It was a sign of the progress Bell had made that she didn’t wince at her full name or pour a beer over the woman’s head. “It’s Bell, and this is my bar. The best part about that is that I get to say who stays and who goes. You will never be welcome here.”

Janet pushed to her feet. “You always did think you were hot shit. Turned my Kenna into thinking she was the same.”

I stiffened as Kenna’s name fell from the woman’s mouth. Her Kenna? No. There was no way this was Kenna’s mother.

Ford wrapped an arm around Bell as Janet stormed out of The Catch. “Your bar, huh?”

She grinned up at him, but the action didn’t ring entirely true. Anger and worry still tinged her expression. “You’re marrying me, aren’t you? What’s yours is mine.”

Hunter chuckled. “Careful, brother. You step out of line, and she’ll take you for all you’ve got.”

Bell pressed a kiss to Ford’s jaw. “And don’t you forget it.”

“That was Kenna’s mom?” My mind was still swirling around everything that had happened in the past five minutes. The woman looked nothing like Kenna, and she certainly didn’t act like her. My gut soured. That was what Kenna had been forced to live with for the first eleven years of her life.

Bell straightened. “That woman is a lot of things, but a mother isn’t one of them.”

I couldn’t argue with the assessment. “Did you know she was back?”

Bell shook her head, her lips pressing together. “I wonder if Kenna does.” The last thing Kenna needed was to be blindsided by her mother. I stood, pulling out my wallet and tossing a few bills down to cover my dinner and beer. Bell eyed my movements. “You going to her?”

“What do you think?”

A war of emotions flickered across Bell’s face, a battle between hope and fear and a few other things that passed too quickly for me to identify. “Be careful with her, Crosby. She comes across strong, but she’s been hurt. Bad. She’s more fragile than she’ll ever admit.”

I gripped the side of the bar. “You gonna tell me about that hurt?”

“I can’t. It’s not my place.”

My back molars ground together. “If you’re not going to tell me, then quit with the cryptic warnings.”

“Crosby,” Ford warned. “Watch your tone.”

I bit back the words I wanted to let free and headed for the door. I knew Bell was just worried about her friend, but she wasn’t helping anything. I blew out a breath as I stepped into the night air. It wasn’t Bell’s fault. I was pissed because there was so much flying at Kenna, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop it.

26

Kenna