Chapter 8Hailey
CHAPTER 8
HAILEY
In a chair at one of the tables scattered throughout the bar, I twirl my wine glass between my thumb and index finger. My eyes are locked on Luke who is on the dance floor, twirling around partner number five. Not that I’ve been counting. Not that I should care since most of his dance partners have consisted of Nate’s aunts.
From this vantage point, and with him distracted, I’ve been able to fully take him in. Something I don’t dare do at the firehouse. But tonight, with him all over the dance floor and in street clothes I appreciate—much more than a band t-shirt—I can’t help it. The broad shoulders, lean body, powerful legs. Agile and strong.
I’m annoyed. Annoyed that he’s here, annoyed that Quinn seems to be flirting with him, annoyed that everyone is being nicer to him. Mostly I’m annoyed with myself, though. First for being annoyed at all those things, second for not celebrating Nate and Savanna’s engagement like I should, and third for being unable to control my thoughts on how downright hot he looks tonight.
I knew, even before the parking lot scene, that seeing him here was going to be a problem. Outside of work, outside of his uniform, in a natural everyday situation.
He's also been handing out smiles like they’re going out of style. It’s irritating. Those dimples have popped more tonight than all of his shifts combined. Mind you, he didn’t have much of a reason to be smiling. I have a feeling that’s going to change with everyone accepting him, and I need to prepare myself for that.
The smiling, the dimples, the laughter.
It makes me want to hurl just thinking about it.
My phone, which has been sitting beside my wine glass, vibrates on the table. I glance down, thankful for the reprieve of glaring at Luke, and groan. It’s a text from my mother.
Mom: How is the date going?
Picking up the device, I sigh deeply. I probably shouldn’t open this can of worms right now, but it’ll provide me a distraction from Luke.
Me: Why are you texting me when I’m on a date?
Her reply is instant.
Mom: Why are you texting me back if you’re on a date?
Me: Because there was no date.
Mom: What?! Why? What happened?
It isn’t two seconds later when my phone rings. Apparently, she couldn’t wait for a reply via text. I knew I should have ignored her, but I’m a glutton for punishment when it comes to my mother.
I swipe on ‘answer’ and before I can even say a word, she’s talking.
“What happened? Please tell me he wasn’t another Netflix and chill kind of guy. Darlene promised me he wasn’t.”
That makes me smile a little. “No, mom. He wasn’t a Netflix and chill guy. There were just… circumstances that prevented the date.”
There’s a hesitation before she asks, “Circumstances?”
I sigh because she’s not going to let this go until I give her answers. “You remember Luke?”
The pause is longer this time, and when she finally answers, her voice is just above a whisper, like she’s half distracted by something else. “Of course.”
“Carter is Luke’s cousin,” I tell her, picking up my wine glass and throwing the remainder of the liquid back before continuing. Luke being back in town isn’t something I’ve shared with her, nor is it a can of worms I want to open right now. “There’s no way I was going on a date with him.”
“Hailey, if I had known,” she says, then trails off.
I’d already determined that she didn’t know. If my mom had figured it out with Darlene, she never would have suggested it. She was the one who had to pick up my broken pieces.
“It’s okay, mom. I know,” I reassure her, twirling my empty glass between my index and middle finger. “But look, we had a deal, and I’ve more than fulfilled my side of it. No more blind dates. I think tonight proves exactly why I don’t want them.”
“Hailey –” she starts, her voice taking on a whiny tone.
“No. We had a deal. Not only did I consider the date, I was going to go on it. Now we’re done. No more. If I want a date, I will find one on my own, or I will ask you to find me one. Don’t hold your breath on the latter option,” I tell her sternly, my eyes focusing on Luke on the dance floor. He has a new dance partner which makes six. “Got it?”
“Fine.” I can tell she’s not happy about this, but I don’t care.
Movement catches my eye, and I look away from Luke to see Liam headed my way with a fresh glass of wine in one hand and a beer in the other. “I gotta go, mom. Love you.”
“Love you too. Think about the dates, though. Maybe you should sign up for an online dating app –”
I hit end on the call before she finishes talking and toss my phone on the table. Liam takes a seat beside me the next second, setting the glass of wine down in front of me.
“Thank you,” I tell him, picking it up to take a large gulp from the glass as he scoots his chair in close to mine.
I glance in his direction, wondering why he’s doing that as I set my wine glass back down. When he doesn’t look at me, I follow his gaze and find it glued to Luke on the dance floor. It makes me sigh.
Liam adjusts so one arm is sitting on the table, the other finding a spot on the arm of my chair. He leans into me as we both stare, me at Luke, and Liam, I presume, at the same target. He confirms it when he finally says, “We can still hate him, you know. Just say the word and I’ll tell everyone to ice him back out. Fuck what Nate says. He’ll have no choice but to get rid of the guy.”
Leave it to Liam to have my back regardless of what anyone tells him. I love him dearly for it. While he’s asked what’s up with Luke and me, he didn’t force me to tell him anything when I made it clear I didn’t want to talk about it, and has still given me his full support. He made the decision that if I hated Luke, so did he, and I think he’s been leading the charge with everyone keeping their distance.
His shoulder is so close to me that I lay my head down on it. “No,” I tell him, reaching my hand across to squeeze his arm with appreciation. “Thank you, but no. Everyone needs to give him a chance. You included.”
He stiffens so sharply my head moves on his shoulder. “You sure? Cause I don’t mind. If that prick hurt you, I will fuck him up. You know I will.”
This makes me giggle, and I bite my lip to tamp down on it. Liam is always the first one to come to any of our defenses, wondering who the hell he can beat up, and when. The thing is, I’ve never actually seen him get into a fight before. Not to say he couldn’t hold his own in one, I’ve just never seen it. The other day in the kitchen was probably the closest I’ve seen him come.
“You know I wouldn’t approve of that. I’d hate to have to clean up any wounds on either of you after the fact,” I tell him with a grin, lifting my head to look at him. “But I appreciate it. It means a lot that you’d do that for me, and that you’ve been on my side regardless of not knowing what happened.”
He gives me a light, playful bump under the chin with a grin of his own. “You know I got you. I’ll give him a chance, but just say the word if you change your mind.”
“I will, I promise.”
Brody drops into the seat across from us, and glares at Liam. I look to Liam who has sat back in his own chair, beer casually hanging from his hand to see him smirking at Brody. Another glance in Brody’s direction and I find he’s still glaring.
“What did you do?” I ask Liam.
Liam’s smirk just grows.
“Fucking guy deserted me when Nate’s Aunt Laura came walking up to us.”
This time I can’t bite back my laughter. We all know Nate’s Aunt Laura from the barbecues Nate has thrown in the past. The woman loves to know every detail about our personal lives, and getting stuck in a conversation with her can be overwhelming. I can’t imagine Brody getting trapped with her. The poor guy doesn’t talk a lot as it is, and Laura just asks question after question. I imagine that would be his own personal hell.
“I’ll remember this, asshole,” Brody says. It’s a threat and a promise.
“What are you remembering?” Quinn asks as she drops down beside me with a beer.
With everyone around me, I haven’t glanced in the direction of the dance floor in several minutes, but now that I do, I don’t see Luke anywhere. I force myself not to look around the whole bar in search of him, instead turning my gaze to Quinn. Glaring at her, I probably look like Brody did when he sat down.
Her brows furrow. “What?”
“You know what,” I tell her, an edge in my voice.
I knew she’d understand. Rolling her eyes, she waves a dismissive hand at me. “It’s not that big a deal that I was flirting with him. It’s harmless, Hails. I know he belongs to you.”
My eyes go wide. “He does not belong to me!”
“Okay, Hails. Settle down,” she chides like I’m a child. “Sometimes we can’t see what’s right in front of us.”
“Luke does not belong to me,” I say heatedly, anger growing in my voice. I know she’s been the only one who has been nice to him, which I’ve been okay with, possibly even grateful for, though I wouldn’t admit it out loud, but flirting is taking it too far. “I hate him.”
“Luke!” Liam’s voice rings loudly in my ear from my other side. “What’s up man? We were just talking about you.”
I’ve been so busy gawking and glowering at Quinn, I didn’t even notice he was within ear shot. I know the color drains from my face as I stare, horrified, at Quinn. She has the good sense not to laugh at me, but it takes looking away from me to do so.
Slowly, I turn my head and there stands Luke, looking like he was midstride when he heard his name. A flush so deep I know I’m red from head-to-toe sweeps through me as I meet his eyes. They look more green than they do blue from here, but I know that’s the lighting. If I saw him on the dance floor, there’s a good chance they’d look blue.
“Why don’t you join us?” Liam adds.
I have to fight for control not to whip around in his direction and smack him over the back of the head.
Luke’s eyes cut towards him, eyebrows shooting up in surprise. There’s a pang of guilt that hits me right in the stomach over that. It’s because of me he’s surprised his coworkers, who should be like family, are asking him to sit with them. No matter how I feel about him, he doesn’t deserve that.
He doesn’t move from his spot. There’s a nonverbal exchange that passes between him and Liam before his eyes slide back to me. Something inside me melts a little at his look. There’s an air of respect around him, his eyes heartfelt and hopeful as he silently asks for my permission. That he would do so even after being invited to sit by someone else, even after I’ve been awful to him, told him I hate him, moves me in such a way that my whole world feels off kilter.
I’m taken all the way back to ten years ago. To when he’d drive me crazy in all kinds of ways, and loved getting under my skin as much as possible. When it came down to it, though, he always showed me so much respect. He’d been raised to be a gentleman, and he was never anything but. Even at the young age of eighteen, he knew how to treat a lady.
Some things don’t change.
My eyes move to the chair beside Brody and then back to Luke, giving a subtle nod of my head. Though it’s small, I knew he’d see it. The smile I’m rewarded with has his dimples flashing and my stomach erupting with unexpected butterflies that have me silently gasping for breath.
Grabbing my wine glass, I take a healthy drink from it in hopes of telling the insects to bugger off. I don’t need to be feeling any of this when it comes to Luke. Or any other man for that matter. It’s not safe.
Safe is what I want. With safe, I can’t get my heart broken.
“Heard you asking Quinn the other day about surfing,” Liam says to Luke, and I glance between them. This is news to me. I can’t help my nose wrinkle at the thought of Luke surfing. It’s way too dangerous.
“Yeah, been trying to figure out the best places to dip my toes in here,” Luke replies, easing back in his chair. I can see his comfort level rise minutely. “Figured asking the locals was best, and since Quinn was the only friendly one, I asked her.”
I can’t help the smirk as he calls all of us out. I don’t even feel sheepish about it, only amused that he’d do it so blatantly.
“She was appointed your liaison,” Liam says unapologetically, and without missing a beat, continues, “Brody is the one you want to talk to about surfing, though. He’s out there all the time, doesn’t matter the season. Ain’t that right, big guy?”
Brody, still chafed that Liam hung him out to dry, grunts, but turns to look at Luke. “You any good?”
Luke takes a swig of his beer and shrugs. “S’pose I’m okay. Didn’t start until my college days when I was living in Houston. My roommate was a big surfer, and he got me into it when I wasn’t playing football.”
Brody nods appreciatively. “Surfside Beach or Jamaica Beach?”
“Started at Surfside. By the time I was in my last year of college we alternated between the two. My roommate said I’d kill myself at Jamaica if I didn’t work my way up to it.”
Brody laughs and nods again. “Smart guy.” There’s a pause before he adds, “You up for a ride tomorrow?”
The look on Luke’s face chips away a little more at the ice I’m trying to maintain. He looks thrilled beyond belief. “Hell yeah. It’s been a bit though. Don’t get out much living in Waco.”
“Cool.”
“You played football, you surf, and you dance?” Quinn pipes up from my left. There’s an allure to her voice that only Quinn can get away with. “What else are you good at?”
I’m not sure if it’s the tone of her voice and the suggestiveness in it, but for some reason Luke looks to me. I’m already watching him, and when our eyes meet, my entire body flushes with warmth. I know we’re both thrown back ten years ago to a night that changed my world forever. I had no idea what the hell I was doing, but there was Luke, so patient and understanding. He went slow, making sure I was okay every step of the way, guiding me through so I knew what to expect as he took my virginity. No other man has ever made sure I was so thoroughly ready for them as he did.
Sometimes I think that night, and that summer, ruined men for me sexually. Which is ridiculous. We were practically kids.
“You were sure showing Nate’s aunts a good time on the dance floor,” Liam says, slicing through my reverie.
I give my head a shake and blink a couple times, wondering if I was the only one lost in thought, or if Luke was also in a maze of memories. Maybe he was talking the whole time and I missed it. Good god, I hope not.
“Yeah, I don’t generally do that a lot,” Luke laughs, taking a swig of his beer. His eyes moved to Liam for a moment, but they’re trained on me again. “But Savanna pulled it out of me that I knew how to dance when Nate introduced us, and insisted I show her. I didn’t realize it would turn into an hour of swinging ladies around.”
“His momma taught him,” I say, immediately regretting the words. I feel everyone’s eyes focus on me, causing my cheeks to flame. Crap. That was not a wise move. Didn’t I just finish telling Luke not to bring up the past?
Reaching for my wine, I dump the rest of the glass down my throat, hoping that’ll stop me from saying another word.
“She did,” Luke offers when I don’t add more. “I remember you used to love it when I’d?—”
“No!” I exclaim heatedly, already on my feet before the word is out of my mouth. “I warned you. No.”
Grabbing my phone and purse, I push back from the table and step around the chairs. The last thing I need is another wave of butterflies attacking me. I don’t need to be reminded of how much I loved being spun around on the dance floor, or how it felt to be in his arms. I’m doing a good enough job on my own at remembering, and it’s starting to drive me crazy.
Those melted spots in my heart need to freeze again, and I can’t do that anywhere near Luke.