Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eightee n
Thayne
“S o just how long are you going to be on this denial train for?” Aca asks, his arms crossed as he looks at me in amusement. To annoy me further, Colton makes the sound of a train and Mack mimes one with his hands wheeling his sides.
“You’re all so immature.” I say irritably.
“But we’re right.” Mack nudges my side. “Aren’t we?”
I glance over to where the girls sit huddled together, catching the glimpse of the familiar head of brunette I’ve gotten used to recently. The one who noticed immediately that I’m staring at her and shoots me an awkward double thumbs up that makes me smile.
“I’m not on a denial train.” I most definitely am, but none of these nosy assholes need to know that.
“So you wouldn’t mind if I asked her to dance?” Colton asks.
“Fuck. Off.”
Aca cracks up at this. “Looks like we’re still on, boys.”
I turn to him with a smirk. “When do you leave again?”
His arm loops around my head and he tightens his grip around it as I pummel at his back .
“Coming through!” Odessa yells. “Shitheads.” She mumbles as she passes through with a tray of drinks, heading straight for the girls’ table.
I catch Mack staring at her as she passes, and I shove his shoulder.
Mack and Odessa would be complicated. Not that Mack ever took an interest in my opinion.
“Stop eyeing up my employees.”
He scoffs. “So you can but I can’t?”
“Face it brother.” Colton’s hand clamps down on my shoulder. “You’re whipped.”
Mack mimics the sound of a whip crashing down just as I hear a loud collection of squeals.
Willow’s over by the speaker, just as Why’d You Come In Here Lookin’ like that by Dolly Parton starts to play, and the girls collectively bunch together, rushing over to Odessa who is the only one sat down at the table.
I made sure that the bar was closed tonight for Aca’s leaving party, but this didn’t stop locals from going up to Odessa and asking her to make them a drink, which is why she’d been behind the bar for the past few hours.
Emberli’s laugh fills my ears as she tips her head back, there’s a huge grin on her face as she spins Odessa around. She looks happy. Carefree. Like she belongs here. They’re the loudest in the bar, but encourage more of the locals to join the small dance space with them. Emberli’s eyes flicker around the room before she finds mine and gestures for me to join in. Mack and Colton are already in the middle of the dance floor, but I don’t dance.
Everyone knows that.
I shake my head but clap her encouragingly as she spins. Of course Emberli doesn’t give up, she frantically waves her hand at me to join her.
“She doesn’t look like she’s going to accept defeat any time soon.” Aca chuckles next to me.
Fuck it. I guess I’m dancing .
Emberli’s smile only grows as I walk towards her, her hand reaches forward for mine and she grabs it, pulling me closer to our tight circle of family and friends.
I’ve got no clue why she chooses me to dance with me out of all the eligible men here who have made their presence known to Emberli the entire night.
“Having fun?” I ask.
She nods eagerly. “I am. Despite my lack of sleep.”
I frown. “You haven’t been sleeping well recently?”
Her head shakes at this and suddenly all the noises downstairs at night make sense.
“I didn’t know you had moves like this, Superman,” she says, changing the subject completely.
I crack a smile at her nickname. “I only bring them out on special occasions.”
“And this is a special occasion?”
“You’re here aren’t you?”
Her head tips back as she laughs. “Smooth.”
It was official. I had turned into Colton.
Yuck.
But as I watch her, I realize that the happiness that radiates from her is worth it. It’s worth it all.
And if being cringey means I get to hear that laugh of hers, then fuck it. Cringey I am.
Lately all I can think about is her. Everything about her drowns my entire existence, and suddenly I’m obsessed with Emberli Taylor and the baby that she carries inside her. I want to protect her. I want to protect both of them and it’s a terrifying feeling because my protected circle only branched out to my immediate family and friends. Emberli, she feels like both of those things put together and it’s something I’ve never felt before.
It was selfish of me to drag her into my simple life of work when she deserved so much more. Not to mention that I was an absolute train-wreck. I just hid it a lot better because I had to .
My family relies on me. Being the eldest sibling in my family meant that I was the lead protector of my family, especially since my parents had gone.
However, feeling protective over a woman like Emberli was an entirely new feeling that was almost alien to me.
I swore to myself that I had no time for feelings, only checking in on my family and running my business. But the longer I spend with the woman who looks like she sees straight through me and my walls, the more I find myself asking if I could open up to her, if I could let her in.
“Mind if I cut in?” Popping the small bubble I’m enjoying residing in with Emberli, stands Annie with a fake grin plastered on her face. I feel Emberli’s grip loosen on my hands. “Sure.”
Her gaze snaps back to me as I hold her firmly in place.
“We’re busy, Annie.” I tell her, looking straight into the widened eyes of Emberli’s.
“One dance can’t hurt.” Annie persists.
“It’s fine. I’ll come and find you after.” Emberli assures me.
“No. I don’t want you to. I want you here, with me.”
I hear an annoyed huff before the click of Annie’s heels can no longer be heard.
“Who was that? I feel terrible.”
“She’s not a good person, trouble.”
“I still feel terrible.”
I chuckle. There weren't many times when Emberli wasn’t feeling. A few nights ago I found her in the living room crying over a compilation of lions reuniting with their keepers. I offered to watch The Lion King with her in an attempt to diffuse the situation, but immediately regretted it when I heard the sniffles from the other couch at Mufasa’s death scene.
“Would it make you feel a bit better if I told you she broke Colton’s heart?”
She stops dancing and nods slowly. “Okay. I feel a bit better.” Her eyes travel over to where Annie stands with a glare and her arms over her chest as she stares at us.
“Don’t look at her. Look at me.”
Emberli’s eyes look up at me once again and a smile curls her lips. “You’re not what I expected, Superman.”
“Right back at you, trouble.”
Willow snatches my dance partner away from me and I laugh, listening to the rain pattering on the roof of the bar that is jam-packed with the locals of the town. Each and every one of them takes turns in saying goodbye to Aca.
Man, I was going to miss him.
But I was proud of him, for getting out of this town. He’d always wanted to and I couldn’t blame him, but I couldn’t understand him either. Shadow Peaks had always been my home despite all the hideous things that happened to me here. I didn’t have it in me to leave this place.
My therapist called it place-associated trauma. I called it survivor's guilt.
“Odessa, can you pour me a pint please?”
“She’s not working.” My gaze flickers to Mack, who stands in front of Odessa with a pissed off expression on his face. Ryan McMune scoffs at him.
“She’s a bartender for a reason.”
“She’s not working tonight.” Mack snaps.
Usually, he’s the more level headed brother of us all. It’s why he’s so good at being sheriff, however tonight, he seemed to be riled up. And my guess was that he’d been watching Odessa being run off of her feet, and stepped in like the hero he is.
Good ol’ Mack.
“It won’t take a minute.” Ryan shrugs.
“Mack, it’s fine. I’ll just pour him a drink.”
“No you won’t. She’s not pouring you a drink, buddy. It was clear on the invitation to bring your own.”
Well, it wouldn’t be a Shadow Peaks’ party without someone getting punched. I’m about to step in when Flint’s hand stops me. “I got this. You go.”
“Go where?”
Flint’s head nods to Emberli who beckons me to follow her outside.
“What are you doing?” I ask as the door swings shut behind me, I follow her as she spins and laughs, tilting her head upwards and opening her mouth to let the rainwater in.
“Dancing in the rain!” Her laughter echoes the empty street before her eyes land on me. “Are you going to join me, Superman? Or are you just going to stand under shelter all night?”
“I’m fine watching you.” I’ve found myself liking it quite a lot.
“See this is exactly why you’re Superman! Iron Man wouldn’t hesitate!”
Fuck it.
I know she’s teasing me, but she knows just how to get me riled up. My clothing tightens against my skin as the rain drenches me. Opposite where I stand, Emberli grins as she realizes she’s gotten her own way with me, once again. There’s not many things I wouldn’t do for the woman who reaches for my hand and attempts to spin me around whilst on her tiptoes.
In this moment, she’s radiant and exhilarating and I wish she’d see herself the way others around her do. The way I do.
I look away knowing I have to. It would be foolish of me to act upon my new feelings when everything has just settled down, especially for Emberli.
I wouldn’t do that to her, not unless she asked.
“Isn’t this amazing?” She yells over the harsh sound of the rain that thrashes down on us.
We hadn’t had rain like this for months.
“We need a song if we’re going to dance, trouble.”
“Hold on.” Her hand reaches into her bra and she pulls out her phone, the sound of an acoustic guitar plays in the background before she tucks her phone away again. “This is an original. Feel special, okay? Because no one else has heard it.”
I listen to every word as we dance to the beat, and her eyes watch me for my reaction when the song ends.
And fuck me. She’s just as talented as she is beautiful. Never failing to amaze me.
A part of me wishes it would play again, so I could redo this dance for a second time.
“What do you think?”
“I think you’re really talented, Emberli Taylor.”
“I’m gonna get that tattooed on me.”
“Don’t do that. There are so many other things I could say to you.”
“Like what?”
“Like…”
The door slams open and there’s a huge thud before a groan follows shortly. Ryan McMune is curled up on the pavement meters from my bar with Mack towering over him.
“Get the fuck out of here and don’t think about even stepping into this place again. You hear me?”
I dart an eyebrow at Flint as a crowd forms around our brother. “You handled it so well.”
“Shut up.”