Malachi's Word: The Bar Next Door, #1

By Lissa Matthews

Drunken confessions. Sobering friendship. And two cowboys gambling on love...

 

Could he love me? Malachi has desired to know the answer since his best friend, Danny, confessed to being gay. He has never forgotten that long-ago conversation, or the secret hope that another confession would follow: that Danny is in love with him.

 

Danny is—and always has been—in love with Malachi. But how is he supposed to share that information without risking the only friendship that has ever mattered to him? Danny figured the best he could do was move home to Texas, buy a little rundown ranch to work, and visit the watering hole Malachi owns.

 

Malachi knows that something heavy is riding his friend and he's tired of watching Danny's downward spiral of too much beer and too many meaningless flings.

 

Enough is enough.

 

Except, when he gets Danny home and some strong coffee in him, the truth comes pouring out. A truth that nearly knocks Malachi out of his boots.

Courage like that doesn't come easy…and Malachi can only pray his answer is enough to turn lifelong friends into forever lovers.

 

Author's Note: Previously published with Entangled Publishing and Samhain Publishing. It has been revised.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lissa Matthews
• Release date: Aug 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223980537

Lissa Matthews

Coffee drinker extraordinaire, author Lissa Matthews lives and writes in North Carolina. When not at the keyboard with blue collar bad boys, race car drivers, cowboys, shifters, or pretty much any other hero that tickles her fancy, she can be found reading in the backyard on her swing, in the kitchen trying a new recipe she found on Pinterest, watching sports and movies with her family, or perfecting her nap ninja skills.

Book preview

Malachi’s Word

MALACHI’S WORD

THE BAR NEXT DOOR

BOOK ONE

LISSA MATTHEWS

CONTENTS

Welcome to The Bar Next Door!

Blurb

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Epilogue

Thank You!

Eli’s Promise Excerpt

Abe’s Law Excerpt

About the Author

WELCOME TO THE BAR NEXT DOOR!

Hi!

I wanted to take a moment before you dive into Malachi’s Word to give you a little idea of the themes and tropes you’re likely to find tucked within.

Cowboys

Secret Crushes

Unrequited Love

Grumpy/Sunshine

Friends to Lovers

I also wanted to say thank you for picking up Malachi and Danny’s story, and to let you know that you can sign up for my newsletter at the link below.

lissamatthews.com/newsletter

Enjoy the story…

BLURB

Drunken confessions. Sobering friendship. And two cowboys gambling on love...

Could he love me? Malachi has desired to know the answer since his best friend, Danny, confessed to being gay. He has never forgotten that long-ago conversation, or the secret hope that another confession would follow: that Danny is in love with him.

Danny is—and always has been—in love with Malachi. But how is he supposed to share that information without risking the only friendship that has ever mattered to him? Danny figured the best he could do was move home to Texas, buy a little rundown ranch to work, and visit the watering hole Malachi owns.

Malachi knows that something heavy is riding his friend and he’s tired of watching Danny’s downward spiral of too much beer and too many meaningless flings. Enough is enough.

Except, when he gets Danny home and some strong coffee in him, the truth comes pouring out. A truth that nearly knocks Malachi out of his boots.

Courage like that doesn’t come easy…and Malachi can only pray his answer is enough to turn lifelong friends into forever lovers.

Author’s Note: Previously published with Entangled Publishing and Samhain Publishing. It has been revised.

1

It was last call at The Bar Next Door . In about an hour, Malachi could go home. The clean-up would be handled by Eli. Per their deal, Malachi would open the bar and Eli would lock the door.

Last. Call.

Much as he loved the bar, Malachi sometimes loved leaving it just as much. Especially tonight. Danny was here again and almost too drunk to sit steady on the barstool, and way the hell too drunk to stand, walk or drive himself home. All grown up and hotter than fire, Danny tempted every man and woman with his crooked smile, his whipcord frame and his bright green eyes. When he was sober. When he was drunk, though, as he seemed to be more often than not lately, he was all grown up and acting like a teenage kid, full of angst and sadness.

But Malachi was no exception. Danny tempted him, too.

C’mon. Time for you to go. Malachi ‘Mal’ Rhalston, part owner of The Bar Next Door and Danny’s best friend, whether the other man still recognized that fact or not, picked up the half empty glass of whisky.

Hey, asshole. I wasn’t done with that, Danny said, louder than necessary.

Mal held the glass up and swirled the amber-colored liquid against the sides. This? You weren’t done with this? He looked down. It is a bad idea to waste such good whisky, isn’t it? He downed it in one swallow, feeling the burn all the way to his soul. Danny wasn’t the only one suffering, but he always liked to think he was. Selfish prick.

Danny squinted and though he was trying for menacing, it just came across as comical. Mal had to bite his lip to keep from laughing.

You really are an asshole, Danny murmured. It was said without heat or rancor, only a weariness that hurt Mal to hear.

Mal smiled his typical bartender smile. It wasn’t one he usually gave Danny, but right now, it was all he could muster. Never said I wasn’t.

He wiped down the bar in the immediate area of Danny. The man never wore cologne but had a spicy, earthy scent all his own that Mal would be able to pick out anywhere. He didn’t know if anyone else could smell it and it didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that he could, that he knew Danny so well…

He mentally shook himself and focused his attention once again on Danny’s face. So, what brought you in here tonight?

Same shit, different day.

One thing Mal always admired about Danny was the fact that the man could be stinkin’ drunk and still speak without slurs or ripples in his words. Most men in the bar who got that blasted couldn’t string the syllables of their own names together, much less carry on an actual conversation. To talk to Danny, one wouldn’t know he was fifteen sheets to the wind, aside from the lack of balance and the smell of his breath.

Which shit would that be? Job shit or man shit?

Danny was working a rundown place a few miles outside of town. It’d been a surprise when he’d bought it, considering neither of them had ever wanted to run the ranch they’d grown up on.

The Double M Double D was the name of their childhood home. Danny and his father had lived on one side of the ridge that ran through the middle, while Mal and his father lived on the other. They worked it from the moment they could walk. Their fathers knew the boys didn’t want the place, so when Mal went off to college and Danny to the military, they sold it. The two older men retired to Wyoming and started a dude ranch with half the sale money and split the other half between Mal and Danny. There’d been more than enough to do and buy nearly anything either of them had wanted.

Man. Danny spat the word with disgust and Mal wiped the bar again just to be on the safe side. It’s always about a man.

Things not work out with that pretty thing you carted out of here the other night? The glare Danny leveled at Mal would have frightened a lesser man. Mal wasn’t now nor had he ever been scared of Danny. Their friendship went back too far. They knew everything about one another. Danny, drunk or sober, wouldn’t hurt anyone