A Bar Song #2
I almost dropped the drinks as I hurried back to our table. Anger flared in my chest. Well, it was just turning into a damn reunion, wasn’t it? Of all the people to ask her to dance, it had to be him.
“Cash,” Ryder warned, gripping my shoulder to hold me in place as I all but slammed the drinks onto the high-top table.
“Not now,” I grunted, unable to tear my gaze from the dancefloor. God, she looked like a damn goddess, and I was the one supposed to be there worshipping her. Not Bodi fucking Johnson. “That’s bad voodoo goin’ on over there and I gotta stop it.”
Bodi and I had been at odds with each other from the time we were kids in Youth Rodeo. Guy was a top-notch asshole through and through.
“What’s the problem?” Walker asked, her brows furrowed together slightly as she looked from me to the dancefloor. “He’s just dancin’ with her…”
“Do you know who that is?” I asked her while trying and failing to shrug out of Ryder’s grip. “He’s like me, but he sucks. But she don’t know that.”
Where the hell was Mav? And why had he let her dance with Bodi? Not like he probably could have stopped her even if he tried, but fuck.
Walker offered me a knowing look. “I’d be careful if I were you. She ain’t gonna appreciate you swoopin’ in and savin’ her.”
“Why should I listen to you? You’re, like, twelve.
” I huffed and grabbed one of the drinks off the table before slamming it back, savoring the burn as it slid down my throat.
Fuck, that was smooth. No wonder Ollie liked it.
But it did little to squelch the anger spreading like wildfire across my chest.
“I’m like twenty,” she corrected, her dark gaze narrowing. “And I’m, like, sober…which is more than I can say for you right now.”
That took the wind out of my sails, guilt mixing with the anger for a moment.
I knew that Ollie didn’t need saving. But I also wasn’t about to watch her dance the night away with that asshat.
I wasn’t a jealous man. Never really had a reason to be, but seeing that little temptress swaying in his arms sent my blood boiling with a ferocity I’d never felt before.
And as much as I wanted nothing more than to go over and steal her away from him, sweep her up in a dance or two, I didn’t fully trust myself not to say something to Bodi and start shit.
And as fiery as Ollie was, something told me she wouldn’t be too thrilled about another altercation that had to deal with her tonight. Mama and Kelsea were enough.
This situation didn’t call for a Cash solution. It called for a Maverick solution.
“What would Maverick do?” I sighed. Better yet, where the fuck was he?
Ryder squeezed my shoulder once more. Damn, I’d forgotten he was even here. “Strangle him with silence?” His tone was light, and under normal circumstances I’d have probably laughed, but right now all I could see was red.
“I wasn’t talkin’ to you.” I shook my head and finally managed to work loose of his grip before throwing back another shot. Blowing out a breath, I met his gaze. “I’m good now.”
“Get rid of that sonofabitch, Cash.” Dad’s growl was a low rumble that almost was drowned out by the music in the bar, but the threat was there.
The hard look in his eyes, the anger hidden in the lines of his face mirrored my own.
He hated Bodi almost as much as I did. “I swear if I never see that slack-jawed, mouth-breathin’, no-good, goat-fuckin—”
“Bad!” Mama turned to glare at him. “Really?”
“I don’t like the kid, Violet,” Dad snapped. “I swear—”
Mama patted his arm, and though her words were soft, there was a finality in there as well. “That’ll be enough, Clint.”
Dad rocked back in his chair, an incredulous look on his face. I couldn’t help but feel the same damn way. “You got quite the set of brass balls on you, darlin’ to say that to me right now…” He shook his head, annoyance flaring in his eyes. “The way you been actin’ tonight.”
Mama tried to shame him with a glare, but after half a moment her face softened. “That’s different,” she reasoned. “I’m protectin’ my baby boy from that Jezebelle.”
Ah, so that’s what he meant about the way she’d been acting. This had to do with Ollie. Mama was probably secretly jumping for joy at the fact she was dancing around with Bodi then.
“And I’m tryin’ to keep your sweet baby boy outta jail.” Dad shot back, his tone a low, deep threat as he pointed toward the dancefloor. “That Johnson kid’s like a tornado. Just leaves destruction in his wake, everywhere he goes.”
I couldn’t agree more, but last thing I needed was Mama and Dad fighting. I hadn’t expected tonight to go quite like this. Where the hell was Mav to do damage control? Guess that left things up to me.
“It’ll be alright, Dad,” I said with a calm I most certainly didn’t feel. “Walker told me to take the high road.”
“Don’t fall off.” Dad snatched one of the shots and downed it. “High road,” he scoffed, as if the entire notion made no sense to him.
Couldn’t really blame him. Taking the high road felt an awful lot like accepting defeat to me. And I hated losing.
Mama frowned. “Don’t drink any more, Clint.”
Dad leveled her with a hard stare. “Well, I can’t drink any less, darlin’.”
I grabbed the last shot meant for Ollie. Well, might as well make fucking use of it. It was time for Big Daddy to do what I did best: swoop in and steal the girl.
“Uh-oh…” Ryder’s voice drew my attention.
His eyes were focused across the way at one of the bars. I followed his gaze and I bit back a groan.
Kelsea’s scorching stare locked on mine as she stopped flirting with the cowboy she’d been talking to.
“Oh shit.”
Well, fuck me. Things just kept getting better and better.
And like a moth drawn to a flame, she started strutting toward me.
The top she wore could hardly be classified as that.
It reminded me of one of Mama’s paisley print handkerchiefs more than anything else.
The shorts she wore really leaned into the name ‘shorts’, and the pink rhinestone cowboy boots she had on covered more skin than both articles of clothing put together.
And while she wasn’t unattractive by any means, I couldn’t help but compare her to Ollie.
And she didn’t hold a candle to her.
“Cash.” My name was a sultry purr on her lips, but there was none of the familiar hint of desire or lust that accompanied it. At least, not for me.
Kelsea was one of those girls I’d hooked up with in high school, who just kept coming back around. We’d never officially dated. Well, she’d argue with that, but she and I were nothing more than a hookup. Well, quite a few over the past twelve or so years.
But it was a purely physical thing. Just like I knew it was with her. I mean, not every belt buckle on her little kippy belt was mine. In fact, Bodi’s second place team roping buckle shone back at me from across the way.
That just made my blood boil hotter.
“K–Kelsea,” I warned, trying to meet her before she got to the table. This was not good. Not fucking good at all. Oh God. If Mama was already fired up about Ollie, Kelsea would only piss her off more.
“Got you speechless, huh?” Her smile burned like the devil as she pressed a hand to my chest. “You missed me, didn’t you?”
I didn’t mention that she was the one who’d sought me out and not the other way around. Kelsea had a one track mind when she got an idea in her head.
“Look, uh…Kelsea…now ain’t really a good time. I mean…” I glanced back at Mama, noting the cool glare aimed toward her. “My mom’s here and you two ain’t exactly on good terms…”
Kelsea laughed. “What are you talkin’ about? Your Mama loves me.” She leaned to the side to look beyond me and waved. “Don’t you, Miss Violet?”
“Oh no.” I let out a nervous laugh. This was all going to hell in a handbasket and I had no idea how to stop it. “Kelsea, look what I’m tryin’ to say is…there’s a time and a place for everything and this ain’t—”
She grabbed my hand, swinging it back and forth as a sultry grin tugged on her lips. “You’re right, Big Daddy. Let’s get out of here.”
For the first time I cringed at the nickname. It just…didn’t sound right coming from her. I couldn’t quite explain it, but I hated it. Never wanted to hear it out of her mouth ever again if I could avoid it.
“The only one who should be leavin’ is you,” Mama chimed in. Dread settled into my stomach like a dozen or so heavy stones. Oh, this was just getting worse and worse. “They must be missin’ you over at the Desert Kitty. I’m sure your shift starts soon.”
I thought the way Mama looked at Ollie was bad…but if her gaze had been fiery before, it was damn near molten now.
“I haven’t worked at the Kitty since college,” Kelsea shot back. “Cash knows that.”
“My mistake.” Mama’s smile was sickly sweet venom.
It should have ended there. I wished it ended there. But Kelsea was drunk and entered into some silent war with my mom that she stupidly thought she could win. A new song bumped through the bar and Kelsea climbed up onto the table.