I’m winning this argument, even if it’s the last thing I do. “It’s seven on a Saturday night. Next Saturday night, you’re going to be exhausted after running around all week. This is your last chance to truly relax before the opening date. Live a little!”
Words I just used with Dom, which makes me think about him some more. But I shake it off. I need to find my footing in this place without being hooked on him. This is casual. Chill. Just sex.
Even if I’m in love with him.
“Is this a prank?”
I shake my head. “Why would it be a prank? Can’t a girl want to take her oldest sister out for a night of fun before the most stressful week of the summer?”
She narrows her eyes. “Are you trying to distract me about the delay in shipment for art supplies?”
“Is it working?” I smile sheepishly.
Lilly considers me, she really does, and even if she says no, this is already a step in the right direction, so I’ll take it. But then she says the thing that surprises us both.
“Yes. Give me thirty. I’ll be back.”
The Lumberyard has been around forever;it’s the heart and soul of music, pool, and drinks in this town. Eighteen and older can come on line dancing nights with an underage wristband, and I spent long Saturday nights learning every single line dance song, two-stepping away on the worn wooden dance floor.
We walk down the small, narrow hall, my boots struggling to step across the drink-soaked floor, until we make it to the neon-lit bar, where two mahogany stools await us.
“See? Meant to be,” I shout to Lilly, who’s clasping my hand like she’ll get lost if she lets go. We slide onto the stools and wait for the bartender to come. Lilly’s stiff, as if just being here is bringing out ghosts of the past. It doesn’t matter that ‘Merry Go ‘Round’ is playing—one of our favorite songs—she’s still acting like I dragged her here.
And maybe I did, but she needs to enjoy herself tonight, or what is the point? I look around the bustling room, tapping my foot to the rhythm. I don’t recognize many people, other than Old Carl in the corner and a few of the girls I went to high school with on the dance floor. I don’t know who I’m actually looking for, because I know the chances of seeing Saylor here are low, Dom even lower. This might be the perfect opportunity for me too.
“What can I get you ladies?” the hottie bartender I can’t quite place asks.
“I’ll take a vodka soda with a lime, and Riley.” She lets thewords hang in the air. “I didn’t even think about it, but you’re old enough to drink now, huh?”
I giggle and clap twice. “I finally am!” I smile ready to order, but his shocked face quickly changing into a flashy smile throws me in for a loop.
But it’s not until he speaks that I realize who he is. “Well, well, if it isn’t Little Banks in the house tonight.”
“Hawke?” Saylor’s older brother, who doesn’t look anything like the twenty year old boy I left behind when I moved away. The one who got in between Saylor and me, and the source of the tension that weekend when everything went to shit. He looks older, much older than his twenty five years. His usually long, dirty blond hair is darker and shorter than I’ve ever seen it, and his arms are covered in tattoos. His eyebrow is pierced at the top, and he looks just as much the bad boy, but grown now.
If Riley of a month ago would’ve seen him, she would be a blabbering mess, ready to get in bed with him. But Riley of today is not affected by him at all. No, she can’t be, because she’s hooked on a certain grumpy older cowboy.
“Good to see you, Hawke. Can I have a double shot of tequila on the rocks with a lime?”
He smiles knowingly. “I see you still have good taste,” he says, obviously flirting with me.
I eye him up and down with disinterest, leaving no doubt behind how I feel about him. “Some tasteshavechanged. Now, get us our drinks, please.” He leaves, and Lilly looks confused.
I’ll take confused over overwhelmed, though.
“Vodka tonic? I don’t remember you drinking that before?”
She shrugs. “I don’t drink much really. But what was that with Hawke?”
Ah. The boy I couldn’t stop thinking about as a teen—until he kissed me, no sparks flew, and it caused more issues than I would’ve ever imagined.
“Nothing.”
“Something.”
I shrug. “Somethingfrom the past, nothing anymore.”
He brings our drinks, and Lilly hands him her card.
