33. Chapter 30
Mari
I barely wanted to be here at this party, celebrating, let alone seeing my boyf—whatever we were off having a fantastic fucking time over in his corner booth.
The corner booth that was surrounded by women.
Beautiful.
Gorgeous.
Model-like.
Women.
JJ wasn’t here tonight, which meant I had no get out of jail free card when it came to awkwardly standing by the bar by myself.
“Long time no see, Trevvy,” a raspy voice said from beside me, suddenly but gently breaking me from my blank stare with a childhood nickname I hadn’t heard in years.
I immediately knew who the owner was from the use of it.
Beau Beckett was a country boy gone city man.
He’d graduated dux of our high school and left Soggla without a second thought.
Last I’d heard, he was big in the finance world over in the United States.
With a head of shaved, dark hair, high cheekbones and striking green eyes, he’d been the darling of Soggla when he was around.
His family owned one of the larger farms on the outskirts of town that provided most of our dairy products.
Loveliest people anyone could ever meet, as well as the hardest working.
But Beau knew humble beginnings. With parents living a busy, bustling farm life, they’d refused to feed their only son everything life had to offer on a silver platter.
When Beau turned fourteen, his dad had told him to get his backside down to the main square and find himself a job.
And so, he had. And that first job had led him all the way to the big leagues.
I plastered a bright smile on my face for my old friend. From the look he gave in return he wasn’t buying it—but he simply pulled me in for a hug. I hadn’t seen Beau in so long that we both knew it wasn’t his place to question it.
“Always too long, the time between visits,” I replied.
I signalled to the bartender to pour Beau the same as what I was currently drinking.
The bartender was young, new, and very intimidated by the sheer size of the crowd in his workplace.
I slipped him a five-dollar-note in tip and turned my back on him before he could try and give it back.
“The big city is like a minefield, Mari,” Beau replied with a grin, clinking his glass against mine. “You step out at the wrong point and your fuckin’ leg blows off.”
I laughed, taking a deep swig from the glass in my hand. “At some point you’ve gotta learn to outrun the blast,” I teased. A familiar warmth spread across my chest and along my arms, alerting me that I had gathered the attention of another person in this bar.
I downed the rest and signalled for another. On either side of me, the bar was completely overwhelmed—people throwing their hands up in frustration as they watched the person beside them get served. Within half a thought, my boots were up on my chair and I was jumping the bar.
With a deep breath, a good steadying of the slight sway in my boots, I put on a fake-as-hell bright smile and started pouring drinks left, right and centre for the wave of community we’d brought in with us. Laughing with friends, old and new. Downing shots with one or two.
I grabbed the wad of cash that had been thrown in the tip jar and thrusted it out to the young bartender, who I now knew to be Noah. “Word from the wise, crack a joke with a smile or two and both you and the patrons will feel a lot better.”
His bright eyes shone as he nodded frantically.
“You’re doing great, don’t stress.” I patted his chest and poured Beau and I another whiskey each. Then, with a wink Noah’s way, I climbed back over the bar and plonked down beside my old teenage fling in the fancy suit.
“Awfully kind of you.” Beau tapped his glass against mine.
“I’m just an awfully kind person,” I replied, downing my drink quickly and signalling another.
“I remember you lecturing me that this was a sipping whiskey all those years ago,” he teased, eyebrows flicked up in curiosity.
“I sipped.” I nodded to Noah as he placed another drink in front of me. “Just didn’t take many of them.”
Beau laughed. “Ah, I forgot how much fun you are.”
“A two-year absence will do that.” I swirled the large cubic ice in my drink.
“I missed you, Trevvy,” he mumbled, taking another deep swig from his glass.
“I missed you too, Beckett.”