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Thane rolled his eyes, sighing before he stood. “Despite your belief, it’s not an act.I am a good guy. It doesn’t make me perfect, and we both know I’ve had my fair share of questionable behavior, but it’s the choices you make each day, brother, that matter. I have to head to the office. Want to grab lunch later? Maybe tell me about what brought you back down here in the middle of the week? Hmm?”
“Yeah, okay. Thanks for the water.”
He nodded, a slight smile on his face as he made his way out of the apartment. The door closing made the quiet in the place louder, and I couldn’t handle it. Heading to the shower, I hoped to wipe the memory from my brain once and for all. It was a deluded fantasy, but as the water rushed over my tattoos, my pain inked into me, I knew I’d never escape it.
The bass boomed throughout the Honkey Tonk bar my roommate worked at, the windows shaking with the racket. I tuned it all out, my mission and focused on getting drunk as fast as possible. Today had been a shit show of epic proportions and I wanted to forget it. A cute girl bumped into me, a shy smile on her face, and for a second, everything else disappeared as I fell into her hazel eyes.
“Oops, I’m sorry,” she giggled, her hand landing on my arm. It wasn’t one of those fake laughs either, she was just past the tipsy side of drunk, and it was genuine. I liked how it sounded. “You’d think I’d have learned how to walk in these things by now. You haven’t seen a tallish guy, crazy rainbow hair around, have you?”
“No.”
“Oh, okay. Well, thanks anyway. You, at least, saved me from face planting.”
“No problem. Do you need, um, help?” I didn’t know why I was asking. The last thing I wanted to do was help her find her boyfriend, but I didn’t want her to leave either.
“Oh, no. It’s fine. I’m sure he’s around somewhere. Thanks, though.” She turned to go but stopped, her head looking over her shoulder. “Whoever did your ink is a legend. They’re probably the most beautiful pieces I’ve ever seen.” I was so lost in her words, I missed when she disappeared.
She liked my art.
Mine.
It was a mundane thing to think, but I’d been feeling hopeless today, like maybe I was on the wrong path, and then this Southern Angel reminded me of how influential art could be, even if just on my skin. Smiling, I didn’t need the drink as bad anymore, but I still made my way there, my goal to drink only one now before leaving.
I found myself watching for her the rest of the night, and when I saw some guy hitting on her, my protective nature rose up and I swooped in to save her.
“I think you should leave her alone.” I stared down at the asshat, my stare lasering into him. He backed up, leaving her alone. She turned, and it felt like everything else disappeared. “Looks like you saved me again.”
“Looks like it. Can I buy you a drink?”
“Sure, that’d be great.”
Motioning for Adam, I ordered two drink specials before turning back to her. I found myself floundering for words as I stared at her. “So, come here often?”
She sucked on a straw, and I was immediately jealous of the damn thing as her tongue swirled around it. “Did you seriously just ask me that? Wow! That’s almost as bad as knock-knock jokes.”
“Hey! I happen to like knock-knock jokes.”
Several drinks were placed down in front of us as Adam walked away in a rush, I wasn’t sure which was ours and as hands began reaching for them, I grabbed two, hoping it didn’t matter. Handing the cup to the girl, I watched as she drank a large portion down in a big gulp, and I lifted my eyebrows in surprise.
“Oh yum, peaches.” She licked her lips, and I decided right then peaches were my new favorite fruit and I wanted to taste them on her.
“Lenn! There you are, I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”
She turned to the guy, and I felt a pit form in my stomach. Seems like the guy she’d been looking for found her. Figures she was with someone. The guy was cute and the arousal I hid surged forward taking me by surprise. He caught me staring, a blush forming on his cheeks.
“I’m not talking to you, Simon.”
“Lenn, come on. I’ll buy you a drink and we can talk. It’s important.” He grabbed one off the tray of the waitress passing, handing her some bills, and giving it to the girl who’s name I still didn’t know. I went to stop him, afraid she’d had too much now after seeing her drink almost two back to back.
“I don’t think—” but before I could finish, she tossed it down and took off leaving me and the cute guy there. He hung his head before looking at me.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were talking. How many of those has she had?”
“Um, at least three in the last ten minutes, or so.”
“Shit,” he swore under his breath. “Uh, it was nice meeting you, I guess, but I better go find her before she gets herself into trouble. She doesn’t drink much.”
“Sure. Good luck.”
