Chapter 9
nine
. . .
Cutler
It was one of those nights when the stars just aligned and we were all having a great time. Gracie brought an energy with her that we’d clearly all missed.
Hell, even Phoenix was having a good time, and he rarely had a good time.
We were drinking and dancing and laughing.
It was a warm night, but the breeze off the lake provided enough relief to make it comfortable.
“I missed this girl so much!” Tatum shouted as she and Gracie returned from the dance floor, with Jovi right behind them.
Tatum had grown up next door to Brody and Phoenix, and I’d known her for years. She and Gracie had met many times, and they’d always hit it off.
Throw in some tequila and Michelob Ultras, and it was even more magnified.
Jovi was Bass’s little sister, and we all loved her. She was officially twenty-one years old now, so it was her first time coming out with us. She was home from school, and Bass was quite possibly the most protective brother on the planet.
“I think this calls for another shot,” Jovi said, wriggling her eyebrows at everyone at the table.
“Hey, let’s slow things down. You’re barely legal,” Bass chuckled as we all sat around the high-top table at Four Clovers.
The center of the container park, which was normally turf, had a large wooden dance floor there on Friday nights during the summer months.
“I’ve been twenty-one for six months, brother dearest,” Jovi said. “I’m also going to be a senior in college, so stop being overbearing.” She gave him a look.
Bass rolled his eyes just as Brody walked over with a tray of shot glasses.
“I agree,” Cannon said. “We’ve got our girl Gracie back in town for a few months, and little Jovi is home for the summer and old enough to drink. Does it get any better?” He winked at the girls before joining them with a shot.
“You aren’t taking shots, Bear?” Gracie asked, her words slurring the slightest bit.
She’d always been a cute drunk. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, I kept my eyes on her even more than usual.
“I’m sticking to beers tonight. I want you to have a good time.” I held up my beer bottle, and she just had a goofy smile on her face.
“Who’s being overbearing now?” Cannon asked, leaning in close to me so no one else could hear him.
I just laughed him off.
Call it protective. Call it overbearing.
I didn’t really give a shit.
Dirk made his way over to the table for the third time tonight, and I’d noticed the way Gracie always shut him down. He seemed to have moved on, and now he was hitting on Tatum.
A local named Justin Loosh walked over to Gracie and pulled up a barstool, and they sat directly across from me. She was laughing and chatting with him, and I turned my attention to Sydney, who’d just wrapped her arms around my neck from behind.
“Hey, Syd,” I said as she moved to stand so she was facing me now. “How you doing?”
“I’m good. I was hoping I’d run into you here tonight.”
We’d always had a very flirty relationship, though it had been innocent. Nothing had ever happened. And a few months ago, she’d let me know that she’d ended things with her long-distance boyfriend.
I hadn’t pursued anything, because I just didn’t feel it was a good line to cross.
We were good friends, and I wanted to keep it that way.
“And here we are,” I said, my voice teasing.
Our group had grown, with a few more people pulling up barstools at our table.
“Here we are.” She placed a hand on my shoulder, stepping closer, and my gaze moved to Gracie as she and the girls headed back out to the dance floor, with a few guys right behind them.
Her cheeks were pink and eyes glassy, as she’d clearly had a lot to drink. She was having a good time.
I watched as Gracie’s legs moved from side to side to the music, and the way her hair fell over her shoulders, framing her pretty face. Her laughter was loud and messy and fucking adorable, and I lingered there longer than I should.
I blinked a few times before forcing myself to focus on Sydney.
“How have you been? Can I get you a drink?” I asked as I eyed the barstool beside me, hoping she’d take a seat, as she kept inching closer, and I wasn’t feeling it. But I also didn’t want to be an asshole.
“Are you going to get me a drink, Cutler Heart?” she purred, and I could tell she’d also had a lot to drink.
“Sure. What would you like?” I asked, just as Brody walked over and set a water down for me, and I motioned for him to take her order.
“I’ll take a shot of bourbon and a pina colada.”
I tried not to laugh when I saw the confused look on Brody’s face.
“Interesting order,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll be right back.”
He moved around the table asking if anyone else wanted anything, and Bass told him to stop serving his sister. Brody nodded in agreement.
“Dude. She’s an adult,” Cannon said from the barstool beside me as Bree giggled where she stood between his legs. She was a local who’d been after him for a while. Cannon was a playboy and everyone knew it, and he never hurt for female attention, not that any of us did.
“Hey. She’s living on my houseboat this summer, and we’ve got one bathroom. I know her limits. So, unless you want to babysit her and clean up vomit, I suggest you stay in your lane.” Bass shot him a warning look.
Bass was serious about two things, and two things only.
His baby sister, whom he’d practically raised, and his restaurant.
Those were his priorities.
It was probably the reason his relationship with Celine had gone south.
He didn’t have time for a woman.
He had a sister he financially supported and a restaurant to run.
“Got it, big guy. I’m just saying, you don’t want to push her away.” Cannon shrugged.
“Well, I hope you won’t be pushing me away, because I plan on taking this bull rider home with me tonight,” Bree said as she leaned down and kissed him.
He pulled back and winked at me, but I didn’t miss the way his gaze kept moving to the dance floor, because mine was doing the same thing.
We were clearly both keeping our eyes on someone, and I had a feeling it wasn’t the same person.
Gracie was moving to the left and the right as they danced to Chris Stapleton, and the dance floor was packed as they all sang along, moving in sync.
I laughed when her hands went over her head, and she got everyone to follow her movements.
Justin moved up behind her, one hand snaking around her waist, and I shifted in my seat, ready to pounce if I needed to. But she turned in his arms, head falling back with laughter as they started dancing all on their own.
My chest tightened, and I didn’t know what the hell it meant.
I’d always been protective of her, but this was different.
I didn’t like the way he was looking at her.
I didn’t like that she was smiling up at him either.
And it was fucked up. This is what she wanted, and I was supposed to support her.
Why am I having such a hard time with this?
“Hello, earth to Cutler.” Sydney waved her hand in front of my face, and I startled.
“Hey, sorry. I was caught up in the song,” I lied.
She tipped her head back as she downed the whiskey and then reached for her tall fruity blended drink. “So are you ever going to call me?”
“We’re friends, right?” I asked, trying to keep things easy.
“Of course we are. But I’ve also got needs, and I’m guessing you do too? So how about we turn this into a little friends-with-benefits deal, huh?” she asked, her hand finding my knee now.
But my gaze moved back to the dance floor again, just as Justin leaned down to kiss Gracie, and I swear my grip tightened so hard on my beer bottle, I was certain it would shatter.
It took everything in me not to storm out there and haul his ass away from her, which made no sense.
So I forced myself to swallow down my anger. This streak of jealousy was so foreign to me that I didn’t know how to process it.
I was being irrational, and I knew it.
She’s your best friend. She’s your best friend. She’s your best friend.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
So I shifted in my seat, and it felt like time came to a stop as I watched everything play out in front of me.
Sydney’s voice was a blur of words beside me that I couldn’t make out, which she didn’t appear to notice because she kept on talking.
Gracie snapped her head back just before his mouth crashed into hers, and relief flooded me.
Why was I relieved?
I can’t have her, so now I’m a jealous asshole?
She said something to him, and he looked slightly put off as he nodded and said something back to her. She patted him on the shoulder before turning to her friends.
Atta girl.
She was moving in my direction, with Tatum and Jovi right beside her, both looking concerned.
“I think our girl has had a little too much to drink,” Tatum said.
“I think you’ve also had too much to drink,” Phoenix said, giving Tatum a pointed look. They’d always been very close, and she was one of the few people on the planet who didn’t annoy him.
“And I think you’ve got me mixed up with someone who needs your opinion on how much I can drink.” She shot him a glare, which made everyone laugh.
But I’d already moved from my barstool and made my way over to Gracie. “You all right?”
“Yeah. Yeah, of course. I think the booze just caught up with me.” She smiled up at me, and her body swayed a little to the left, so I placed a hand on each of her shoulders to steady her.
She hiccupped four times, and then her head fell back in a fit of laughter.
“Oh my gosh. I had such a good time. I’m going to head home. But you stay and have fun. I’m fine.”
Not on a fucking bet.
“Nice try.” I reached into my back pocket and tossed more than enough cash on the table to cover our bill before catching Sydney’s eyes on me. “I’m going to get her home. I’ll see you later?”
“Yeah. Of course. Thanks for the drinks. I’ll see you soon,” she said before turning her attention to Bass, and I was relieved I hadn’t been forced to let her down.
“Come on, Jeege. Let’s get you home.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulder, and she leaned into me.
“Do you need a ride, Gracie?” Justin asked as he stepped closer.
“We walked here, buddy, but thanks.” My gaze locked with his.
No fucking way was he taking her home when she was drunk. And the fact that he’d offered her a ride when he was clearly intoxicated himself did not sit well with me either.
“Thanks, Justin. It’s been funnnnnn.” Gracie patted him on the chest. “But Bear’s got me.”
I sure as shit do.
“All right. I’ve got your number, I’ll give you a call this week.” He held up a hand and waved goodbye.
Lose her number, asshole.
I was fucking losing it. I’d never been a jealous guy. But here I was losing my shit over a dude she might actually like.
“That was great, wasn’t it?” she asked, leaning most of her weight against me as her legs moved more sideways than forward.
After a block of her swaying even more, I turned and picked her up and tossed her over my shoulder as laughter rang out around me.
“What are you doing?” she squealed.
“We’re never going to get home with you moving sideways and forcing me to go in that direction.”
“Fine.” She smacked my ass, which had me howling out in laughter. “I’ve got a nice view over here anyway.”
I turned at the next street, my house coming into view.
“You like my ass, Gracie?” I smirked, even though she couldn’t see me.
“You’ve got a great ass, and you know it.” She sighed loudly. “Shit. Did I ruin your night with that hot girl who was talking to you?”
“Sydney? No. We’re friends.” I walked up the driveway and dug my keys out of my pocket.
“Oh shit. I think this makes me a sex blocker.” She groaned. “Not only am I not having sex, now I’m making it so you’re not having sex either.”
“It’s called a cockblocker, and you are definitely not one.” I laughed as I pushed through the front door and carried her to her bedroom, where I dropped her on the bed. “And I’m glad you had fun tonight.”
I’m also glad that you came home with me.
She landed with a bounce and laughed some more before pushing up on her elbows and studying me. “I had fun, but it was a little bit of a bust.”
I bent down and pulled her boots off one at a time, setting them beside the bed. “Why was it a bust?”
I stood up, shoving my hands in my pockets to keep from touching her.
Her hair was a wild mess as it fell all around her face, and one of the straps to her dress had fallen off her shoulder. Her skin was golden, her eyes sleepy, and she fell back on the bed. “Justin tried to kiss me, but I wasn’t feeling it.”
I made sure to keep my features unaffected, and I acted as if I hadn’t watched the whole thing play out and almost made a complete fool of myself by overreacting. “And did he have a problem with you turning him down?” I asked, an edge in my voice.
“What? No. I just said I was feeling sick, because I was.” She sprang forward again. “What’s wrong with me, Bear? I want to feel something. But it’s just not happening.”
“Stop overthinking it,” I said, dropping to sit on the bed beside her. “I wouldn’t expect you to feel anything with Dirk and Justin. I would have thought something was wrong with you if you did.”
A wide grin spread across her face. “Because Dirk is a jerk, and Justin is a—”
She was deep in thought, which made me laugh. “Did Justin tell you his last name?”
“No? What is it?”
“Loosh. His name is Justin Loosh.”
“Your point is?” She searched my gaze, and her strap slipped down even more, exposing the rise of her breast. I jumped to my feet, needing to put space between us.
“Loosh is a douche.”
Loud laughter filled the room as she fell back on the bed again. “That’s good stuff. Thanks for making it a great night. And thanks for bringing me home. Sorry again for cocking your block.”
“It’s blocking my cock,” I said under my breath. And the only thing my cock was reacting to tonight was my sexy-as-hell, very intoxicated best friend.
The same best friend who had mentioned us taking our relationship a step further.
And now I couldn’t think of anything else.
“Get some sleep, drunk girl. Love you,” I said as she pushed to her feet and made her way to the bathroom.
“Good night, Bear. Love you more.”
Not possible.