Chapter 22
twenty-two
PATRICK
“ Thanks , Lenny , put it on the tab and I’ll settle it at the end of the night.” I place a few dollars on the bar mat and grab the tray of drinks. “ Thanks for letting us use the bar tonight.”
“ Better you all than all those flatlandahs and busybodies from away. Always causin’ trouble.”
He’s always had a problem with people from out of state, but he knows like all business owners in town, we rely on them returning every year. “ Maybe next year they’ll stay away.”
“ If you are gonna stay late, I’ll leave ya my keys. Just make sure you close the lights off before you lock up.” He doesn’t wait for my reply before dumping a large set of keys on the bar, grumbling something and shuffling away to serve more customers.
Lenny might not be the most welcoming to his patrons, but the bar and the restaurant have always had a really good relationship for as long as I can remember. He and my dad were old school friends, and they helped each other out a lot over the years. Lenny was also a huge help to my family and me in the weeks after my dad’s passing.
He knows we’re good for settling our tab, so it’s not the first time he’s given us the keys and told us to lock up after ourselves.
I pocket the keys and carry the tray of drinks over to the small crowd at the back of the room. The scoreboard tells me that the front of house is still beating the kitchen by one game, and I intend to keep it that way.
As people collect their drinks and thank me, I look around, disappointment settling when I still don’t see Jo in the crowd of people.
I’m about to cave and ask Booth if she’s coming when the front door of the bar swings open. The first thing I see is a pair of long, lean legs wrapped in tight black denim. I follow the denim higher, coming to soft, supple thighs. A sliver of creamy skin peeks out from the top of the jeans. Up and up, my eyes travel. Tempting , full hips, small waist, and perky tits that I know are the perfect handful and are close to spilling out of the black ensemble holding them up.
My jeans get tighter as I imagine what they’d look like with my cock sliding between them.
I track her movements, even as she’s pulled toward the bar. Her infectious laughter rings across the room at whatever Quinn is saying before they throw back a shot of something with a grimace. A small trickle of liquid escapes, falling from her chin, trailing down her slender neck, and disappearing into her cleavage. What I would do to be that drop of liquor.
Her pink tongue peeks out, and it’s then I should stop watching. My thoughts are too filthy to be in the company of others right now, my brain only transmitting messages to one organ in particular the moment she walked through the door.
She turns her head, a curtain of golden hair partly obscuring my view, but I still see the flare of her eyes when they find me checking her out without care.
And I couldn’t give a shit.
If she’s going to turn up looking like that, she deserves to know exactly what it does to me. No other fucker better be looking at her the same way though.
My eyes dart around the room, checking I’m the only one, which is when I meet the amused gaze of my little brother. The pool cue is slung over his shoulders and his arms are perched on either end as it rests behind his neck.
I ignore the smug smile slowly growing on his face as I make my way over, after one final glance back at Jo .
“ Christ , Pat , you were a smitten kitten in high school. I’m not sure what to call you this time around. Eager beaver? Love -struck buck?” He pokes me in the ribs with the cue.
“ Fuck off. It’s not what it looks like.”
“ Oh , so what did it look like?”
Walked right into that one.
“ Exactly .” Giving me a wink, he strolls away to take his shot and pockets the solid yellow ball with ease, before ending the game and sinking the eight ball, making the score between the kitchen and front of house even.
I make a conscious effort not to let my eyes follow Jo as she makes her way over to where the rest of the team is sitting. The moment she sits next to Simon , however, I find myself stomping over to them before I even realize what I’m doing.
Fucking Simon .
Poor guy hasn’t done anything wrong; he just needs to not exist around Jo . I’m not asking for much.
Quinn is already deep in conversation with some of the bar staff, leaving Jo and Simon to their own private conversation. There’s an empty stool next to Jo , which Booth makes a beeline for. Before he can sit down, I shoulder check him and claim the seat for myself.
Everyone murmurs their “hellos,” as Jo’s eyes flick between Booth , hauling himself off the floor with a chuckle, and me. Ignoring my brother, I lean in close and whisper in her ear. “ I didn’t think you were going to join us. ”
Her hair is pulled to the side to reveal the delicate skin of her neck, tempting me to run my tongue across it to see if I can still taste the shot that trickled down her throat. Her shoulders draw back and breath hitches at my proximity, telling me she’s just as affected as I am. She’s removed her jacket to reveal a strappy-looking thing, that does little to hide her temptingly soft skin. This close, I can smell the floral scent of her perfume, but it’s the subtle hint of ocean that overrides my senses.
“ I won’t lie,” she says, her eyes staying trained on the drink in front of her. “ I forgot until this afternoon.”
“ Are you going to play?” I nod toward the pool table.
“ Nope , the front of house doesn’t need me helping them lose,” she chuckles, her shoulder bumping mine with the movement. She goes to scoot her stool away, but I grab the padded cushion with one hand and drag her right back, if not closer.
“ Patrick ,” she whispers, eyes darting around like we’re doing something wrong.
“ Don’t do that.” I keep my voice low.
“ Do what?”
“ Move away from me.”
When she finally turns to look at me, her face is inches from mine. Her glossy lips are so luring and the black stuff around her eyes makes the dark rings in her irises pop.
“ I didn’t want to give anyone the wrong impression. I’m confused as well, Pat . One minute you’re pushing me away, the next literally pulling me close.”
“ I know, and I’m sorry for last week.” My fingers brush against her hip as I hook my thumb through her belt loop. “ Can I drive you home? We can talk then. I’ll drop Quinn off too.”
I’m not even flirting, but fuck she blushes at my words anyway. Like the thought of being in a small space with me again has her heating up. She ducks her head, trying to hide her heated cheeks, but I don’t let her get far.
“ Don’t do that either.” With a finger on her chin, I raise her gaze back up to meet mine.
She peers up at me with a questioning look.
“ Hide from me, love. There’s no part of you I don’t want to see, especially when your cheeks turn pink like that. Maybe I’m being too forward, but I can’t control myself with her. It’s my favorite color and I’ve missed it so fucking much.” I see the apprehension in her gaze, it’s the same one I saw across my dining table when she opened up about her anxiety. “ If we talk or don’t talk tonight, just know that nothing you say will scare me off. I promise you that. I don’t know what we’re doing, what this is. I think you can fee?—”
“ Hey , sorry to interrupt,” Quinn jumps in. “ I could use the restroom, wanna come with?”
Jo’s mouth drops open, and she looks between Quinn and me. “ It’s fine.” I give her a genuine smile, but feel the opposite of fine as she walks away with my sentence left unfinished.
I think you can feel it too.
Maybe her feelings aren’t as strong as mine, but I’ll never know if I don’t make mine clear. Even if for a day, I held her. Kissed her. Felt her. I know the sounds she makes when I sink into her. How that blush on her chest spreads when she climaxes. That she loves when I whisper dirty things against her skin.
There’s so much more I want to learn about her.
Years of biding my time, and all for one night? I curse my younger self for not acting sooner as Booth calls me over for my round of pool.
“ I want to thank my team, because without you guys, I wouldn’t be standing here,” Booth shouts from where he’s standing in the middle of the room, a plastic trophy clutched to his chest. From the engraving that reads Booth Sadler 2001’s Player of the Year , he swiped it from Mom’s house and brought it here.
“ I’m not sure how we’re related to him,” Graham mumbles beside me.
He showed up a couple of hours ago, much to my surprise. It’s nice to see him out, even if he has only uttered ten words all night.
He’s been glowering from the high-top table he’s been stood at all night, clearly regretting his decision to socialize. I could have sworn it slipped just a fraction when Quinn skipped over to him and introduced herself. Her smiling face was such a contrast to his scowling one. When she laughed, his eyes widened in amazement. I don’t think he looked at anyone or anything during their whole interaction.
“ I’m pretty sure he was swapped at birth. Florence has the same energy, so at least we know they’re related,” I comment.
Jo and I haven’t spoken much more tonight, either getting pulled into other conversations or having to play our round of pool. Much to my chagrin, her last game was against Simon , and she lost spectacularly. I’m both bitter about the loss and the fact it was with Simon .
I watched the entire game. My eyes weren’t on what balls she was aiming at, though. No . They were glued to the way she was bent over the pool table in front of me. Her tight ass sculpted to perfection in those black jeans. I was a fucking goner when she wiggled her hips before sinking the white ball and was barely able to hold back my whimper. Everyone found her performance hilarious, but I was close to breaking the skin of my fist with how hard I was biting it.
Booth finishes up his speech and bows dramatically, before people start to say their goodbyes and head out. Lenny left about an hour ago and the only people remaining now are from the restaurant. I’ll be the last one to leave, to make sure everything is clean and locked up safely.
Quinn waves goodbye to everyone, stumbling slightly on her feet, but I don’t see Jo anywhere. Has she left already? Why didn’t she say goodbye? Maybe she’s outside waiting for Quinn ?
I’m about to go check on Quinn , partly for my own selfish reasons, when Graham abruptly stands from his stool beside me. He downs the rest of his club soda, slams the glass on the table, and slaps me on the shoulder.
“ I’m headed out.” He doesn’t give me a chance to respond and heads to the front door that Quinn has just disappeared through.
“ Okay , bye,” I call sarcastically to no one at all, and finish my glass of water.
I make sure the last few people have rides or aren’t walking home alone. When it’s just me left in the bar, I collect the empty glasses and tidy up our mess. Booth offered to stick around, but he has an early shift tomorrow, so I sent him on his way.
Once the glasses are loaded up in the dishwasher, the tables are wiped down, and all the back exits locked up, I head toward the front door, ready to call it a night. I’m about to flip the last light switch when the sound of a door opening and a quiet “ Oh ” from behind me has me pausing. I turn toward the voice and find Jo standing in the doorway of the ladies’ restroom with a surprised look on her face.
“ Everyone left?” she asks.
“ Yeah , a while ago. I didn’t know you were still here…wait, have you been in the restroom this whole time?”
“ Umm , yeah. Well …great night, thanks for everything. See ya,” she rushes out and steps sideways like a crab toward the front door, keeping her back to the wall.
“ Hey , wait, how are you getting home?”
“ I was going to walk.”
“ Not by yourself. I thought I was going to drive you?”
“ No , honestly, I’d rather you didn’t. The fresh air is good for me.” She tries to duck under my arm from where it’s still hovering above the light switch, but I step into her path.
“ Jo . What’s going on? Did I do something?”
Her shoulders drop in defeat, and she lets out a loud sigh. “ No , you didn’t do anything. Promise you won’t laugh?”
I hold up three fingers. “ Scout’s honor.”
Her eyes squint at me in suspicion before she ever so slowly does a one-eighty turn, and the reason for her crustacean-like walk is made clear. I try my best, I really do, but a snort breaks free before I can stop it.
“ Patrick ! You promised,” she cries and spins to face me, her hands flying backward and slapping against the exposed skin, which only makes me laugh harder.
“ Jo , you know I was never in the Scouts . That honor meant jack shit. What did you do?” I attempt to grab her shoulders to turn her around, but she scurries away from me.
“ I don’t want to talk about it. Hurry up and do your thing so I can go home and hide away forever.” She covers her face behind her hands and shakes her head.
“ It’s really not that bad.”
She drops her hands and gives me a dubious look. “ Patrick , you can see my ass cheek.”
I most certainly can.
She has a huge rip in her jeans, from the top of her back pocket to halfway down her thigh. I didn’t acknowledge the sight of her exposed skin, no matter how soft and firm it looked, or the hint of black lace peeking out either. I’m a gentleman.
“ Can you imagine if this had happened during my round of pool?”
With that, an idea pops into my head. I’ll take her home, just not yet. I don’t have it in me to say goodbye. Not when this is the first time we’ve been alone since that afternoon in my study.
Reaching behind the bar, I pull out an apron and throw it over to her.
“ Problem solved. Now , I think you could do with some pool lessons.”
“ What ?” Despite her confusion, she ties the apron around her waist backward.
“ Your performance tonight was painful to watch.” Painful because of how she was bent over like that. “ How can someone be that bad? I swear you played better when you were twenty-three.”
“ Oh god, please do not remind me how old I am,” she groans.
“ You’ve aged like a fine wine. Your pool skills, on the other hand,” I pause to cringe. “ They need some work.”
“ Okay , wiseass,” she says and walks toward the felted table. The fact she isn’t putting up a fight to leave is a good sign. I follow behind her, wishing I hadn’t given her the apron as her hips sashay from left to right.
Grabbing two pool cues, I hand one to her. “ Atta ’ girl. Now , let me show you how to rack the balls.”
A giggle bursts out of Jo’s lips and I roll my eyes. “ That’s immature, even Booth is more well behaved than that.”
“ You said rack and balls in one sentence. How was I supposed to react?”
Thirty minutes later, I’ve talked her through the basics and we’re playing our own game. I have two stripes left, while the table is littered with solids. I’ve lost count of how many times she’s pocketed the cue ball. She even managed to chip it off the table, narrowly missing my balls at one point.
We take our time pocketing our balls, not paying any mind to the time. I try to show off with some fancy shots, because I’m only a hot-blooded male after all.
When Jo somehow manages to scratch again, I stroll up behind her and shake my head.
“ Johanna ,” I scold mockingly. Taking hold of her shoulders, I maneuver her body so it’s at the right angle. With the cue between her hands and my chin hovering above her shoulder, I whisper my next words, “ Have you forgotten how to shoot your shot again? ”
“ Like this?” she breathes. Before I can make a joke about her poor technique, she leans into my touch, and her back brushes my chest as we bend over the table.
“ Mm -hm,” I hum, because how am I supposed to form sentences when I’m pressed up against her like this.
It’s a dangerous game, but it doesn’t stop me from draping myself over her back, my chin propped on her shoulder, and arms bracketing hers. I feel the rise and fall of her chest, and I’m sure she can feel the growing hardness in my jeans.
Trying to keep up the charade that this is all about teaching her how to play, I slowly skate my hand down her arm. “ That’s it, just like that. Do you remember what to do now?”
I know she knows what to do, I’ve watched her do it badly for the last half hour. She shakes her head anyway, and because I take education very seriously, I show her.
“ Here , let me remind you.”