Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
CHASE
I haven’t heard from Rylee all day. I’m trying not to worry, but ever since Joey went tearing out of my apartment, that’s all I’ve been able to do.
It’s not like I could go and try to defuse the situation—I had Max to worry about.
Who was thankfully clueless because he was happy watching TV.
Even hanging with him until my parents picked him up didn’t help.
Rylee said she was going to talk to her today, but it feels like I’ve been doing nothing but twiddling my thumbs all day. And with the holidays two days away, the bar is dead tonight. It seems everyone is now spending time with their families.
A few people are in the corner riding the mechanical bull, but that’s about it. Usually I like these nights because I can stock the bar and get caught up on things, but all I’m doing is dragging the same dish rag over a worn-in ring on the bar.
It seems like it was a lifetime ago that I told Rylee to come over tonight. I have no idea if that’s still happening.
Glancing at my watch, there’s a little more than an hour until the bar closes. I’m ready to say fuck it and close early until a sight for sore eyes waltzes in.
I can’t take my eyes off her. Her gaze is a magnet to mine and she smiles when she spots me.
Okay, that has to be a good sign.
“Hey, Cowboy.” She slides onto the barstool in front of me.
“Howdy, Honey.” I tip my head at her. “How are things?”
I grab a beer and twist the top off and slide it over to her. I watch as she takes a long pull on it.
Does she not realize she’s driving me crazy by dragging this out?
“Joey and I talked,” she says.
“And?”
“Everything’s good.” She smiles at me.
“Seriously? She was pissed this morning.”
I know my sister. The girl can hold a grudge like no one else.
“It had to do with Max’s dad; he doesn’t want Max anymore.”
“Shit. Really?”
I never liked the guy. He’s a deadbeat when it comes to Max and hardly does anything to help my sister. I hate that he’s doing this to them, but they’re probably better off without him.
“Yeah. She had to pick him up, so I didn’t get a ton of details, but she said she overreacted and took her anger at him out on us.”
“Wow.”
“As long as we don’t go knocking boots or making out around her, we’re good.”
“You want to knock boots with me?” I cock a brow at her.
“Not if you call it that.” She laughs and fuck, do I love that sound.
I lean across the bar, getting close to her. “We can call it whatever we want as long as it means we get to keep doing it.”
She fists her hand in my shirt and closes the distance between the two of us.
It’s a slow, easy kiss. Nothing like the one that we shared here last night.
“Does this mean you’re coming over tonight?” I ask when she pulls away.
“You’d have to fight to keep me away.”
“Good.”
“And you know what’s even better?” she asks me.
“What’s that?” I brush my thumb along her bottom lip.
“I have the day off tomorrow.”
“Thank fuck.”
I give her another easy kiss and pull back because the last thing I need is to be popping a boner while I’m working. I’d never hear the end of it from the guys around me.
“I’m glad the conversation went well.”
She picks at the label on her beer bottle. “Me too. Because as much as I like you, Chase, she’s my best friend. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have her in my life.”
“I’m glad we don’t have to worry about that. She’s too important to both of us to screw that up.”
“Max can’t lose Uncle Chase. Not when that bag of dicks of a father is walking out.”
“Can I punch him?” I ask. “Seriously. What an ass.”
“Get in line. Uncle Chase and Aunt Rylee are going to be spending a lot of time with Max,” Rylee says.
“You got that right.”
The two of us have always been Uncle Chase and Aunt Rylee, but hearing it together? It sounds pretty damn good. Hell, we just started this thing and I’m already thinking about forever.
One of the people riding the bull comes over to order a drink and I make it, showing off a bit for the woman sitting close by. I don’t miss the way her eyes stay locked on me the entire time.
By the time I’m handing the drink off and going back to her, she’s grinning like a fool.
“Are you just going to sit here and stare at me all night?”
“Do you have a problem with that?”
I flex my biceps under my T-shirt. “Apparently I need to put on a show for you then.”
She groans before taking a long swig of her beer. “Then you are going to have one horny woman waiting for you when you get done tonight.”
I snort. “You’re going to have to cool it for a while. We cannot keep having sex at the bar because you can’t wait.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Fuck, now I really am going to get a boner. Hell, I’m going to think about what the two of us did here last night every time I come into the bar.
Leaning across the bar, my words ghost her lips. “I promise, I’ll make it worth the wait, Honey.”
“You better, Cowboy.”
It’s definitely going to be worth the wait. Because I’d wait forever if it meant I got Rylee Clarke.