A Tale of Two Biddies by Kylie Logan Page B

have a chance. Mike stepped out of the bar and waved to us, then stabbed his thumb back toward the bar. “Getting busy in here,” Mike yelled.
    And Levi got the message.
    Too bad I didn’t. While we walked across the street so Levi could get back to work, I wondered what he’d been about to confess.
As long as we’re being truthful . . .
    I suppose it was just as well he never had the chance to finish.
    As long as we were being truthful, the last thing I wanted Levi to find out was that no matter what, I couldn’t be completely truthful with him.
    Not without revealing the secrets I’d come to the island to hide.
    • • •
     
    A couple more songs from Guillotine and I was well and truly done for the night. Yes, there was supposed to be a short fireworks show at the park as soon as the concert was over, but I swear, the way my head pounded, I wasn’t sure pyrotechnics were the right remedy.
    Since we’d arrived together, I looked around the bar for Kate to tell her I’d had it for the night and was heading back home. But the place was so crowded, even a flaming redhead was impossible to find.
    Guillotine started another song and I did another swing through Levi’s. Richie Monroe was in one corner not far from the stage. His arms crossed over his chest, his eyes narrowed, he stared at the stage as if he wanted to make it go up in smoke.
    But then, maybe Richie’s ears hurt, too.
    I spotted Kate over near the front window and I’d just turned to head that way when the guitars stopped and Jesse, the Guillotine drummer, crashed a stick into his cymbals. Like everyone else in the bar, I looked at the stage to see what was happening.
    And stifled a curse.
    Three guys from the audience had jumped onto the stage. One of them carried a watermelon and he held it up over his head and yelled something about how they were going to see if the guillotine prop would really work.
    Dino’s face paled, and I guess I couldn’t blame him. No doubt he’d seen his share of rowdy fans before. Heck, he’d dealt with Tiffany and her crew and actually seemed to enjoy it. But if these guys made it over to the guillotine with their melon, they’d ruin the big surprise he had planned for Saturday night, the one Dino was sure was so freakin’ cool it would get everyone talking about Guillotine.
    Automatically, I glanced at the bar and saw Levi moving through the crowd, heading to the stage to take control of the situation.
    It wasn’t easy.
    People surged toward the stage, somebody called out, “Off with its head!” and the crowd took up the chant.
    The guys who’d interrupted the concert were more determined than ever, and not about to be stopped by five middle-aged band members.
    While two of them held back Dino and the others, the one with the melon raced over to the guillotine and positioned it in the stocks, and I actually found myself feeling sorry for Dino. He’d been so proud of his little trick, and he was going to be so embarrassed when, like my cantaloupe, that watermelon faced certain death and made it through without a scratch.
    Levi made it to the stage just as the guy pulled the lever and the blade shot down.
    It plonked into the watermelon with a sickening thud that made the crowd let out a collective gasp.
    A second later, the front half of the watermelon neatly fell away from the back half.
    And red juice splurted out of the melon and spilled across the stage.

5
     
    I t’s all fun and games until a magic trick goes very, very wrong and puts an end to the revelry—and the rock concert.
    One look at that sliced-in-half watermelon, and Dino’s face turned the color of ashes. It took him a moment to catch his breath, but once he did, the first thing he did was declare that the concert was over and wave his bandmates off the stage.
    And the second?
    It was that second thing that had me wondering, because right after he growled, “We’re getting the hell out of here,” Dino shot a look into the audience