2. Jax
TWO
jax
“Shut. The fuck. Up.”
If there was anyone I didn’t expect to see in a town the size of Kitchi Falls, it was Gian DeLuca. But sure enough, there he was behind the bar.
“You’ve got to be shitting me,” Gian said, holding out his hand. I shook it, sitting down on a bar stool. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Me? What are you doing bartending here in the Finger Lakes? Don’t you own a marketing firm or something?”
“Still Yuengling?” he asked.
I nodded.
“I do own a marketing firm.” He turned to a woman who’d just come out of the kitchen. “Can you get the bar for a bit? Old friend,” he said, gesturing toward me.
“Sure,” she said. Before happy hour, this would typically be a dead time for a bar. But on a nice day like this one in a tourist town? People were here to unwind, and it was busy, but not packed.
Pouring himself a beer, Gian joined me.
“A friend of mine owns this place. He took his girlfriend out of town for the night. Doing him a favor by helping out.”
“You talk like you live here.”
“I do. Moved up from Bridgewater.” My old friend smiled. “For a girl.”
“Ahhh, now the pieces are coming together. Where’s the girl?”
“Mazzie has her own bar down the street. Sort of a honky-tonk, live music and all.”
“So your friend owns a bar down the street from where your girlfriend owns another bar?”
“Yep.”
“I see.”
“Small towns. You get it.”
I did. Grew up in the town next to Gian, and we met playing football. Hit it off right away and hung out all through high school. We stayed friends through college despite going to different schools, but drifted apart when I enlisted.
“Unfortunately, I do. Still live in Maplewood. Like you, I moved back for a girl. But unlike you, it didn’t work out.”
“So what brings you to Kitchi Falls? Last I knew you were some big deal in the Army. A Ranger, right?”
“Ranger in the 75th. Stayed in for eight years, but the last deployment nearly killed me. Literally. Was time to get out.”
“Shit. Were you hurt?”
“Repeatedly.” Rather than talk about a raid gone bad followed by an IED that nearly took me out, I changed topics. “Moved out near Pittsburg. Broke up with the girl when I caught her fucking her boss. Came back to Maplewood. Had a few good deals as a land developer who specialized in purchasing protected property, another long story. And here I am. Looking at acquiring some property on the lake.”
“Jesus. Her boss? Tough break.”
“For him, yeah.”
Gian smiled into his beer. “How does a business major and sergeant first class in the Army get into land development?”
“I met a guy in Ranger school whose father made millions doing it. Seemed like as good a gig as any.”
“You can buy protected land?”
“Under the right circumstances, yes.”
“Hmm. Seems like that would upset a lot of people.”
“I’ve seen shit and dealt with some real scum over the years. Not upsetting a few tree huggers isn’t high on my list of priorities.”
“This is the same Jax who got his ass busted for being a candy striper at the hospital in college because he wanted to help people?”
I laughed. “First of all, motherfucker, I wasn’t a candy striper. I was a hospital intern. Second of all, I only got into it when Gram died and her roommate was alone. Or would have been if I hadn’t sat with her. It was a good deed. And third of all, I’m the same guy. Just a little more realistic.”
Gian looked skeptical. I could tell him I started a program at our local hospital when I moved back home, bringing volunteers in to sit with and read to lonely patients dying, but I knew I’d get my ass busted so I didn’t bother.
“Fair enough. So how long are you in town?”
“As long as the deal takes. A few weeks probably. Hard to say.”
“You’ll stay here the whole time?”
“Sure. I can afford to, and it just makes things easier. Most of what I do is remote anyway.”
Gian’s genuine smile reminded me why I liked the guy so much. You couldn’t find a bigger bust-ass than him, and back in the day he was a cocky bastard too, but he seemed to have mellowed out a bit.
At least that made one of us.
“I’m happy to show you around town. Where you staying?”
“I rented a house on the lake less than a ten-minute drive from here. Nice place. I can see the appeal up here.”
“You’ve never been to the Finger Lakes before?”
“Once as a kid, but I think it was one of the other lakes. I’ll have to ask my mother.”
“How is she doing? And your brothers?”
We talked about my two brothers, one older and one younger, and Gian’s family, and shot the shit for long enough that the other bartender started to give Gian the evil eye.
“I better get back behind the bar. Don’t leave without giving me your number.”
I winked at him. “And I didn’t even have to buy you dinner.”
Gian laughed.
“You can buy me dinner.” She came from behind me. Generally I sat where no one could come from behind, but there wasn’t a great spot at the bar for that. Plus, I knew she was there already. Her perfume smelled way too strong. And floral.
I wasn’t a flowers kind of guy. But exceptions could be made. This one was a beauty. Legs for days and tits I could happily bury myself in.
“Now why would I do that?” I teased her.
“Lots of reasons,” she said. Though I didn’t look away, from the corner of my eye I could see two of her friends sitting at a high-top watching us. “I’m Christina. What’s your name?”
There was absolutely nothing wrong with her. Slamming body. Pretty face. Probably a very good time, and it had been a few weeks courtesy of a job that never quit. But the monotony of it gave me pause. We’d fuck. She’d beg to see me again. I’d give her the slip. And if she was local, probably see her again out and about somewhere.
“Do you live here?” I asked without answering. “Or just passing by?”
“Local,” she said. “How about you.”
Figured. Just my luck.
“Just passing by. And unfortunately going to have to pass on the dinner too. Catching up with an old friend tonight,” I said, nodding to Gian.
She pouted. I hated women who pouted. One thing none of them realized? My discipline game was stronger than their tease game. This one was going to be a no. A good fuck wasn’t going to be worth the trouble in her case.
“You sure? I think we’d have a lot of fun. At...dinner.”
“I’m sure,” I said. “But thanks for the offer.”
She hesitated. I really didn’t want to go harder on the “no” but would if I had to. Thankfully, she made a face and walked away, back to her friends.
Gian came back to me.
“I’ve never once seen a man turn down Christina. Clearly you didn’t get the memo that she’s the hot ticket in town.”
“Oh, I got the memo alright. She all but read it to me.”
“You have a girlfriend now?” Gian asked.
I shook my head. “Nah. Just not my type.”
“Hmm.” Gian took my glass to refill it. “The military has changed you.”
“In more ways than one, buddy,” I said aloud. And then softer, to myself, “In more ways than one.”