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“I’m sure. Hotshots is on the left,” Olivia replied.
“Oh, I see the neon sign. Looks packed.” Jake nodded approvingly. “Is there a lot to park in?”
“Nope. Just parallel parking.” Olivia pointed. “There’s a spot.”
I peered out at my window. The slot looked tight, but the car should fit.
“I hate parallel parking,” Jake grumbled.
“Why am I not surprised?” Olivia muttered from behind me. I threw up another prayer that Jake hadn’t heard her.
“What’s that?” Jake asked.
“Just pull forward and back into it. No cars are coming, so you can take your time.” She thumped my headrest to let me know she was annoyed with my boyfriend.
Frankly, I was a little irritated with Jake, too. It almost felt like I hardly knew the man, yet I lived with him and slept in his bed, doing things I would never do with a stranger.
Why was he feeling like a stranger to me?
Profanity pinged all around us. Embarrassment heated my face. Lord knew Olivia had a vulgar mouth and my dad cursed on the regular, but couldn’t Jake show a smidge of respect on the first day of meeting my family?
He slammed the sedan into park. “That’s as good as it’s going to get. I need a drink.” He pushed open the driver’s side door and left.
I blew out a slow, long breath, then got out of the crookedly parked car. To be fair, parallel parking wasn’t common in California. Most places I’d gone to had parking lots that required little skill to maneuver my vehicle into the slot.
“It’s a shame Mr. Billionaire’s attitude sucks so much. For your sake, I hope he redeems himself in the sack.” Olivia glared back at me as she crossed the street and left me in the dust.
Nothing like being ditched by my boyfriendandmy sister to make me feel unloved and forgotten.
Cade would never leave you like them.
Shut up, little voice. I don’t want to hear from you.
I strolled across the street and checked out the buildings and businesses. The sun hadn’t gone all the way down, with it being September. It was rather nice out. Cooler than it would be in SoCal this time of year, but not too cold that I needed a light jacket to go with my dark-wash jeans and ivory blouse.
Some updating had been done to liven up this part. I was so glad, too. When I was in elementary school, the north side of Burntwood had been sketchy and severely neglected. Everyone avoided it and went to the southern part of town, closest to Highway 90.
It was nice to see our community had cleaned up and revitalized this area.
I entered Hotshots, and my eyes widened. “Wow, this is the place to be!”
Two billiards tables were in the center of the building and occupied with several players each.
Music filled the air. Sounded like classic rock.
The tables along the perimeter were filled, as was the bar.
“Just seat yourself, honey,” a server said as she passed with a tray of beers.
I’d love to seat myself, if I could find my sister and boyfriend.
I went farther in, squeezed by people I didn’t recognize, and eventually made my way to the bar.
“What’s this? Do my eyes deceive me?” Travis Davis came around the bar and hugged me tight. “Miss Shelby, when did you return to Burntwood?”
Holy smokes. He’d grown quite a bit, in the muscly kind of way, since I last saw him. “Hey, Travis! It’s so good to see you. Liv told me this was your bar.” I patted his back, hoping he’d put me down… Like now.
“Mine and Diesel’s. What do you think?” And he set me on my feet.
