As she walked away, I caught the guy at the bar watching her. He was eating up her body like she owed him and it pissed me off.
“I’ll just keep an eye on her,” Suzie said.
The scumbag at the bar leaned back and looked as though he was going to follow her when Suzie quickly caught up. It occurred to me in that this was one of the reasons why women go in pairs to the bathroom. I always thought it was just so they could discuss the deepest secrets of their mysterious sex. But they obviously had a more practical application for avoiding men who were waiting for drunk “easy targets” to break off from their friends.
I was going to kill him.
Skip nudged me. “You’re glaring.”
“He’s just staring at her. He needs to mind his own business.”
Skip followed my gaze to the bar. He frowned. The brute at the bar couldn’t care less or didn’t notice us.
“We’ll keep an eye on her,” Skip said.
I nodded. But I couldn’t stop the growing irritation. Who was this guy? What right did he have to look at her like that? Then a sinking realization set in. Was I any better? I stared at her like she was the most amazing thing in the world because she was. But that didn’t mean he could. Roxy mine. Fire good. Sometimes it was hard to beat back the caveman.
But no, it wasn’t the same. I wanted to see her flourish. I wanted her to be who she was. I wanted to be the person that brought her unending happiness. It wasn’t about conquering her for a night. Even that first night in Denver our interactions had never felt that small to me. It felt cosmic. Stars aligned. I would never treat her as something to be used and disposed of. She was everything.
I gulped and looked down at my beer.
“These girls can take care of themselves, trust me,” Jack said amicably. “Gretchen probably has a weapon hidden under the table even as we speak.”
“I wasn’t saying that they couldn’t,” Skip said with quiet rage in his voice.
Jack blinked at him. “I know that. I was just saying—”
Suzie came back, her eyes were wide as they shot around the table. “She slipped out while I was ”—her gaze flicked to me and Skip—“using the facilities,” she finished.
Not sure why she needed to sugarcoat it for us but then her words hit. I glanced to the bar. The guy was gone. My heart took off at an alarming rate.
“That’s sort of her thing, isn’t it?” Gretchen said with sass but her gaze moved around the bar looking for Roxy, the corners of her eyes tight with tension.
“I’m going after her,” I said as I stood. “Skippo, give me the rental, hey?” I reached for the keys.
He nodded and handed them to me. “I’ll come with. Just let me close the tab—”
“There’s no time.” I was already wasting too much time standing here as they discussed what they could do. “I got this,” I added looking at them all.
Gretchen nodded and Suzie grabbed Ford’s hand, looking pale.
“I can take him back to the Lodge,” Jack offered.
Skip frowned but didn’t speak.
“I don’t bite,” he added with a smile, not looking at my sulking best friend. I didn’t have time to figure out what that was all about.
“Thanks, mate. Nice seeing you all again.”
I ran out of the bar.
In the gravel parking lot, the biker was just starting his bike. It rumbled through the air and shook my insides. A passenger with long brown hair sat on the back. I ran toward them with no plan. I was going to probably get killed but I didn’t care. There was no fucking way this guy was …
Roxy wasn’t wearing jeans. Or a leather jacket. In fact, that hair wasn’t even the same shade of brown. They both turned toward me. Not Roxy.
I stopped about five feet away and let go of a breath I didn’t know I had been holding.
They both gave me an annoyed look before he spun out of the parking lot, kicking up gravel.
