Chapter 10
Jay wasn’t a big drinker. He had a few now and then, mostly in a social setting, but it wasn’t his thing.
If he drank too much, he talked about stuff he never talked about, and his secrets were never to be aired to anyone.
There was also the random hugging that he was prone to do, for no other reason than he could, because he’d lost all restraint.
“You sticking to your two-beer limit or want another?”
“Thanks.” He took the bottle Dan handed him.
“All good, Jay Jay?”
“Peachy,” he said with zero sincerity.
“You don’t sound peachy to me,” Sawyer said.
Jay was off-balance. It was Blue, of course, doing the unsettling. That talk they’d had—a real talk, about stuff he never discussed—had unsettled him.
Why had he discussed the DNA test and his family with her? Because it felt right.
And it had sitting there with her. Who knew Blue Jay McAllister was a good listener? Certainly not him. The girl he’d thought he’d always known wasn’t who she actually was in reality. Maybe like him, she kept private stuff stored away inside her and hid behind a facade. The one the world saw.
But then, she didn’t have a reason to hide like he did. Did she?
“Just tired,” Jay explained in answer to Sawyer’s observation.
“So work with me here, Dan,” JD said from his position leaning on the table.
“You all good there, bud?” Jay said. “Your eyes are squinty.” He was sure his eyes weren’t much better if he was honest.
Since he’d come back inside from talking with Blue, he’d spent a lot of time watching her surreptitiously. At least he hoped that was the case, and while doing that, he’d drunk beer.
Ask her out or back away. Those are your choices.
“So I think Blue and Jay would be a good match,” JD said in a really loud voice. “Apart from the obvious, they’re both—”
“What’s obvious?” Brody said from his position holding up the wall beside Jay.
“Their names,” JD said.
He could intervene, but Jay had learned long ago that protesting wasn’t worth it. It made you look guiltier—not that he’d done anything wrong, except for a great night of sex with a woman he couldn’t stop thinking about.
Brody frowned.
“Seriously, bro, tell me you’re joking?” Ryder said, leaning in to look at his brother’s face.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Brody demanded.
“You losers okay?”
“All good thanks, Red,” Jay said quickly to move him along.
“If I said Blue Jay to you, Red, what would instantly come into your head?” Dan asked from his position beside Brody.
“Blue jay,” Red said as he collected glasses off the table, “is a highly intelligent, noisy, and crested songbird native to Eastern North America.”
“Kids doing a project on birds, Red?” Ryder asked.
“A month ago. I just have an excellent memory,” the man said. “And yes, I think they’re a good match. Names aside, that is.” He then wandered off.
“How the hell can we be a good match?” Jay asked with a little more heat than he’d intended.
“Don’t answer that,” he backtracked, then added, “No way do I want anyone in this town to hear this conversation and run with it. I’ll be married by the end of the month.
” He then took a large mouthful of beer.
“Hah. I never connected the dots,” Brody said. “Blue Jay, go figure.”
His three brothers and Jay looked at him.
“What worries me is that Brody is breeding,” Sawyer drawled. He was the only one seated on a high stool. “Agree on the coupling too,” he added, pointing his beer at Jay.
“I am not a mechanical component,” Jay said. “And you can all cut this crap out now.”
All eyes focused on him intently.
“Just because you’re all loved up, I will not be your next project, and you can tell your partners that.”
“Doth he protest overmuch?” JD said.
“There you go being all fancy and shit,” Sawyer said.
“It’s he ‘doth protest too much,’” Jay corrected.
“It’s important to get it right, after all,” Dan added, smirking.
“Now, why does seeing you all together with beers in hand instill me with both fear and tenderness at the same time,” Sheriff Asher Dans said, arriving.
He had helped raise his niece and nephews after their father’s premature death. He’d given up his life to return to Lyntacky, where he’d stayed and become Lyntacky’s boss dog.
Though not as tall as his nephews, he was solid, and one of the best men Jay knew. He knew more about Jay than anyone but had kept that knowledge to himself.
“Who is running the ship if you two are here?” Beau Keller yelled from a few feet away.
“Go fuck yourself, Keller!” was Sawyer’s eloquent reply followed up with a raised middle finger.
The volume was suddenly raised on the Rollaway speakers, and a song anyone who hadn’t lived under a rock for the past ten years knew blared out, reaching all corners of the place.
“Listen up, you losers!”
All eyes went to the bar, where Dee now stood, dressed in her usual conservative way. Tight white shirt open, red lace bra beneath, and jeans so tight, they made Jay’s eyes water at the thought of pulling them on. Her unnaturally blond hair was in two bunches, one on either side of her head.
“I thought Dee was home with a sick kid?” Dan said.
“June Matilda came over to sit with them, apparently,” Ryder said.
“The girls are way better at their nights than you boys. It’s pathetic!” Dee yelled. “They really know how to enjoy themselves. So we’re doing the conga, and then shots on the bar.”
“Aww, come on, Dee. We just want to shoot pool and talk shit!” someone called.
“Now, or you can all leave!”
Red folded his arms and gave everyone the eye, which suggested he was on his wife’s side.
“Conga!” Bart called, grabbing Bradford the lab tech’s hips as they started moving. “Get on as we pass!”
“I’d rather have Dr. Hannah give me an enema,” Sawyer muttered.
The line picked up its pace as people joined and became a snake making its way through patrons and furniture.
“You guys better jump on before Dee starts yelling again,” Blue said, arriving with a tray.
“If that line comes over here, I’m tripping people up,” Sawyer declared.
“Was he born that way?” Blue asked Brody.
“Yup. Came out scowling, and it went downhill from there, Mom says.”
“Ha ha,” Sawyer said, glaring at the line that was getting closer.
Blue placed her tray on the table and started stacking glasses on it. The line arrived, and she was grabbed and put in the middle between Jett Hyland and Fox Gleeson.
Jay kept his expression relaxed and even smiled. He wasn’t the jealous type and never had been. He wasn’t about to start now, even if he wanted to punch both men.
She was laughing as they moved, and it looked good on her. Then someone grabbed Dan, and he was dragged along.
“The rest of you get on the back!” Red roared.
Everyone did as they were told, except for Jay and Sawyer, who stood together, watching.
“They can’t pay me enough to make an ass of myself,” Sawyer said.
Jay touched his bottle to the oldest Duke’s.
“So what’s up, Jay?”
“Nothing. You?”
“No, my life’s exactly where I wanted it to be.” Sawyer then yawned loudly. “A few more hours’ sleep wouldn’t go amiss, but otherwise, all good.”
“Nice.” Jay hated him for that. He was anything but all good right in that moment.
In fact, he felt like he was on the precipice of something, and when it happened, his life would never be the same again.
Which was just plain stupid, but ever since that night in New York with Blue, he’d been off-balance.
“You hear the Bandits have gotten a new leader?”
“Yeah,” Jay said, watching Blue’s hips sway. Fox Gleeson noticed, too, then, as if sensing he was being watched, he looked straight at Jay. “I met him at the cafe. I’m sure Ryder and Zoe gave you a breakdown on what happened.”
“I thought we were done with them but seems not. So we keep watch until we know what they’re up to.”
“Agreed,” Jay said.
“Oops,” Sawyer said with no emotion as Fox tripped on his own feet and went down, taking several people with him. “I didn’t realize the entertainment portion of the night had started.”
Blue landed on Jett, so he broke her fall. Some stumbled, others landed on tables. It was carnage in a matter of seconds. A rumble of laughter started low in Sawyer’s throat. Jay joined him, and they both had tears running down their faces when the others returned.
“Fucking hilarious,” Dan snapped. “I’ll have bruises tomorrow.”
Jay wiped his eyes and attempted to rein in his laughter but failed.
“What is Red doing?” Ryder asked.
The man was lining up shot glasses in two rows.
“Boat races is my guess,” Dan said. “Now this is more like it. Dukes and the two spares line up!”
“Spares?” JD said, outraged. “I’ve never been a spare in my life, you little shit.”
Jay could renege and no one would make him, but he found himself lining up with the others.
The Dukes lined up in order, with Jay and then JD last.
“I’m the sheriff, so I’ll supervise,” Asher Dans said, moving to the end of the table.
Both Keller brothers moved into the other line with the Hylands, Bart, and Larry Limpet, and Fox.
Beau bared his teeth at Sawyer, who did the same.
“So when I say go, you go,” Dee said.
“Well, it wouldn’t be stop, now, would it?” Red needled his wife.
“You shut yours, Reddy Bear,” she said, jabbing a finger in his direction.
“Yeah, Reddy Bear,” Dan mimicked her.
“Hey, Bluebird, come and drink with us!” Fox called from his place in the line. “We need another.”
He lunged for her, and she tried to shake free when his fingers tightened around her wrist.
“Let her go, Fox,” Jay said. When the man didn’t do what he asked, he added, “Now.”
Something in his tone had the man shooting him a look and then raising his hands into the air quickly.
Jay ignored the looks the Dukes were shooting each other and instead focused on Dee as he tried to cool the rage charging through his body.
“3,2,1, go!” Dee called.
Sawyer beat Beau, Brody lost, and there was a change in who was winning down the table until it reached him. Jay threw back his drink and slammed down the glass with more force than necessary, and his eyes locked on Blue, who was watching. She turned and walked back to the bar.
“Team Duke is the winner!” Dee called.
“Losers, more like,” Beau said.
Asher Dans saw his oldest nephew’s intent to retaliate and stepped in to stop him just as the music started blaring outside from the speakers dotted around town.
“Is he shitting me right now?” Sheriff Dans spun in a full circle, looking for their mayor. “We said not on girls’ or boys’ night. Too volatile.”
There was no sign of Tripp.
“You all behave,” he added, glaring at everyone, including Jay.
“Hey, I’m the good boy here, remember?”
“Everyone cuts loose now and again, Jay. I’m just ensuring tonight is not that night,” the lawman said.
They followed the others, moaning, out of the Rollaway. Whoever was still in town at—Jay checked his watch—10:00 p.m. was out in the street, forming groups for the Grapevine Twist.
Many years ago, when Shelly Lyntacky, a relative of the current mayor, had been training for the square-dancing nationals, they played music for her to dance in the streets. When she died unexpectedly, that continued as a tribute to her.
Jay had thought it weird and annoying for years, but then as an adult, he’d realized it was a way of uniting the town. It gave people a chance to talk and keep an eye on each other.
Right now, however, it just pissed him off, and he wasn’t entirely sure why. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched Blue appear. With her were a couple of men he didn’t know. Tourists, he thought. And behind her were the Keller brothers.
He was moving before he could stop himself.
“Where’s he going?”
“Hell if I know, but if he doesn’t get into a group, I can arrest him.”
Ignoring Dan’s words, he stepped between Blue and the two men he didn’t know. He then took her hand in his.
“What are you doing?” Blue whispered in his ear.
He didn’t have an answer for that, and maybe it was the alcohol clouding his head, so instead of answering, he danced, something he’d been doing since his first day of school. Tomorrow he’d think about the rage and jealousy he felt at seeing Blue being touched by another man.
He’d think about it and about leaving Lyntacky until he forgot that night because he had a feeling only that or them in bed together again was going to stop whatever this was inside him.