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Her expression turned serious. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, just tired. Go serve your customers before you lose your tips.”
A couple had seated themselves at the opposite end of the bar. For seven p.m. on a Saturday night, the small sports bar, Batter’s Up, was as crowded as it typically got. About a third of the tables were full, and a few stools at the bar, too. In a few hours, business would pick up, but the place never packed out, which was why Keith enjoyed it. Crowds of drunk townspeople who looked down on his family and thought them trash weren’t his thing.
“You know, I might have believed you were just tired if you weren’t scowling like you want to smash the bar in half,” Ronnie said as she leaned her forearms on the counter. “What’s going on, big brother?”
What was going on?
Well, for the second night in a row, he’d been called to pick up their wasted-off-his-ass father. This time he had to drag the old man out of the world’s seediest strip club twenty minutes outside of town.
Yesterday he’d had to deal with Bud and Chuck’s shit at work. They’d come in for a simple battery replacement and oil change, but the cousins were some of the nastiest assholes to ever live, so of course they couldn’t leave without hurling slews of insults his way. He’d have loved to kick them the fuck out of his shop with a few black eyes, but the HVAC in the shop was on the fritz, and he needed every penny coming in to fix the damn thing before winter hit.
Then there was Michaela. The woman who rubbed him the wrong way from the get-go was the same woman he wanted to rub him in all the right ways. Why the hell she’d gotten so far under his skin, he couldn’t say, but he simultaneously wanted to throttle her and fuck her stupid. After practically freezing him with her frigid attitude, why the hell had she stood up for his shop when Bud and Chuck were hurling their customary insults?
“Just got a lot on my mind, Ronnie.”
“You know, you could share some of it. Just because you’re the oldest doesn’t mean you need to take on the world’s problems by yourself.” Another customer sidled up to the bar, flagging her down. Ronnie sighed. “I’ll be right back. Hold that thought,” she said as she strode down to greet the thirsty man.
There weren’t any thoughts to hold. He’d die before burdening his siblings with their father’s bullshit. None of them had any idea that when he left in the middle of the night a few times per week, it was to rescue the old man from himself. Ronnie had convinced the rest of their siblings Keith was getting laid regularly.
If she only knew it’d been a solid nine months since anything besides his own hand had come within ten yards of his naked cock. Fuck, he missed pussy. And tits. In his old age and wisdom, he’d become much more discerning with his fuck buddies. Back in the day, he’d hop on any female who looked his way—not quite as many as JP, but close. Maybe he needed to lower his standards for a night or a few hours to scratch this itch. Though, at thirty-eight, he found he was just too old to bed a woman he couldn’t hold a conversation with. If it could get Michaela out of his brain, it might be worth it.
By the time Ronnie returned, he’d nearly finished his beer.
“Okay, I’m back.” She shoved a lock of hair that had escaped her high ponytail behind her ear. Like the rest of the place, her black T-shirt and black pants uniform was as casual as it got, which suited his low-maintenance sister just fine. “I’ve got like two minutes before that guy down there needs a refill, so spill.”
With a laugh, he rolled his eyes. “What were we talking about?” he asked before swallowing the last of his beer.
She narrowed her eyes, snatching his glass. “You’re not funny.” As she refilled the glass under the tap, she shrugged. “Fine, be that way. See if I care if you have a heart attack at forty from internalizing all your stress. Just remember when you’re lying in the ICU that I offered.”
“Well, maybe I’ll have a hot nurse, so it just might be worth it.” An image of Michaela wearing one of those sexy nurse costumes college girls wore for Halloween popped into his mind. Okay, that was the last straw. After this beer he was officially looking for someone to hook-up with before he lost his mind.
Ronnie wrinkled her nose. “Now you sound like JP.” With a perky smile, she handed over his beer.
“Thanks. You’re a gem. You’ll make some man very ha—”
