Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
Ramsey
BO:
You coming out tonight for guys’ night?
We’re celebrating Anson’s birthday.
Am I invited?
Frankly, I’m not sure whether or not I’m back in the Briggs family’s good graces. I could use a night out, though, some time and distance away from Hazel. She’s been invading every thought I’ve had since I got here, and since she’s dead set on tormenting the hell out of me before she’ll even consider giving in, I could use a night off from it.
BO:
You’re still our brother for the time being.
Where are we headed?
Downtown. Grabbing dinner at Brady’s at seven and then to Seven Sins for some drinks. Try to see if we can play wingman for the confirmed bachelor and get him laid for his birthday.
See you at Brady’s.
When I get done with helping Kell and Elliot for the day, I take a quick shower back at the ranch house and get cleaned up for dinner. Hazel left a note that she’s staying for the dinner talk she’s arranged for the guests tonight, so I won’t be missed by going out with the rest of the guys.
By nine, we’re winding down dinner and having a whiskey and laughing our asses off as they sing “Happy Birthday” to Anson while he scowls at us.
“That was fucking uncalled for,” he mutters as he pulls the candle out of the cake and tosses it to the side. One of the waitstaff, a cute blonde who clearly was trying to flirt with him, had made him blow it out.
“You make it too easy.” Cade’s chest rumbles with laughter as Anson flips his brother the bird. Hazel’s youngest brother is night and day from her oldest, wild and free where Anson’s quiet and calculated.
“Fuck off. I was promised steak and drinks. Not a fucking musical.” Anson’s the conservative one of our little friend group, and he’d rather spend his nights at home with his son, watching ball, camping, or hitting his bed early to try to catch the fish in the morning, than be out with us.
“Gotta let us have a little fun.” Bo pushes the fresh glass of whiskey the waiter’s brought to the table toward his brother. “Drink up, and maybe you’ll enjoy it more.”
“Doubtful.” Anson flashes me a pointed look. “And I expected more from you.”
“I’m just along for the ride. Don’t blame me!” My laughter dies, but the smile doesn’t.
“Some balm for your grumpy ass.” Kingston, one of Anson’s partners at his construction company and a good friend of his, pushes some cigars wrapped in a black ribbon his way. “You can enjoy an intermission before our next stop.”
“Thanks.” Anson holds up the cigars and nods to his friend. “Maybe. Or I might just head home to smoke one.”
“You’re not going home yet,” Jasper, a manager from the construction company and Marlowe’s brother, argues. “We don’t get you out often enough.”
“Ready to head to Seven?” Bo looks around at the table as he signs the ticket.
“I’m your captive, apparently,” Anson grumps, but I can tell he’s having fun despite himself.
Anson out with us like this is a rare occurrence, and we’re all trying to make the most of it. His circumstances don’t allow for a lot of free time, but he’s never been the same since he lost his wife. They’d settled down shortly after high school, bought a small house, had a kid, and started his business all pretty quickly. He never had a wild bachelor streak like the rest of us. He’d still been the grumpy, quiet type back then too, but he smiled a fuckton more then than he does now. I suppose losing your wife so young sucks a lot of the joy out of your life. I know losing mine had been hard enough, and I had the benefit of knowing she was alive and happy somewhere else.
We’re not at Seven Sins long before we’re set up at a corner booth, watching the crowd on the dance floor and nursing beers. Bo’s been out a few times, along with Cade and Kingston, and Jasper’s already taken off for the night so he can get up early for work, but Anson’s remained my stalwart companion for the evening despite his misgivings about staying out.
“That terrible?” I ask when Anson starts to peel the label off his bottle. He looks up like he’s forgotten I’m sitting here and gives me an apologetic smile.
“Just not much for dancing or any of this. I’d rather be back at home.”
“You don’t meet many people that way, I imagine.”
“You assume I want to meet someone.”
I press my lips together and raise my brows, figuring he has a fair point. I let things fall silent again, watching as one of the two women Bo’s been dancing with runs her hands over the front of his pants and kisses him hard.
“You don’t have someone back in Cincinnati pissed that you’re still married?” Anson’s been watching the same dance floor drama as me and seems to be bored of it if he’s asking these kinds of questions.
“Nah. Same as you. I’d rather be out in nature or working out. The rest is just too much work for anything less than someone like Haze.”
“She’s still got you by the balls all these years later, then?” Anson studies me.
I shrug. “If you want to be a dick about it, yeah, I guess you could put it that way.”
He lets out a muted laugh and wipes the condensation off the bottom of his bottle.
“You got a plan if she won’t bite?”
That’s the million-dollar question, and the answer is, I don’t. At least not yet. I probably made my stupidest bet yet, and I have no backup if it goes south. I’m about to ask Anson about his own circumstances when Bo comes back to the table, the two women who we were with him trailing behind, and a third friend of theirs has appeared out of nowhere.
Bo helps one of them into the booth between him and Anson, and the other slides in after him. The third woman, much quieter than the other two, eyes the seat next to me but doesn’t take it.
“Do you mind?” She nods to it.
“No, go ahead.” I scoot over and make sure there’s plenty of daylight between us. I don’t need rumors swirling that I’m barely back and already cheating on my wife—the small-town gossip mill always needs something to keep it fueled. But she seems about as interested in me as I am in her, so I’m not too bothered.
“Ramsey Stockton. It has been a long time.” The woman sitting on the edge of the booth across from me flashes me a grin and her cleavage as she leans over to pat my hand. “I watched all that coverage of you on TV. I’m so glad you’re finally out. You didn’t deserve to serve any of that time.” A breath mint rattles around in her mouth as she speaks, and something about her appearance is familiar, but I can’t place it.
“You remember Faith and Holly from school?” Bo points to the women on either side of him. Faith is the one with the breath mint, and Holly’s the one wedged between Anson and Bo, her hand currently pressed to Anson’s shoulder as she talks to him, and he backs further and further into the corner like a caged animal.
“It’s definitely been a while,” I answer vaguely on purpose because I have no recollection of either woman.
“You’re so funny.” Faith smacks the back of my hand, and I pull back.
“I think you need a water.” The quieter one at my side is eying her friend like she’s a bit embarrassed of her.
“Could you get me one? You know Dakota hates me.” Faith rolls her lip at her friend, and when she notices that I’m listening, she turns to me to air her complaints. “She always wants to charge me two dollars for some cold tap water. It’s ridiculous.” She rolls her eyes.
Dakota and I were in the same grade growing up, so knowing that those two don’t like each other fills in at least some of the pieces of the social politics for me. Dakota was particular about who she was friends with, but if she didn’t like you, there was usually a pretty damn good reason for it. Like breaking her best friend’s heart.
“I’ll get it.” The woman next to me hops down and heads back across the bar.
“Sorry about her. That’s Avery. She’s new in town. Just started working at the casino, and we’ve adopted her into our little group, but being from the city… well, you know how they are since you’ve just escaped.” Faith is loquacious as hell when she’s drunk, apparently.
“Ah. Well, they’ve got their reasons, I’ve found.”
“You’re so kind. You always think the best of everyone.” Faith smiles at me, and Bo flashes a look between us. One I answer with a wide-eyed I’m not encouraging her look in return.
“I heard it’s your birthday.” Holly looks Anson over, and when I tell you the man is practically crawling up the wall to put distance between them, I’m not lying. I can’t tell whether he hates her or if he just doesn’t know what to do with this kind of attention.
“Something like that,” he mumbles.
“Mine was last week….” She keeps chattering on about her life, and he just keeps nodding along with her. He gives short answers when she asks him questions about himself, and I can tell she’s trying her best to keep the conversation going .
“My birthday’s coming up next week too. What a coincidence.” Faith interjects herself into the conversation.
“Yeah?” Bo asks her, his eyes drifting over her neck and following the deep vee of her shirt. He pulls her into his lap a moment later, and she leans back against his chest. “You doing anything fun for it?”
“I have some ideas.” Her lashes drop as she looks back up at him, and I’m starting to feel like the odd man out, hoping Avery comes back soon, and we can discuss her new job at my brothers’ place.
“You should tell me what some of them are.” Bo grins at her, taking a sip of his drink and wrapping his arm around her waist. I don’t begrudge my friend a one-night stand, but I’m having a hard time seeing what’s keeping his interest besides the fact that she’s pretty.
“I don’t know… Some of them are pretty scandalous. It might be too much for you.”
“Haven’t found my limits yet.”
I’m not a stranger to these situations. It’d been the same with my teammates back East, but it was around this time I usually found myself ducking out for the evening. But it feels rude, given it’s Anson’s birthday, to be doing it quite this early.
“Have you heard of an Eiffel Tower?” Her gaze snaps to mine from Bo’s. “Because I’m really into the idea of that tonight.”
I nearly choke on my beer, and I jump up out of the booth as I start to sputter and cough.
“Be right back. I think there’s something wrong with this beer.” I manage to say before I hustle my way across the floor to the bar, where I see Dakota raise an eyebrow at me as I approach.
“Well, if it isn’t the gridiron pimp.” She shakes her head and glances back over my shoulder .
“I’m just playing wingman tonight. Trying to help some friends out.”
“Is that what you’d call it?” A skeptical brow arches.
“Can I get an ice water?”
“Not if you’re taking it back to her.” She levels me with a flat tone.
“It’s for me. I’ll drink it right here if you’d like.”
“I would.” She reaches under the counter and starts preparing it for me as she glances back in the direction of Hazel’s brothers. “She’s trouble. Just so you know.”
“I think Bo’s just trying to give Anson a shot with her friend. She already mentioned you hate her.”
“I don’t hate her.”
“You could’ve fooled me.” I down half the ice water in one gulp when she hands it to me.
“I don’t like her, but I don’t hate her. Hate requires a lot of time and effort. Someone has to be worth it for me to devote those kinds of precious resources, and she’s most certainly not.”
“I see.” I swirl the ice around in what’s left and then down it before I put the cup back on the counter and ask for another. She serves it, and I down it again. I’m ready to head home, and I don’t want a headache waiting for me in the morning.
“Thanks for that,” Bo grouches as he comes up alongside me and orders a water for himself. I look back over my shoulder to see that Faith, Holly, and Avery have all moved on to greener pastures.
“I’m sorry… were you wanting to take a trip to Paris tonight?” I can’t suppress my amusement, and he answers it with a heavy frown.
“I’m not excited about going home alone.”
“There’s a bar full of women and more down the road.”
“I had one in my lap already. If you hadn’t acted like she disgusted you, it would have been fine. ”
“I don’t want a rumor going around that I’m cheating on my wife, and I definitely don’t want a rumor that I’m tag-teaming with her brother,” I argue. “And since when do you have a hard time getting women?”
“I’m not having a hard time finding them in general, just a harder time finding ones who don’t want to ‘take the next step’ after a couple of nights together. I want my life simple. I already have Cade taking up space since he’s back from college. I’m not about to start watching my bathroom drawers fill with curling irons and tampons.”
“You’ve got a few more years of that before it starts looking sad, just so you know,” I warn my old friend. He’s a couple of years older than me, and I can’t imagine still trolling bars. Even back home, it’d been friends of mine who were up for a friends-with-benefits situation. I didn’t trust anyone else.
“You’ve got a few more weeks of following my sister around like a lost dog before women are going to start seeing you as a pity fuck instead of bragging rights.”
“I think I’m at peace with that. Especially if it means I don’t fuck it up with your sister.”
“You already fucked it up. She’s got you on your knees. You’re playing defense, and not well, I might add.”
“Well fuck you very much.”
“I’m trying to help.”
“How do you figure?”
“Pretend you know how to run offense. Make a few calls. See if you can get back in the game, or you’re gonna lose to that prick.” My old quarterback comes out in full force with just enough alcohol in him that he thinks he’s clever.
But he’s not wrong. Hazel has me right where she wants me, even when I should have the upper hand. Which gives me the perfect idea.