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Then he looked around his empty house. Jesus, he couldn’t stand another Friday night alone here, drinking beer and watching a fucking game. He turned and grabbed his keys and boots, stuffing his feet into them as he was already half out the door.
***
The parking lot at Bubba’s was packed like always on Friday night. Bubba’s was the only watering hole for twenty miles and Bubba was happy to make a buck off people’s desperation for entertainment and alcohol, not always in that order.
Hunter pulled open the door and would swear the raucous noise that spilled out was a few decibels louder than normal.
The bar had a lot of floor space and people had pushed back tables to clear out an area for a dance floor. They only did that on Fridays and Saturdays. It was being put to good use and when Hunter looked closer, he saw why. Looked like the boys from Mel and Xavier’s had come out for the night. A couple of those boys were genuine hell raisers and the town couldn’t have loved them more for it.
Well, apart from the sheriff, Marie—but even she couldn’t do much more than watch on since they’d never done anything outright illegal. Though the bar top striptease down to his boxers Liam had performed a couple months ago might have straddled the line of public indecency. It was certainly an image Hunter didn’t think he’d scrape from his memory any time soon.
Tonight Hunter actually welcomed their shenanigans. Distraction was the name of the game, after all.
Until he saw the object he was trying to distract himself from right in the middle of the crowd, dancing with the manwhore in chief himself—Liam O’Neill. And not just dancing. For Christ’s sake. Talk about public indecency.
Isobel’s back was to Liam’s front and one of his hands was tucked right below her breast. With the other, he lifted hers high overhead, then he skimmed down her body as they shimmied down, dropping low to the floor. Her black little nothing scrap of a dress rode even higher up her legs when she crouched down low like that. Liam grasped her waist in both hands and they shimmied back up to standing.
The song ended and Isobel jumped up and down, laughing and clapping. She threw her arms sloppily around Liam’s neck and Hunter wanted to deck the bastard. Just how much had she had to drink?
None of your damn business. She’s nothing more than an employee.
So why couldn’t he look away from her? She never smiled like that around him. And he hadn’t seen her with her hair down since the first night he’d met her, when she’d pulled it out of her ponytail for the shower. Her eyes were bright too, probably because of the alcohol.
That bastard Liam better not be trying to take advantage of her. They’d had a hard case with the colicky horse and maybe she was upset—
Nope. He turned away from the dance floor. None of his goddamned business. He pushed past people standing around the dance floor to get to the bar.
There was one open stool and he made a beeline for it.
He’d just grab a quick drink, then head back home. It was stupid to come out tonight anyway. What, was he some whiny little bitch who couldn’t stand a little silence? So his house was quiet. Boo hoo. So he’d made his wife so miserable she’d left him in the middle of the night. It happened. Who didn’t have problems?
Bubba came over to where Hunter was sitting. “What’ll you have tonight?”
“Whiskey.”
Bubba turned to get his drink.
In spite of himself, Hunter kept looking over to the dance floor. Now she was dancing with Mack. Christ, if there was anyone he’d trust a woman with less than Liam, it was Mack. “How long has that been going on?”
“About an hour.” The answer wasn’t from Bubba. Hunter swiveled on his stool and saw that Cal was sitting beside him. It would be easy to mistake Cal for a man—she always walked around in oversized men’s overalls with big flannel shirts underneath. Her hair was cropped short too, or at least, it usually was. Hunter was startled to realize it was a little longer—there was a small ponytail peeking out the back of the baseball cap she always wore.
“Hey Cal,” Hunter said. He’d known her ever since grade school. She was quiet, but a good sort.
Bubba set Hunter’s drink and must have heard Hunter’s initial question, because he looked out over the dance floor and smiled. “They’ve been livening up the joint for about an hour now.”
“And how many drinks have they poured down her?” Hunter growled
“Hey there.” Bubba braced his hands on the bar and narrowed his eyes at Hunter. “Don’t be disrespecting me in my own bar. You know I don’t put up with shit. That girl’s only been drinking what she’s ordered herself. And having a fine time of it.” Bubba’s eyes tracked back to the dance floor, his ruddy cheeks bright as he smiled. “Sure don’t make ‘em like that round here. ‘Cept for my Dottie, of course, God rest her soul.” Then his eyes flicked over to Cal. “No offense, Cal.”
Cal just waved her beer. “None taken.”
Hunter’s mood soured as he watched Isobel. He swallowed a healthy swig of his whiskey. It was biting, but he got it down without coughing. Soon his throat and belly were warmed by the liquid. His muscles relaxed. He angled his back toward the dance floor.
Maybe coming here wasn’t such a bad idea after all. He’d just ignore Isobel and have a nice little drink, shoot the shit with Bubba and—
Bubba’s eyes were on the dance floor behind him and he let out a low whistle. “Damn that woman’s a firecracker. If I was a young buck, you can bet I’d be—”
“For the love of God don’t finish that sentence,” Cal implored.
