Chapter 16
Aspen
“Yes! This is perfect!” Jazz squeals with excitement as I do a twirl in the outfit she selected for me tonight.
“Are you sure about this?” I ask, looking down at the short jean shorts and the cropped fringe tank top she loaned to me.
“A hundred percent. You’re gonna be the hottest thing that has ever walked into Roadside.”
I turn and look at myself in the mirror.
I do look kinda hot, and most importantly, I feel good.
Tonight is all about fun for me, though.
I’m not looking for any random hookups or anything like that.
I’m just going out with my new friend and enjoying my new town.
That’s all. If someone wants to flirt with me…
well, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
“Alright, let’s go!”
I follow her out of my cabin and turn to lock the door when I hear tires crunching on gravel. Brooks hops out of his truck and walks toward us.
“Where’re you ladies headed tonight?” he asks. His eyes slowly travel down my body, taking in my outfit. He doesn’t try to hide that he’s checking me out, and it makes my stomach flutter. I like his eyes on me, though I’ll never admit that to anyone.
“Roadside, Boss,” Jazz answers.
“Ah.” He nods. “Should be a fun crowd tonight. Be careful. And if you need a ride, call me. Doesn’t matter what time, alright?”
He looks me dead in the eyes and waits for me to agree. “Alright, thank you.”
He nods again. “Good. Have fun, you two.”
He turns and walks into his house while Jazz and I pile into my car.
“Oh my god, that was so freaking hot!”
“What was?” I ask as I head down the drive.
“Are you kidding me? The way he looked at you! I don’t know how your panties didn’t melt off right then.”
“How did he look at me?” I ask, wanting to make sure I didn’t make up what I saw in my head.
“Like he wanted to devour you. Lick, suck, fuck. All of the above.”
My cheeks heat at her words. Just thinking of Brooks doing any of that gets me all sorts of hot, but it’ll never happen. Ever. I’m too young for him, and even if I weren’t, he has Zach to worry about. I doubt his son would appreciate him messing with his ex.
“No, he didn’t,” I tell her.
“Girl, he did. I saw it with my own two eyes, and I have 20/20 vision.” A laugh bursts out of me. “So, we’re gonna go to the bar, have a few drinky-drinks, and flirt with a few boys. Then you’re gonna call Brooks to come pick us up and let him take you home if you get my drift.”
“Not gonna happen, Jazz. I already told you. There will be no hooking up between Brooks and me.”
“Girl, I have read this book. Forced proximity. Forbidden. Age gap. It’s lining up perfectly. The sooner you admit it, the sooner you can have fun.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say, but the death grip on my steering wheel says otherwise. If I knew it didn’t have the potential to ruin everything, I would possibly consider something with Brooks. But I can’t.
“Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt, babe. Now you owe me a drink for all this frustration,” she says just as I find an empty parking spot by the bar.
“Yes, ma’am.”
We link arms as we walk to the bar. It’s packed tonight. Packed and loud. It feels like everyone is yelling to talk over the loud music booming from the speakers. I follow Jazz to the bar, and she gets the bartender’s attention.
“The usual, Jazz?” he asks her with a little smirk.
“Yes, and my friend will have a…?” She looks at me.
“Gin and tonic, please.”
He nods and winks at Jazz. “Coming right up, ladies.”
“Thanks, Owen.”
He gets to work on making our drinks, and I look at Jazz. “So… Owen?”
She rolls her eyes and waves me off. “We hook up occasionally. Nothing serious.”
“He’s cute! Why not something more serious?”
She shrugs. “I’m not looking for serious.”
I laugh and shake my head at her, but before I can ask any follow-up questions, Owen is back, sliding our drinks across the bar.
“Start a tab for us, babe!” Jazz calls out to him as she grabs her glass and walks off to find a table.
She sees a group of her friends and leads us over there.
“Guys, this is my new friend, Aspen. Aspen, this is everyone!” Jazz announces.
There must be at least ten people standing around this table, and they all smile and wave at me.
“She’s here to have a good time tonight. Can we give her that?”
“Hell yeah!” someone calls out.
“Hell yeah,” Jazz repeats and clinks our glasses together.
We both take a big sip of our drink, and then I’m whisked into conversation with everyone here.
A lot of these people Jazz has known her whole life.
Unfortunately, while I haven’t met them yet, most of them have heard of me through the grapevine.
It seems it was news that Zach Calloway was back in town with a new girl, and then it was news again when Zach was no longer seen around town with said new girl.
“You dodged a bullet if you ask me,” a girl named Misty says. “I like Zach, but he was always immature. And Melinda? Let’s just say she made it easy for the boys, if you know what I mean.”
“The two of them were so on and off in high school. One minute they were all lovey dovey, and the next she’d have her tongue down another guy’s throat,” Isla adds. “And he usually would string another girl along until Melinda came crawling back.”
“I didn’t know all this. I guess I saw a different version of him.”
“It’s not on you. He showed you what he wanted you to see. Now you know his true colors. At least you got out before it was too late,” Hope says.
“Thanks, guys. It’s just crazy how you think you know someone until you see a whole other side and your world comes crumbling down.”
“Well, we’re gonna help you build it back up!” Misty says.
“Yeah, no more sad talk about that loser tonight. Let’s dance!” Jazz grabs my hand, and five of us head out to the dance floor. The music is turned up so loud tonight that it almost rivals being in a club in Atlanta.
I have no idea how many songs we dance to, but at one point, I see Isla’s eyebrows raise as she turns and smiles at Hope. Then Hope smiles. I wonder what’s going on when I feel someone touch my arm. I look over and see a man standing next to me.
“Hey, what’s your name?” he asks.
I glance at my new friends to get their approval before I tell him. All four of them nod in encouragement, so I take it to mean they know this man and he must be ok.
“I’m Aspen. You?” I yell over the music.
“I’m Dawson. Can I get you another drink?”
Dawson is cute. He has a nice smile and looks about my age. He’s tall, and his blond hair is curling out from under his hat.
“Um, yeah, sure. That’d be great.” I smile at my friends, and they shoo me away to go with him. I follow Dawson to the bar, where he puts a hand on my lower back and leans down to ask me what I’d like to drink. It feels strange telling a new man what my drink of choice is.
Zach knew almost everything about me. I never thought I’d have to start over, but here we are.
Dawson hands me my drink after Owen makes it and then ushers me over to sit down on one of the two barstools that just opened up.
“Are you new in town? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”
I nod and sip on my drink. “Yeah. I’ve been here since the beginning of June. Just haven’t gone out much. Have you lived here your whole life like everyone else?”
He chuckles. “I moved here when I was fifteen, so I haven’t technically lived here my whole life. But sometimes it feels like I have. You move here for work or something?”
“Uh, well, no, not technically. I moved here with my ex, but that didn’t work out.”
“Your ex, huh? Any chance that was Zach Calloway?”
I nearly choke on my gin and tonic. “Wow, news does travel fast in small towns.”
“Yeah, it does. Zach’s an idiot, though. His loss is everyone else’s gain.”
“Well, thank you, I think. I appreciate that.”
“So, you decided to stay in town?”
I nod, “Yeah, for now. I started a job at Moonlight Ranch and really like it. I didn’t really have anywhere else to go, so I figured I might as well stay for a bit. See how it works out.”
“Well, I’m glad you did.”
Dawson goes on to tell me that he works with his dad at the tractor mechanic shop, which I didn’t even know was a thing.
He played football in high school and went to a two-year tech school right after, but he always knew he wanted to work with his dad.
He seems like a nice guy. Which is why when he buys me another drink and asks me if I want to dance, I agree.
I let him put his hand on my hips as we sway to the music.
It’s not as awkward as I expected it to be.
He keeps the conversation going so that I’m not worried about where to look or where my hands should be.
We just talk (as best as we can over the music) and move a little bit.
My new friends eventually make their way over to us, but Dawson doesn’t seem upset about it.
“Having fun?” Jazz asks into my ear.
“Yeah, I am.”
“Could he be the rebound?”
The music is loud enough that I’m sure Dawson didn’t hear her, but I’m still embarrassed by the question. I shrug. “Maybe.” Although I really don’t want to force anything when I don’t feel ready.
“Good.”
Jazz disappears briefly and comes back with a round of shots. I’m not a shots girl, but I do it anyway because she looks so excited about it.
“I’ve got to head out,” Dawson tells me a little bit later. “I’ve got work in the morning. But I’d like to see you again. Would it be alright if I got your number?”
“Yeah, that’d be great.”
It feels strange giving another man my number. In the back of my head, it feels like I’m doing something wrong even though I know I’m not. He puts my number in his phone and then sends me a text so I have his.
When he’s gone, we all head back to the table. I’m definitely feeling the effects of the alcohol right now. I’m warm all over, giggly, and a little lightheaded. But I’ve had so much fun tonight that I don’t want it to end. Unfortunately, it has to.
“I’m going to Owen’s tonight,” Jazz tells me. I’m happy for my friend. Even if she doesn’t think it’s anything serious with Owen, I saw the way he looked at her, and I know she’s going to have a fun night.
“Oooo, Owen,” I tease in a sing-song voice.
“Shut up.” She laughs. “You need to text you-know-who to come get you.”
I groan. It seemed like a good idea when we got here—have a few drinks, then have Brooks come get me. But now that I’m drunk and a little horny, I think being around Brooks is a terrible idea.
Unfortunately, I don’t really have a choice. There are only two Ubers in this town, and they both have a long wait.
“Yeah. I guess I have to.”