Page 144 of Tragic (Lark Cove 3)

“Fine.” His jaw clenched, the angles getting angry. “Then I’ll handle it. Alone.”

“Listen. I feel awful leaving you here alone on one of the biggest days of the year when I’d planned to help out. But this will be perfect. You can teach Sofia the ropes for a couple of days, and then she can help during the party. It’s a win-win.”

He grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest. But he didn’t argue with his boss.

“Thank you.” Thea smiled, knowing she’d won. “Thank you both for doing this. It’ll be great.”

How could she think me working in her bar would ever be great? I had no experience, let alone desire, to mix other people’s drinks.

Dakota’s stern expression turned arctic as he leveled his gaze on me again. It was no secret he didn’t want me here as much as I didn’t wish to stay.

I inched backward, hoping to make an escape while I had the chance, but my foot caught on the edge of a chair. My feet slipped in the puddle of melted snow that had collected underneath my boots. My arms flailed as I tried to keep my footing, but when one heel went skidding sideways, I was doomed.

A cluster of peanut shells broke my fall as my ass collided with the floor.

“Ouch.” My face burned with embarrassment as Logan rushed to my side.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine.” I nodded, letting him take my elbow to help me back up. When my feet were steady, I rubbed the spot on my butt that was sure to bruise.

“Those peanut shells can be slippery,” Thea told me. “My first two weeks here, I slipped constantly. But you’ll get used to walking on them. And I guess you might as well start work by sweeping them all up.”

“Sweep?” My mouth fell open. “I don’t know how to sweep.”

Dakota scoffed and turned on a heel, striding out of the room.

“Broom’s in that closet over there.” Thea pointed to a door next to the restroom, then followed Dakota down the hallway.

Logan’s mouth was hanging open like mine as he stared at the spot where Thea and Dakota had disappeared. He shook it off, blinked twice, then unglued his feet and hustled after them both.

Which left me in a rustic bar, surrounded by peanut shells, while my nieces and nephews played like this was just another normal day in paradise.

What kind of fresh hell was this?

Thank you for reading Tragic! I hope you’ve enjoyed Kaine and Piper’s story. Because of readers like you, I get to do my dream job, and I am so very grateful.

Special thanks to my amazing editing and proofreading team. Elizabeth Nover. Ellie McLove. Julie Deaton. Kaitlyn Moodie. Thank you to Sarah Hansen for Tragic’s beautiful cover and to Stacey Blake for the incredible formatting work you do on each and every book. And a huge thank you to Danielle Sanchez, my publicist, for all of your work, love and support—and for being one of my absolute favorite people on the planet.

I can’t say thank you enough to all of the awesome bloggers who read and spread the word about my books. THANK YOU! To my ARC team and Perry Street, thank you for loving my stories. Your excitement f

or them gives me life!

And lastly, thank you to my friends and family. I couldn’t do this without you!

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