2. lucas
TWO
lucas
I’d managed to stay under the radar for the past few weeks, but there was no way I could avoid Mazzie’s opening night. She’d been like the sister I always wanted, looking out for me as the shop got cleaned out and inched closer to opening.
Coming back after ten years had been as shitty as I’d expected. The welcome from my father went exactly as I imagined it would. Since I’d come home, he’d only sobered up once, just long enough to ask questions I didn’t want to answer.
Was it a mistake to come back after all these years?
Time would tell.
In the meantime, Mazzie and her boyfriend had been just about the best thing that happened since I was able to snag the Small Business Association Veterans Administration loan.
“Lucas,” Mazzie exclaimed, pulling me through the front door. The singer inside was even better than he sounded from the street. It was a solid rendition of “Folsom Prison Blues,” and like I’d told Mazzie, I had no problem listening to Johnny Cash next door. There was no need for her to turn it down, though the noise when our hours overlapped was something she worried about. “Come here,” she continued, “there’s someone I want you to meet.”
I couldn’t decide if Mazzie being so outgoing was a good or bad thing. On one hand, she seemed determined to help make my shop a success by telling anyone and everyone about me.
But that was the problem too. The less the people in my hometown knew, the better.
“Brooke. . . Lucas Warner. He’s the guy I was telling you about. Lucas, this is Brooke.”
Mazzie had told me already that Brooke wanted her first tattoo after her baby was born. I stuck out my hand. “Nice to meet you, Brooke.”
“Same to you. I’m so excited to get my first tattoo when you open.”
“Excuse me, guys.” Mazzie left us to greet more people at the door.
“The place is slammed,” I said, glad to see it. “A honky-tonk in the middle of Kitchi Falls. Who would’ve thought?”
“It’s a great fit,” Brooke said. “But I’m not exactly an authority on this town. Just moved here two years ago.”
“That’s what Mazzie told me. Must have been a big change from the city.”
“Probably not as much as a change from military to civilian life.”
Immediately, I changed the subject. “So what d’you think of the new bar?”
“I think it’s incredible,” Brooke said as Mazzie came back. “I just can’t wait to come back when I can actually partake,” she said, indicating her lemonade.
“Idea,” Mazzie said to me. “How about I buy you a bourbon or three every night we’re open and you can stand there like that, leaning on the bar. Bringing me customers.”
“Is that what I’m doing?” If Mazzie wasn’t attached, I might have put a flirty tone on that. But she was, and so off-limits. Which was fine by me. She was absolutely the long-term type, and I was anything but.
“One hundred percent. I don’t know what it is about you, but even with all these good-looking Grado-family boys running around, you’re the chick magnet tonight.”
“Maybe,” Brooke said, “it’s because the Grado boys are all taken.”
She would know. Brooke was married to one of them.
“Nah. Women don’t care about that when it comes to eye candy.”
While Brooke and Mazzie debated that particular point, I scanned the room as the sounds of a new song, “Sweet Home Alabama,” filled the bar. And that’s when I saw her.
It was as if every bit of air in the place had been suddenly sucked up with none left for me. Of course, I knew it would happen eventually. Kitchi Falls was not a big town, and I knew she was still here. But some kind of warning would have been nice.
A string of weak moments when I looked her up on social media had prepared me for the woman she’d become these past ten years. In high school, when we dated, Charlee Donovan had been one of the prettiest girls in the school.
Now?
Incredible.
Hips I’d love to grab, a body made for fucking, long dark hair that my fingers itched to twist around . . . that was all just the beginning. Those eyes. Those lips.
“I can’t tell if you want to fuck, marry, or kill her,” Mazzie said. I’d been nabbed. “Who is she?”
I turned away as Charlee and Natalie moved to the other end of the bar.
Both Mazzie and Brooke were fairly new to Kitchi Falls, so neither would know our history. But Brooke’s husband, who had been a year behind me in school, could tell them easily enough. No reason to lie.
“An ex,” I said. “We dated for almost a year when I was a senior and into the summer. She was a year behind me.”
“I don’t think I’ve seen her before,” Brooke said. “She’s gorgeous.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t refute that.
“You definitely want to kill her,” Mazzie decided. “What happened between the two of you?”
Instead of giving her the grisly details, I made quick work of putting the matter of Charlee Donovan to bed. “We broke up. No big deal, just a high school thing.”
Neither Mazzie nor Brooke was buying what I was selling.
“Okay,” Mazzie said. “No big deal. You look like you might strangle her, but if that's the story you want us to believe. . .”
Oh, how I’d love to get my hands around that pretty little neck. But I wouldn’t be strangling Charlee as much as gently choking her just like I knew she’d like. Having sex with that woman was something I’d thought about way too often.
I had to get out of here.
“Maybe you two can rekindle—”
“Never,” I said too aggressively. Downing the rest of my bourbon and putting the glass on the bar, I tried to lighten it up. “Sorry to ruin your plan.” I pushed away from the edge of the bar. “Rain check?”
That Mazzie didn’t seem to offend easily was one of my favorite things about her. “Absolutely. Sorry you have to head out.”
If she figured out I was leaving because of Charlee, so be it. I just couldn’t be in the same room with her.
“Congratulations,” I said. “This was one hell of a grand opening.”
Mazzie smiled. “Yours will be too. Did you talk to Gian tonight?” she asked, referring to her boyfriend. “I think he wanted to talk to you about your opening. And maybe even the potential of doing a soft opening instead of something big.”
Gian was helping me out with some marketing. “I did,” I said, my accidental side-eye giving me more than I wanted to see of her . Fuck. What was it about that woman?
I couldn’t get out of there quick enough.
My newest mission?
Stay as far away from Charlee Donovan as humanly possible.