club or any of its business. I’m happy doing what I’m doing with no one to answer to, so you’re wasting your time. Whatever my father wants with me—tell him to forget about it. I’m not getting mixed up in any of his crap.”
    “The club’s clean. Has been for a long time now.”
    “Yeah, right,” she scoffed.
    “It’s true. He was already cleaning up his act before he went to prison. He didn’t want to lead that kind of life around you anymore.”
    “Well it wasn’t soon enough, was it?”
    “He’s not the monster you’re making him out to be.”
    “No, he’s not a monster. He’s just a man,” she said sadly before turning away. And that was the problem. All her life her father had been this larger-than-life hero. She loved him, worshiped him and then in a blink of an eye she’d had all her illusions stripped away and she’d caught a glimpse of the man behind the curtain…he wasn’t the great wizard of Oz…he was just a man. A man who made human mistakes—but mistakes that hurt those he loved.
    “He needs you, Whisk. Just give him a chance.”
    Sky stared at the big man straddling his bike and felt a wave of old hurt rising to the surface. “I needed him. Once. Not anymore.” She turned and walked away,