Chapter 27 #3
He wasn't, but food probably wasn't a bad idea if he was going to keep drinking like that. “Sure.”
“How are the wings?” Troy asked Alyssa.
“Best in the county. Mild, hot, or barbecue?”
“Hot's the only way to go.”
“I'll put an order in.”
As Alyssa headed toward the kitchen, Seth picked up the remaining shot glass and glanced at Troy. “Thanks for the drinks.”
“Don't mention it.”
They clinked glasses again and tossed back the second whiskeys.
This time, Seth welcomed the burn sliding down his throat and the warmth that spread through his chest a few seconds later.
The knot inside him loosened another notch, the alcohol finally delivering the buzz he'd been chasing since he walked through the door.
A few minutes later, the wings arrived, giving them something to pick at while the conversation drifted along as easily as it had all evening.
Seth barely noticed what they were talking about anymore.
The whiskey dulled his defenses, and keeping everything bottled up no longer seemed worth the effort.
Troy wiped his hands on a napkin before taking another drink. “So, you came in here looking like you wanted to punch somebody earlier. Someone pissed on your parade?”
Seth stared at the label on his beer, slowly turning the bottle between his palms. “That obvious?”
“To somebody paying attention.”
A dry laugh escaped before he could stop it. “Good thing nobody else is.” He lowered his voice anyway, making sure the conversation couldn't travel beyond the next barstool. “One of them hears something, and half the town knows it by breakfast.”
Troy picked up another wing, seeming more interested in eating than waiting for an answer.
The silence stretched between them. Seth told himself to let it end there, to finish his beer, pay his tab, and head home. Instead, he heard himself say, “I've been seeing someone.”
Troy glanced over but said nothing.
“I thought I had her figured out.” Seth shook his head, his gaze never leaving the bottle in front of him. “Turns out I didn't know her at all.”
He took another swallow of beer, hoping it'd wash away the bitterness rising in his throat. “She lied to me.”
The admission hung between them. Troy still didn't interrupt, and somehow that made it easier to keep talking.
“She showed up in town a few weeks ago. We hit it off right away. I thought...” He gave another humorless laugh and rubbed a hand across the back of his neck. “Hell, I don't know what I thought.”
But he did know.
He'd started picturing a future that hadn't interested him until she'd come along.
“She wasn't who she said she was.” He swallowed hard. “Turns out she'd been hiding who she really was from the day we met.”
Troy rested an elbow on the bar and shook his head. “That sucks. I'll tell you one thing—you can't trust women. Every one I've ever known has been playin' some angle or lookin' for a payday.”
Nodding in agreement, Seth took another drink before continuing. The alcohol made it easier to say out loud what had been tearing him apart all evening.
“I keep wondering what was real.” His grip tightened around the bottle. “Every conversation we've had. Every date. Every damn kiss.” He snorted. “Now I don't know what to believe.”
For the first time since he'd walked into Bar None, he said the words he'd been trying not to think. “I don't know if I can ever trust her again.”
“I wouldn’t,” Troy said as he waved Alyssa over for another round.
By the time last call was announced, Seth had polished off several more beers, two more shots, a basket of barbecue wings, and told a man he'd met only a few hours earlier far more than he'd ever intended.
Troy mostly listened, occasionally offering a comment or a nod of understanding, and somewhere along the way, the conversation became easier than the silence had been.
When Seth reached for his wallet to settle his tab, Alyssa held out her hand. “Keys.”
He blinked at her.
“Now,” she said. “Don’t argue with me, Seth. Lou would have my head if you wrapped your truck around a tree tonight.”
With a resigned sigh, he fished the keys out of his pocket and dropped them into her palm.
“Smart man.” She tucked them behind the bar before pulling out her phone. “I’ll call Smitty for you.”
A few minutes later, while they waited for Hazard Falls' only taxi to arrive, she poured Seth a cup of coffee. Troy paid his own tab, said he'd walk back to the Moody Moon, then shook Seth's hand before saying good night.
When Smitty finally pulled into the parking lot and gave a quick honk, Alyssa handed Seth his keys, making him promise not to come back for his truck until morning. She walked him outside and waited until he'd climbed into the back seat of the SUV before heading back into the bar.
Seth leaned his head against the window and closed his eyes. The gentle sway of the SUV as it rolled through the quiet streets of Hazard Falls gradually lulled him toward sleep, his thoughts finally growing mercifully quiet.
Tomorrow, he'd wake up single again.
And if he had any sense, he'd keep it that way.