Page 5 of Love in Overdrive

Chapter 3

“Tell me why we’re here again?” Cade had been home four days when Nash dragged him out for a drink. He scanned the old barn turned bar. Booths lined the sides of the building, and high-top tables filled the edges of a small dance floor the size of his last accommodations.

Looking down the bar, past the crowd of people, he took in the local band, currently playing a popular country song. The lyrics filled the cavernous room, which was packed with people. The place was butts-to-nuts tonight, and the crowd was making Cade’s neck itch.

“It’s a lot better scenery than having a beer at the shop.” Nash lifted the bottle to his lips.

“The last time I was at a bar, it didn’t go so well,” he said with a scowl.

“Don’t be a hero, and I won’t need to lend you bail money.”

He grunted, but Nash wasn’t wrong. Cade would like to say he learned his lesson, but he couldn’t lie to his friend. “It would have been fine if that asshole hadn’t pulled a knife on me.”

“It’s in the past. Relax, drink your beer, and dance with a pretty girl.”

Easy for Nash to say. He didn’t get kicked out of the military, or spend the better part of two years in a locked cell the last time he danced with a pretty girl. “I’ll drink my beer and try to relax, but I’m not going near any gals, pretty or otherwise.”

The song switched to an old Journey ballad, and the lights dimmed. The lead singer dedicated it to all the lonely girls in the crowd. Cade groaned.

One drink. Then, he would slip out of this Valentine’s hell that Nash had dragged him to.

“Dude, check out the brunette coming this way.” Nash slouched back against the bar, trying to look casual.

She was nice looking but definitely high maintenance. Nash’s type, but not his.

Cade kept his back to the bar as he scoped the room. Being a head above ninety percent of the crowd, he had a good view.

Same old, same old. Different bar, but the same… Hold the phone. His gaze snagged on a tall blonde. Pretty, but not flashy at all. While most of the women wore skimpy tops and dresses, this gal had jeans and a T-shirt. From what he could see, they fit her curves like a glove.

She turned toward the bar, looking for someone. A guy? He didn’t know, but something about her had his gut tightening. It urged him to cut a path to this woman.

“Fuck, no.” His knuckles whitened as he brought the beer bottle to his lips.

“What did you say?” Nash never took his eyes off the short, dark-haired woman coming his way.

“Nothing.”

People moved for this woman like Moses parting the Red Sea. Every male eye in the place was glued to her. Well, almost every. Not his. When he wasn’t observing the blonde in the faded tee, he watched his buddy. Time to see if Nash still had any game.

Before he could find out, a guy with way too much hair gel intercepted the woman.

“Snooze, you lose.” Cade took a swig of his drink.

“Just as well. I don’t have time for a woman like that in my life.”

“How’s Davey doing?” Nash’s son was in elementary school the last time Cade saw him.

“Good. I had him last weekend. He was asked to the Sadie Hawkins dance by an eighth-grader.” Pride puffed out Nash’s chest.

“A chip off the old block.”

“Yeah. He’s a good kid. Got his brains from his mom.” Nash scanned the bar as he talked.

Cade didn’t miss how his friend’s gaze kept coming back to the brunette, now on the dance floor. He couldn’t say much. He found himself seeking out the blonde across the room more than once.

Over the next hour, Nash and Cade talked about the shop, hockey, family, but the whole time Cade’s gaze kept finding the tall, blonde beauty across the room. Shit, he needed to get out of here. Instead, he picked the label from the bottle and bit back the urge to cross to her.

Don’t do it. Don’t.