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Travis let him talk and was nearly done with his beer. He was okay keeping his business to himself, and was content to listen to the man.
“So, you’re from town, I take it?” Chance asked, checking his watch and reaching into his back pocket for his wallet.
Travis nodded. “I am.”
“I didn’t catch your name.”
Travis hadn’t offered it up. McDougal obviously didn’t follow hockey, and that was okay by him.
“Blackwell.” He glanced up as Tiny scooped up his empty mug and moved to fill it.
“Blackwell.” Chance got up from his seat and tossed a few bills onto the bar. His phone buzzed, most likely a text message, and he glanced toward the door. “I know that name.”
Travis wasn’t surprised. His family had deep roots in Crystal Lake.
Travis shrugged and accepted another mug from Tiny. He didn’t get a chance to answer the man because the door to the bar opened and a woman stepped inside. She was on her phone, but her voice cut through Travis like a knife through butter. He turned around fully, mouth catching flies, eyes wide in disbelief. Was the universe trying to tell him something? Did he need to be hit over the head twice in one day?
Ruby walked toward the bar, forehead furrowed in concentration, white teeth biting the edge of her lip. She wasn’t happy about something, Travis could see it, and she was unaware of his presence. She walked toward Chance and pecked his cheek, nodding at whatever was being said on the other end of the phone and murmuring, “Hey, baby,” to Dougal.
Chance was looking at Travis.
Travis was looking at Ruby.
And Nash walked in at that exact moment. He settled in to watch the event unfold, and would later be overheard telling more than a few guys that Travis hadn’t seen it coming.
“I knew I recognized the name,” Chance said. “You’re Ruby’s ex-husband.”
Ruby’s head shot up, and she froze, her hazel eyes wide with surprise. Trav? she mouthed, sliding her cellphone back into her purse.
Chance moved closer to Ruby, as if protecting her from someone. That really got Travis’s goat, because first off, she didn’t need protecting from anybody. If he knew her at all, he’d at least know that. And secondly, Travis could break McDougal. Easily.
Like a twig.
Travis shook his head, his brain now focusing on what his eyes had already seen. Her hand was on Chance’s forearm, and the guy was all up in her business. He snorted. Seriously? The
guy was plaid shorts and fucking pink collared shirts. Christ, he probably got regular pedicures and facials. Instant, red-hot dislike coursed through Travis, and he got off his stool. This punk-ass golf softie was in love with his Ruby?
“You’re banging my wife?”
The fist came from nowhere and sent him reeling. When he gave his head a shake and cleared the stars from his eyes, Ruby stood inches from him, chest heaving, cheeks flushed, and looking hotter than anything he’d ever seen before. The air literally cracked with electricity. Friction. It was sexual. Primal. Full-on anger. He would take all of it and more, because truth be told, he hadn’t felt this alive since…well, since Ruby.
“Who I bang is none of your business,” she spat, eyes flashing. “And the name is Ruby, in case you’ve forgotten. Don’t ever call me your wife again. Don’t even call me your ex.”
She turned on a dime and headed for the door, while Travis rubbed his sore chin and watched Chance follow her outside like the good little puppy dog he was.
“You sure as hell know how to stir things up, Blackwell.” Nash shook his head from the other side of the bar. “I’ll get you some ice. You’re gonna need it.”
“No shit,” Travis muttered, sitting his ass back down on the stool. Ruby Montgomery was still as volatile as he remembered. Still as infuriating and quick to anger. She still rubbed him the wrong way, and apparently, he did the same. Fights were second nature to them. It was how they communicated. But the making up had always been hot as hell.
He accepted the ice from Nash.
“You were a dick,” Nash said.
“Yeah.”
“She’s pissed.” Again, Travis had to agree.
A slow grin swept across his face. It seemed as if some things hadn’t changed after all.
