Chapter 2 Dean #2
“I heard about that.” He leaned in. “Can you hurry it up? We’ve been waiting for good coffee for what feels like ages.”
Despite myself, I laughed. “I tried. Wren is the one who called it for the night. She said we need ‘rest.’” I put air quotes around it.
“Well, none of us are gonna stop her. She nearly killed herself getting that library done.” He sighed. “Naming it after her wasn’t enough.”
My eyebrows rose. I hadn’t been over to it yet since my thoughts had been on work and Grace. “That wasn’t in the show.”
“Screw the damn show. We did it to be nice. We love Wren.”
I slowly nodded. “Well, she’s pretty awesome.”
“Her boyfriend thinks the same.” I wasn’t sure if he meant it as a gentle reminder or not. I hated not knowing what had gotten out about me. I knew that I hadn’t hit on anyone in town, but I wouldn’t put it above Wren to warn people that I didn’t stick around.
“I just work for her,” I rushed to say. If word had gotten out, most people were going to assume I slept with anything that breathed. That had certainly happened in Shady Acres.
But I only slept with people who were single and wanted a fun time.
“I’m not a fool. No one’s getting her away from Henry.” He put the glass down. “What are you having?”
“Whatever you have.”
The bartender laughed. “We have everything those big bars in Nashville have. Gotta be a bit more specific.”
I spouted off a local beer brand from right outside of Knoxville. He nodded and grabbed me a bottle.
“Thanks, uh . . .” I looked for a name tag.
“Mark,” he said. “I keep forgetting we have people around here who don’t know me. So many newbies. It’s weird.”
I was about to take a sip, but then I remembered I would need to pay. “Let me go ahead and open a tab.”
“A tab? How much are you having?”
“Probably just the one.”
He waved his hand. “It’s on the house.”
I blinked in shock. “What? Why?”
“Welcome to Strawberry Springs.” He said it like it was an explanation.
“But I have to pay. You’re offering me a service.”
“We’re lucky here,” he said. “Between the show and other things, we aren’t hurting for money. And hell, if I’m lucky, you’ll come back while you’re here.”
He started to walk off, and I remembered my manners.
“Thanks, Mark!” I called, to which he nodded and got a drink for the man who’d sat next to me.
Huh. He’d been shockingly nice.
Was it because I knew Wren?
I didn’t get a chance to think too hard on it because the door opened. Mark looked up to welcome whoever it was who walked in.
But then he glared.
I knew I could learn a lot about the town from how they treated their least-liked residents. I turned too, certain I was gonna see their true colors.
The woman who walked in was probably my age with wavy hair dyed bright blonde. She was dressed to the nines in a short skirt and cowboy boots that had never seen a hard day of work in their existence. As she flicked her hair over her shoulder, she looked at everything as if it were beneath her.
And I immediately decided I didn’t like her either.
Was she one of the new people in town? Was she like all the invaders of Shady Acres who’d come in and taken it over?
God, I hoped she didn’t talk to me. I didn’t want my dick to shrivel up and fall off.
“Mark!” the woman called. “Can you get me one of those martinis?”
“I’ll need your card to open a tab, Brooke.” Mark’s voice was flat.
Brooke crossed her arms. “You don’t ask anyone else that.”
“I haven’t had an issue with anyone else not paying,” Mark replied. “And I’m not asking Grace to cover you again. Lord knows she’s done that too many times.”
At the mention of Grace, my eyes shot up. Did Brooke know her?
I realized my mistake the second Brooke’s eyes met mine. Now she was smiling at me, and I hadn’t meant to let her know I even existed. I gave her a wave and went back to my beer. She wasn’t deterred.
“I haven’t seen you around,” she said. “And I’ve seen everyone.”
“I’m just passing through, ma’am.”
“Hopefully you’re staying long enough to buy a girl a drink?” She tilted her head to the side.
“Not really. Sorry.” Her eyes narrowed.
“Brooke,” Mark cut in, “you need to pay for your own this time. Don’t make me call Grace.”
“Are you seriously being a tattletale right now?” Brooke rolled her eyes. “Not everyone has to call my perfect big sister to watch me.”
Big sister. So Brooke was from here. They’d turned against one of their own. I didn’t blame them from what I’d seen so far. But how was a person like Grace related to a woman like this?
“Brooke. Your card.” Mark held out his hand. She slammed her card down.
Jesus. She was definitely over twenty-one, but she sure didn’t act like it.
“And just so you know,” she said to me, her tone now harder than I’d heard it, “if a girl out of your league is hitting on you, you don’t say no.”
“Someone in town already has my eye, sorry.” I said it without thinking, but it worked.
“I bet it’s fucking Jade. That weirdo gets all the guys.” Brooke emphatically rolled her eyes again and went to a table.
“Well then,” I muttered.
“Is she right?”
I jumped. “Shit. Mark, I didn’t know you’d come back.”
“I wasn’t sure if I needed to save you or not. If you’d been into her, I definitely would’ve. But now I need to know who you’ve got your eye on. Brooke mentioned Jade.”
“I . . . haven’t met Jade, so no.” I wasn’t sure how to get out of his interested stare. Damn small-town gossip. “You probably shouldn’t keep Brooke waiting for long.”
Mark shook his head. “She needs to learn some patience anyway.”
“I just said that to get her away from me,” I replied with a shake of my head. “I haven’t talked to anyone.”
“I know you’ve met Grace.”
I sighed. “You heard that in the Facebook group, didn’t you?”
He smiled. “You know how small towns work, don’t you?”
“All too well. And I won’t be talking to Grace again.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why’s that? Don’t let her sister scare you off. Grace got all the kindness from her mother.”
“Grace is very nice,” I said. “But I’ve been banned from talking to her.”
“Who would’ve done that? Oh, Wren? She doesn’t seem like the type.”
Did they ever stop? Did I need to tell them my life story while I was at it?
“The point is you have nothing to worry about.”
Mark hummed before I was saved by the ticking time bomb in the bar.
“Mark!” Brooke yelled. “Stop yapping and get me my drink.”
“Fuck,” Mark said. “She got worse when she went to Nashville.”
He stalked over to work on Brooke’s drink. I let out a sigh and went back to my beer. Thank God I was out of the hot seat.
I sipped on my beer, loosely watching the bar. Brooke got what she was waiting on. A few other people slipped in, greeting Mark like old friends. Thankfully, he seemed to stay busy and forgot about what he was asking me.
Out of habit, I scanned the bar for someone to go home with. I’d been banned from breaking hearts, but not from everything. Other than Brooke, there wasn’t anyone here who was close to my age and looking twice at me. I shouldn’t have been surprised that a bar like this was quiet on a weeknight.
But even if I did have my eye on someone, I had a feeling they wouldn’t hold a candle to Grace.
Which meant I was going back to my hotel alone.
“So, you’re the guy everyone’s been talking about?” A man with close-cropped hair sat in the seat next to me. “I’ll admit, I’m curious.”
I knew they’d been talking. I wasn’t a fool. I grinned like one anyway. “I like to make a good first impression. This time it was by hitting a stop sign. I’m Dean.”
I offered my hand, which he shook. “Atticus. I’m the local vet.”
“Careful with that one, man!” Mark called over. “He’s a heartbreaker!”
I suppressed the urge to glare. Were they not even going to hide it? Damn. “Says who?” I asked.
“You turned down Brooke, of all people,” Mark said. “That takes balls.”
I sipped the beer. So, Wren hadn’t warned anyone yet.
“You’re a hot topic around here,” Atticus said. “Watch out for cougars, though.”
It was either the annoyance, or this beer was stronger than I thought, because I had no clue what he was talking about.
“How long are you in town for?” Atticus asked.
“Until I’m done with the coffee shop,” I said. “Then I’m back in Nashville.”
“Damn, you don’t look like you’re from there.” Mark nodded to my hat. “Those usually look fake.”
“This I use for the sun. I hate it in my eyes.” I shook my head. “I did get it from one of those tourist shops, though. I figured I could put it to work, like a real cowboy hat.”
Both men laughed.
“I wear them too,” Atticus said. “My daughter and stepson think I look like a fool, but I think it’s nice to see when a horse is about to kick me. It’s bright here in the summer.”
“Exactly. But for me, it’s either a car about to run me over or some electrical line I’m dealing with.”
“We’re getting some of that stupid Nashville traffic out here.” Mark shook his head. “And I thought Hugh was bad.”
I laughed, but nothing I’d seen here was as bad as the city. “I’m a part of it, considering my wreck this morning.”
“Speaking of that, we were talking about—” Mark began, but stopped. “Wait a second, did Brooke leave?”
We all turned. Lo and behold, the blonde was nowhere to be found.
“I knew it was too peaceful in here,” Atticus said.
“This is why I always get her card.” Mark stepped away to run the card. That was when his jaw dropped and his face went red.
“Is everything okay?” I asked when he returned.
“Got a call to make,” he muttered.
“Did her card decline again?” Atticus asked.
“Yep. And I have a feeling she won’t answer the phone.”
“Don’t tell me you’re calling Grace.”
“I don’t have a choice,” he said with a sigh. “I hate bothering the poor girl, but I can’t leave an open tab.”
“I’ll pay it,” I said immediately.
They both turned to me. I had a feeling Grace cleaned up a lot of Brooke’s messes. I couldn’t sleep with her, but I could do this.
“Seriously?” Mark asked. “You know, doing nice things for Brooke doesn’t go that well.”
“I’m not doing it for Brooke. I’m doing it for Grace.”
Atticus’s brow furrowed. “Are you and her . . .”
“She’s the one you’re into!” Mark said.
Well, shit. I’d been found out. “I’m banned from talking to her,” I reiterated. “So you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Why?”
“I . . . don’t really stick around.”
Both men stiffened. “Oh,” Mark said.
“You’re one of those playboys then?” Atticus’s tone was cooler than it had been earlier. “We don’t really . . . do that around here. We all like connection.”
Of fucking course they did. “That’s why I’m staying away from her.”
“Good. You have some sense.”
“The point is, I just wanna do something nice.” I needed to get them back on track and not lose my mind.
Mark seemed to consider it.
“You know getting involved in the young people’s drama isn’t gonna do any good,” Atticus said to him. “I stay out of it.”
“Yeah, Atticus, and I watch Jade in here trying to forget Gabriel exists.” Mark gave him a flat look.
Atticus rolled his eyes. “Not this again.”
“Do you guys have this conversation a lot?” I asked. “Seems like an old wound.”
Dammit. Was I wanting to know what had happened? Yes. I did.
I was from a small town, after all.
“Every time he comes in here,” Mark said with a sigh. “Welcome to Strawberry Springs. We have a lot of drama.”
“Then let me take one away.” I handed over my card. “Don’t even tell her I did this.”
Mark took the card with one pensive look and then disappeared. “And put my beer on there!”
“Absolutely fucking not!”
“Damn,” I muttered. “What’s a guy gotta do to pay a bill?”
“Mark does that for people he likes.”
I nearly broke my neck looking at Atticus.
“Seriously?”
“You seem like a cool guy,” he said with a shrug. “Other than the sleeping around thing.”
And there it was.
Now that I’d been honest about my intentions, they’d see me differently. Normally, that wouldn’t bother me, but being in a small town made me feel off-kilter, and them knowing me as a playboy didn’t feel as comforting as it normally did.
At least I wouldn’t be here long enough to care.
My card appeared in front of me. “Well, that’s one less call to make. Thanks, Dean.”
I took it. “No problem. I’m gonna get out of here and we’ll all pretend this never happened.”
Mark nodded and Atticus waved. I gave them one last smile before walking out the door.
I didn’t make it one step before I ran right into someone.
Curly hair. Curves. And wide hazel eyes.
Grace.