ABANDON ALL HOPE: The Hope Brother Series (Book Two) by Honey Palomino Page A

bar.
    “Whiskey!” he barked at Jimmy.  “And keep it coming.”
    I sat on the stool beside him, my eyes glued to his battered face.  His wounds seemed to be swelling by the second, his striking good looks not so striking anymore.
    A curious Jimmy began to pour Jack Daniel’s into a shot glass before Lincoln yelled at him.
    “Not that cheap shit!  For fuck’s sake, don’t you have anything better than that piss?”
    “I got this and I got Maker’s,” Jimmy said, holding up the bottle of Jack. 
    “Fine, give me the Maker’s.  I guess it’s too much to ask for some Glenfarcas,” he growled.
    “I have no idea who Glen Farcass is,” Jimmy said, as he turned away.
    “For fuck’s sake,” Lincoln said under his breath. “I can’t wait to get away from this fucking hillbilly town.”
    I watched silently, impatiently, as Jimmy poured him a shot of Maker’s.
    “Leave the whole fucking bottle!” Lincoln demanded.  Jimmy put the bottle down on the bar in front of us, put an empty shot glass in front of me, and turned away, his face full of obvious disdain for Lincoln.  I avoided his eye at all costs.
    Lincoln downed his shot fast as lightening, poured the glass in front of me full of the sparkling amber liquor and then filled his back up.
    I took a sip, the warmth flowing through my body quickly, and I reminded myself that I had already had two beers.  I had so many questions, but Lincoln looked absolutely furious, and I hesitated a few minutes before I just couldn’t stop myself.
    I had to understand why he was involved with the Hopes at all.
    “So, Lincoln, tell me again how you know the Hopes?”
    “The Hopes,” he snarled, their name sliding off his tongue sarcastically.  “What a bunch of idiotic, hillbilly white trash they are!”
    His words stung.  Every single person in that family was dear to my heart.  They were like my own family.  I had never heard a bad word uttered in this town about any of them, and I was shocked to hear Lincoln talk about them like this.  I was just about to start defending them, when he continued with his rant.
    “Here’s the thing, Ruby.  I never wanted to come here.  I didn’t want anything to do with my crazy, senile Uncle Olly and neither did my mother.   But now, because they’re both dead, I’m left to pick up the pieces of their affairs.”
    “Olly LaCroix is…was…your uncle?” 
    “Yeah, lucky me, huh?”
    “Olly was a good man, Lincoln.  I’m sorry, I didn’t know he had passed.”
    “Whatever.  Apparently, he was gullible too.”
    “What do you mean?” “He loaned the Hopes money a while back.  They used their farm as collateral, and they never paid the loan back.  Now, I own it.  I was going to forgive the loan completely, but when I went to look at the place today, Crit attacked me, completely unprovoked, and for no reason at all. He’s a hot head, and completely out of control.”
    He glanced over at me finally, and his gaze darted down to my low cut neckline, then down to the swell of my hips and back up to my eyes, which I’m sure were filled with pain and confusion.
    “A girl like you shouldn’t hang out with men like that.  They’re savage. Uncouth. Undignified.”
    “Oh, I - ,” I began, and then stopped.  I what?  I had been chasing Crit around like a bitch in heat, desperate for his tiny bursts of affection, agreeing to meet him secretly, as if I was something to be ashamed of, for so long now, and I was so tired of it.  And for him to punch Lincoln because he found out I was going out with him?  As if he owned me?  The irony of it all was not lost on me.
    Instead, I snapped my mouth shut, and took another sip of the whiskey in front of me.  Lincoln continued to down shot after shot, as he sat there sulking at first, and then becoming angrier and angrier as the liquor hit him.
    “I will destroy that family,” he railed.  “He doesn’t know who he’s fucking with.  He’s going to regret ever laying