by Gen Griffin
“You don't want to try me, little girl. Go home. If you're too young to drink then you don't belong in a bar with the grown-ups.” Kristy waved bye in Holly's face and then put her hand on Addison's arm. “You. Come on.”
Addison didn't even hesitate to follow Kristy through the bar and out onto the back smoking deck.
Chapter 13
“You don't have to keep me company. Not that I don't appreciate it, but I don't want to ruin your night out,” Katie told Sully as the song switched from a semi-fast dance beat to something slower and a little more romantic.
“I'm enjoying myself,” Sully promised as he put his big hands loosely around her waist. “If you want to know the truth, I'm not really a nightclub kind of guy.”
“If you're not into clubs, then why are you here?” Katie asked him. She was enjoying herself more than she had thought she would. Sully wasn't quite as good of a dancer as she was, but he was good enough not to be a hindrance. It was funny, she had almost forgotten how much she loved going out to dance. Ian hated dancing so they never went out to any clubs. On the rare occasion that they did go out, Ian would refuse to dance with her and she wound up dancing with Addison. Or David.
Screw Ian, Katie thought as she snuggled into Sully's chest. She was barely tall enough for the top of her head to reach his pecs and he had to bend down slightly so that she could hear him speak over the music.
“Drinking alone on the porch of my house and staring out at the river makes for a very boring Friday night,” he explained. “Your turn. Why are you here?”
Katie sighed and then decided she didn't care if he knew the truth. “I was supposed to go out with Ian tonight for my birthday. I sat at the restaurant by myself for over an hour before accepting that he'd stood me up. I had to call Kristy to come get me and she decided to kidnap me.”
“And now you're being held hostage?” Sully teased.
Katie grinned up at him. “I was, but you rescued me from my sister. I'm eternally grateful. I love Kristy, but she can be pushy.”
“And the topic of tonight's pushiness is you getting rid of Ian?” He raised one eyebrow at her.
“How did you guess?” Katie couldn't help admiring how fit and firm his abs were.
“I have ears,” he replied.
“I don't want to talk about, or even think about, Ian tonight.” Katie met Sully's dark hazel eyes. “I just want to get drunk and forget all my problems for a little while.”
“I understand. You want another shot?” Sully winked at her and then shifted his grip on her waist as the slow song ended and a fast song with a solid beat came over the speakers.
“How about a mixed drink of some sort?” Katie looked towards the bar. “I saw a girl walk by a few minutes ago with something glittery in her cup. I want a glittery drink.”
“To the bar we go.” Sully spun her away from him with a flashy, over-dramatic twirl and they began dancing their way to the edge of the dance floor.
Chapter 14
“That girl you ran off was probably desperate to sleep with me,” Addison commented dryly as he followed Kristy onto the back deck of the bar. It was technically a smoking patio, so he pulled out his pack of cigarettes and offered one to Kristy. She plucked it from his fingertips and then waited for him to get his lighter out and light it for her.
“She wasn't anything special,” Kristy informed him as she exhaled smoke. “Besides, do you even remember her name?”
“Um...Heather, I think?” He made a face. “No. That's not right. Hazel? No, wait. Holly. Her name is Holly.”
“Uh huh.” Kristy batted her eyelashes at him and then wrinkled her nose. “She means nothing to you. She's just another one night stand.”
“Well, yeah. Do you have a point?” Addison took a long drag off of his own cigarette.
“No. Of course not.” Kristy casually shrugged her shoulders and then turned so that she was leaning both of her elbows on the porch railing. “Why is my sister mad at you?”
Addison stopped mid-exhale. He stood silently for a minute and then sighed. “Honest to God, I don't know.”
Kristy's disbelief was clearly visible in her light brown eyes.
“I swear to God.” Addison held up his right hand and then crossed his heart with it. “She's been pissed off at me since the wedding. I don't have a fucking clue what I did to earn it. And yes, I'm sure I earned it. Katie never gets mad at me without a good reason.”
“Have you asked her?”
“Yeah. I have. She won't tell me. She just says she's had a realization about a few things.”
“You don't have a clue what that realization is?” Kristy pushed the issue with him.
Addison stared down at his boots.
“Addy?”
“There's only one thing I can think of,” he admitted.
“Which is?”
“Nothing.” He focused all of his attention on his cigarette. “It's nothing.”
“It's not nothing.”
“It's not something I'm going to share with you,” Addison clarified. He wasn't about to admit his deepest fear to Kristy. He didn't need his humiliation made public if Katie had finally realized how he felt about her and that had upset her to the point where she had all but thrown him out of her life.
“Okay, have it your way. If you don't want to talk about why you and Katie are fighting, then maybe you can give me all the dirty details about Mr. Muscles?”
“Mr. Muscles?” Addison was relieved that they were no longer talking about him.
“He's tall, maybe 6'0 or 6'1?” Kristy was watching Addison closely as she spoke. “He has a chest the size of a pick-up truck and looks like he could bench press one. I believe he works with you?”
“Sully,” Addison said as the light bulb came on in his head. “Sullivan Briggs.”
Kristy nodded. “I couldn't remember his name. I was too busy looking at his body.”
“He's a body builder.”
“I would never have guessed,” her voice was dripping with sarcasm. “He's gorgeous. Tell me all about him.”
“He's a good guy,” Addison told her. “He's about the same age as me. Maybe a year or two older. He's currently working as a deputy for the sheriff's department. He used to be a detective in Silver City before he moved to Possum Creek.”
“That sounds like career suicide. Why would a Silver City detective want to work in Possum Creek?”
“He moved to Callahan County to help his brother out. Tate went through some kind of really nasty divorce not too long ago. Sully came down to Possum Creek so that he could help Tate with the kids.”
“He's a family man?” Kristy licked her lips. “Now I'm officially impressed. Sexy as hell and still makes time to babysit?”
“No kids of his own, but yeah. Sully's all about family.” Addison drummed his own fingers against the porch railing. “You want me to introduce y'all?”
“Mmm. Tempting but no.”
“You're not interested?” Addison looked at her with surprise.
“I would be, but I'm thinking Katie looked pretty happy on the dance floor with him. If Katie likes him then she can have him,” Kristy explained with a small smirk.
Addison stared at her. He was certain he hadn't heard her right. “I'm sorry, did you just say-?”
“Ian stood her up for her birthday dinner. She told me in the car on the way here that she's getting a divorce. I know my sister. She's done with Ian. I can see it in her eyes when she talks about him. There is no love lost and her claws are fixing to come out. Ian is toast.”
Addison didn't know what to say. He wasn't entirely sure he'd really grasped what she'd said. “You think Katie likes Sully?”
Kristy nodded at him. “She was kind of moping when we got here. She perked right up once he showed up and asked her to dance.”
“She didn't slap him?” Addison couldn't wrap his mind around the idea.
“Why would she slap him?” Kristy asked, feigning innocence as she batted her eyelas
hes at him.
“Because...” Addison sucked in a deep breath.
“Is he a bad guy?” Kristy pressed.
“No.”
“He's single, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What's the problem?” Kristy played with the ends of her hair, twirling them around her fingertips. “Don't tell me you feel any loyalty to Ian. You and I crossed that bridge the night Hannah Mae was born. Neither one of us has a damn bit of use for Ian McIntyre. You wouldn't piss on him to save his life if he were on fire.”
Addison felt nauseous. “Sully's not her type.”
“Why not?” Kristy leaned back against the edge of the porch and puffed on her cigarette. She looked distinctly smug.
Addison didn't have a good answer.
“Better yet, why don't you tell me about how Sully wound up throwing Ian face first out of the Sheriff's Department?”
Addison wrinkled his nose. “Ian spit in his face.”
“Why did Ian spit in his face?” Kristy asked.
“Because he told Ian to get out.”
“Why did he tell Ian to get out?”
“Because...” Addison sucked in a deep breath. “He was standing up for Katie. Ian had come in screaming at Katie and Sully got in the middle of it.”
“And you did what, exactly, while this was going on?” Kristy pursed her lips at him.
“I wasn't there,” Addison knew he sounded defensive, but he didn't care. “I was on the bayou dealing with a couple of drunk tourists and their sinking bass boat. They forgot to put the drain plug in.”
“Uh huh.” Kristy eyed him for a long minute.
“Katie wouldn't go for Sully,” Addison insisted. “He's too...”
“Too what?” Kristy asked. “You said yourself that he's a good guy.”
“I don't know,” he admitted and then switched forms of denial. “She's always been so damn determined to save Ian from himself. I can't see her walking away from him.”
Kristy grabbed him by the arm and drug him across the porch until they were standing in the doorway that faced the dance floor. She pointed to the stage that ran most of the way down the left side of the room. It was fairly normal for dancers who thought they had a little more talent than the rest of the crowd to climb up onto the stage and dance when there was no live band.
It took Addison less than two seconds to spot Katie and Sully. The beat of the song was fast and hard with too much bass, which wasn't posing a problem for either of them. She was shaking everything her Momma had gave her for everything it was worth, and Sully was doing a nice job providing a backdrop for her performance.
Addison's fists clenched at his side as Katie spun around so that both of her hands were in the center of Sully's thick chest as she got low in a very short boutique dress that wasn't exactly made for this kind of show.
“That is not the way a girl looks when she's pining for her wayward husband, Addison. That's the way a girl looks when she's decided to drink him gone tonight and then pack his shit in the morning.”
Addy swallowed unhappily.
“She's let Mr. Muscles buy her drinks all night,” Kristy informed him. “Right now, I think he's just a friend. I also think that if you give it time, well, the man is awfully sexy. I wouldn't turn him down.”
“Yeah, no.” Addison shook his head. “Hell no.”
Kristy laughed. “Ian's about to be gone. You might want to fix this, Malone. If you love her half as much as I think you love her, then you really might want to make things right between y'all before she's gone forever.”
“How?” He asked. “I don't even know how I fucked it up.”
“Don't ask me. I'm not the one who pissed her off.” Kristy adjusted the neckline of her dress so that her breasts were exposed nearly all the way to the nipples. “I would start by getting her away from him.”
With her point made, Kristy walked back into the club and left Addison standing alone in the dark.
Chapter 15
Katie had almost entirely lost herself in her own drunken buzz and the beat of the music when she felt Sully tense against her.
“Oh boy,” he muttered under his breath.
Katie's eyes flickered open and she looked up at him. “What's wrong?”
Sully didn't stop dancing as he took her chin in his hand and turned her head so that she could look out across the dance floor. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the flashing strobes, which were what had prompted her to dance with her eyes closed in the first place. Strobe lights always made her vaguely nauseous.
Addison was cutting his way through the crowd, coming towards them with a scowl on his stunningly handsome face. His turquoise eyes looked angry and nearly black in the dim lighting. Katie watched as a willowy redhead in a midriff bearing top stepped in front of him and tried to hook her fingers through his belt loops. Addison shook her off and said something that left her scowling as he brushed her away.
Katie purposely turned back to Sully. “Ignore him.”
Sully raised his eyebrows at her. “He looks pissed.”
“He'll have to get over himself,” Katie replied as she looped her arms around Sully's neck. She buried her face in his chest and focused on keeping her feet moving. Addison Malone was the last person she wanted to see tonight, and he damn sure didn't have the right to say one single word about who she did or didn't dance with. He didn't have the right to say anything about her life. He thought she was pathetic.
“I don't know what's going on between the two of y'all right now, but I think you should just bite the bullet and talk to him.” Sully looked at her thoughtfully. “Scream at him if you want to. It'll make you feel better.”
Katie snorted. “Why not? Current company excluded, I'm already having a terrible night. Might as well fight with Addison.”
Two minutes later Addison was on the stage with them.
“I'm cutting in,” he said as closed the distance between them.
It was on the tip of Katie's tongue to tell him no, but Sully spoke first.
“I need to visit the little boys room and get another beer,” Sully said. “You can have her for fifteen minutes and then you have to give her back unless she says otherwise.”
Katie pouted at Sully for a minute as he stepped back away from her and let Addison take his place. Sully was almost too nice. He was certainly nicer than Addy, who was standing in front of her with angry blue eyes and a soft blue t-shirt with the logo of the local adult softball league printed on it. Clearly, Addison hadn't been trying too hard to impress anyone tonight. His jeans had both knees ripped out of them and not in a fashionable way. If Katie had to guess, he was wearing the spare change of clothes he kept in his truck.
Addy narrowed his eyes at Sully, but he didn't argue as he slipped his arms around Katie's waist. She tensed slightly, surprised by how cold his skin was against hers.
“You're freezing,” she said to him.
“I was outside smoking. It's forty degrees.”
“You should have worn a hoodie,” Katie informed him.
“I won't need one on the dance floor,” he replied.
“True.” Katie sucked in a deep breath and tried not to look up into those beautiful eyes of his. Mad or not, there was something about Addison that just made her melt into a hot mess. Those stunning blue eyes were paired with the longest eyelashes Katie had ever seen and sensuous lips that just begged to be kissed. Add in the square jaw, high cheekbones, broad shoulders and washboard abs and Addison was basically every girl's wet dream made to order. Unfortunately, he knew it.
Katie focused all of her attention on getting back in rhythm with the beat of the pop song that was currently blaring through the club's sound system. She didn't worry about whether Addison was keeping up. The boy could dance just as well as she could. Katie closed her eyes and let the beat of the music throb through her veins. Sully had said fifteen minutes. She could deal with Addison for maybe five minutes just so long as she only had to dance to him, not s
peak to him.
Thirty seconds later the song ended. When the next song came on, it was a slow one and she suddenly found herself wrapped just a little too snugly in his arms. Katie stared up into his eyes and couldn't read the expression there. She swallowed unhappily. “I need some air,” she whispered as she started to pull away from him.
Addison didn't let her go. “Katie, dammit. Don't do this to me.”
“I'm not-.”
“Not talking to me?” He cut her off. “Avoiding me? Pissed off at me?”
She hesitated, biting her lip. His arms were around her waist and, as she laid her palm against his chest, she could feel his heart beating too hard through his shirt.
“Talk to me. Please,” he said. “I'm fucking begging you just to talk to me.”
“Addy...” Katie shook her head at him. “What is there to talk about?”
“You and Sully?” Something flashed in his eyes and she could swear it was jealousy. Which made no sense, since Addison didn't care about her in the slightest.
“He's a friend,” she said dismissively. “We've been having a fun night.”
“I noticed,” he said dryly.
Katie frowned at him. “Why do you care?”
Addy opened his mouth and then appeared to think better of whatever he'd been planning on saying. “Come outside with me.”
“I'm good,” Katie said. “I'd rather go find Sully and see if he'll buy me another drink with glitter in it.”
“I'll buy you a glittery drink if that's what you want, and it wasn't a request,” Addison informed her. “You and I need to talk.”
“What if I don't want to talk?” Katie asked him as he began to lead her off the dance floor.
“Too damn bad. You're driving me crazy and it's gone on long enough.” Addison kept a tight grip on Katie's wrist as he towed her through the crowd and out into the night.
Chapter 16
Ian was basking in his buzz and watching the stripper's titties bounce on the stage when April Lynne straddled his lap.
“Oooph.” Ian stared at her uncomprehendingly for a minute and then relaxed as she started grinding her wide hips against his pelvis.