Chapter 14
“Hey, man.” Clay pops the top off a bottle of Coors and sets it in front of me on the bar. “You look like you could use this.”
I scoff. “I could use a lot more than this.”
“Yeah, I thought so. That’s why I have this.” Clayton lines four shot glasses on the bar and fills each one to the brim.
I raise my eyebrows. “You trying to get me drunk and take advantage of me, sweetheart?”
“You should be so lucky.” He laughs, picking up a shot and downing it in one go. “Half of these are for me. The women in my life are driving me nuts.”
I pick up a glass and clink it against his. “I’ll drink to that.”
We each swallow our second shot and chase it with a beer. I’m not sure he’s supposed to be drinking on the job, but the man does own the place, so who am I to judge?
Clayton observes me as I take a long pull from my bottle. “I take it you heard?”
“Yeah, I heard.” I tip my head back as I drain the last drop of beer. “You see her yet?”
He nods. “This morning. I stopped by my folks’ place.”
I told myself I wasn’t going to dig. I thought I had actually managed to convince myself by the end of the workday, yet here I am.
I quirk my head to the side. “What’s that look for?”
“What look?”
I gesture to him. “You look like you’re ready to lay someone out.”
He points to me. “You always were a smart one, Cowboy.”
I roll my eyes at Clay’s use of my call sign. When one of the guys from my unit found out I grew up on a ranch in the middle of nowhere, he dubbed me Cowboy, and from that point on, I was stuck with it. I made the mistake of telling Clay about it once after a few too many drinks, and now he’s decided he likes that name better than the one I was born with.
“So, what gives?”
Clay swallows hard. “I don’t know yet. But I have my suspicions.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Clay pops another bottle open and hands it to me. “I take it you haven’t seen her.”
“Nope.” I take a swig. “I’ve been banned from the house until further notice, per your mother’s request.”
“That’s probably for the best.”
Why is this damn family so secretive all of a sudden? I’ve known Clay practically my whole life. He’s like a brother to me. It’s not like him to be anything other than a straight-shooter.
“What’s going on, man?”
He looks around to make sure nobody’s listening. “Between you and me, I think that Presley’s dickbag hus?—”
“Hey, baby. You didn’t say you were comin’ here tonight.” Small hands wrap around me from behind while a set of firm tits press against my back.
I grab Nicole’s hand and guide her to the stool on my left so I can hear her better. “That’s because I wasn’t planning on it. Just came to talk to Clayton.”
Nicole glances at the bartender-slash-owner of this joint with more than a little disdain. “Clayton.”
His mouth forms into a cocky grin. “Nicky.”
She glares. There’s definitely no love lost between these two. “It’s Nicole now, remember? I haven’t gone by Nicky in a long time.”
“Nah, I think I’ll stick with Nicky.” He winks for added measure before walking away to take someone’s order at the end of the bar.
My lips twitch as I fight a smile. For some reason, Nicole got it in her head that Nicky made her sound childish, so she’s pretty much demanded nobody call her that ever again. Considering we all grew up in this town, I think it’s a little ridiculous, but whatever. It’s not my name. Clayton never seems to miss an opportunity to fuck with her, though. I should probably care more about that, considering I am sleeping with her, but I can’t really find the will when I think it’s funny as hell.
“Ugh, he’s so annoying.” Nicole turns toward me, giving me a quick flash of her underwear beneath the short denim skirt she’s wearing. Or should I say, her lack of underwear? “Did you know I used to have the biggest crush on him in high school? What was I thinking?”
She obviously doesn’t remember the night Pres and I caught her fooling around with Clay. If I’m not mistaken, he’s the one who popped her cherry. I should probably have some kind of feelings about that, too, but I don’t really care one way or the other.
“I’m sure we all did questionable things as teenagers.”
She chuckles. “Oh my God, you can say that again. You and Presley being a perfect example.”
“What does that mean?” Everyone around here knows talking about Presley is a no-go zone with me. The only people who are the exception to that rule are the ones related to her. I wonder why Nicole’s bringing her up all of a sudden. In the two years we’ve been seeing each other, she hasn’t done so once.
Nicole rolls her eyes. “Oh, don’t get all defensive, Beckett. I’m not baggin’ on your precious Presley. I’m just sayin?—”
“Hey, kids, did I hear my sister’s name?” Clay pops his head in between us like a goddamn whack-a-mole.
“Jesus, Clayton!” Nicole places her open palm over her heart. “You scared the shit out of me.”
He laughs. “Gotta pay better attention, Nicky. You never know who’s gonna sneak up on you. Now, what’s this I hear about my dear old sis? You heard the buzz she’s back, I take it?”
Ah, fuck. He just had to go there, didn’t he?
“What?!” Nicole shrieks, drawing the attention of everyone in this damn place. “Since when? Why? More importantly, when’s she going back to New York?”
All questions I’d like answers to, and if Nicole hadn’t interrupted my conversation with Clay, I’d probably have them by now.
“Retract your claws there, kitten.” Clay holds his palms out, laughing. “I thought Beck would’ve told you, that’s all.”
She whips her head over to me with an accusing glare. “You knew?”
I blow out a breath, pinching the bridge of my nose. Why this jackass is stirring up trouble right now, I don’t know, but it’s starting to piss me off. “I don’t know any more than you do, Nic. I just found out this morning.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me at any point today?”
I clench my jaw, giving Clay a look that says, thanks a lot, dick. “No, I didn’t, seeing as I’ve been working all day. I don’t see why it matters anyway.”
She laughs, but there’s no humor behind it. “Of course, you don’t.”
“Jesus fucking Christ,” I mutter, rubbing my temples. “What is the right thing to say here, Nicole? Because I feel like you’re mad at me, but for the life of me, I can’t figure out why.”
Nicole stands and hauls her giant purse over her shoulder. “No surprise there, Beckett. I’ll see you later.”
I groan and thunk my head on the bar after she walks away.
“Yeah, I hear ya.”
I sit up and point a finger at Clayton. “Don’t start with me. You’re on my shit list, asshole.”
Twin dimples pop on his cheeks as he laughs. “You know what I can’t figure out?”
“What’s that?”
“Why you’re still with Nicky. I mean, she’s fuckhot, obviously, and that thing she can do with her tongue...”
I make a hurry-up motion. “Move the fuck along with that train of thought.”
“All I’m sayin’ is I don’t get it. She’s not your type. At all. We both know you have a thing for blondes and that she-devil’s hair is black as night. Plus, she’s so fucking uptight, man. Also, not your type. I mean, who the hell cares if someone calls her Nicky?”
“She does, evidently.”
“No, kidding.” A shit-eating grin lights up his face. “Hence, why I use it every chance I get. I just meant, what’s the big deal? There’s nothing wrong with the name.”
“I gave up trying to figure her out a long time ago, bud. Now, are you going to tell me what I want to know, or what?”
Clay’s expression instantly sobers as he pours another shot. “Whatever’s going on, it ain’t good, Beckett. That’s all I’m saying for now.”
I give him a wry look before I tip it back. “Wow... that’s really helpful. Thanks for absolutely nothing.”
“Look, man. I love you. You know that.”
“I told you, Clay, I don’t care how drunk I get or how much you sweet-talk me. I’m not sucking your cock. I will never be that hard up.”
He flips me off. “Very funny, dickhead. The point I was trying to make is you’re like my brother, but she’s always going to be my baby sister. And as much as I want to run this by someone and speculate ‘til I can’t see straight, I need to respect her right to privacy. When she’s ready to talk, she’ll talk.”
I nod, digging some bills out of my wallet. Clay tries waving them off, but I pin the cash under one of the shot glasses. “You cool if I pick my truck up after I get done workin’ tomorrow?”
“It’s all good. You need me to find you a ride?”
“Nah.” I take my phone out of my pocket and send a text. “I’m texting Colby. I’m just going to wait for him out front.”
Clay nods. “You doin’ okay with all this, Beckett?”
I appreciate his concern, but the last thing I want to do is have a heart-to-heart about this shit right now. I need to figure out what the hell’s going on inside my head first.
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” I shrug, honestly not sure how else to answer that. “I’ll see you later, man.”
He lifts his chin. “Later.”
A few minutes after I step out into the starry night, Colby Mitchell, also known as Sheriff Mitchell, also known as my best friend since high school, is pulling up in front of Dive Bar, Hope Springs’ one and only drinking establishment.
He rolls the window down on his Explorer. “You know the sheriff’s office is not your personal Uber service, right?”
I belt out a laugh. “If we had a damn Uber service in this town, I wouldn’t need you. It does come in handy the station is right down the road, though.”
“Yeah, yeah. Hop in, asswipe.”
He waits until I’m buckled up before pulling out of the lot. “What’s going on, man? It’s not like you to throw ‘em back when you have to work the next day.”
I groan, looking out the window. “Presley’s back in town.”
He whistles. “Shit. That’s rough, buddy.”
“Tell me about it. Even better, I think something’s wrong, Colby. Clayton and Mrs. J. are being extremely vague, but I have a feeling whatever brought Pres back after all these years isn’t good.”
“And you’re concerned about that? After what she did to you?”
“I sure as hell don’t want to be. My life’s fucking complicated enough. Nic’s pissed I didn’t tell her the second I found out.”
Colby laughs. “I bet. But to be fair, it doesn’t take much to piss that woman off.”
I laugh with him. “True.”
“So, what are you going to do?”
“I don’t know.” I shake my head. “I don’t fucking know.”