Harry (Southern Sands Book 2)

by A. M. Williams

  He turned his blinker on, waiting for traffic to clear before turning left into a shopping plaza. He glanced at Bailey and noticed her looking at the stores in the plaza as well as the restaurants in the parking lot.

  He pulled into a spot outside of Five Guys and turned the car off.

  “Five Guys?” she asked, looking at him with wide eyes and clear excitement on her face.

  “Yeah, I thought we could use something familiar that we both enjoy.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Hell yeah!” She unbuckled and scrambled out of the car.

  He chuckled as he climbed out to join her at the front. It wasn’t too busy, and once orders were placed and drinks dispensed, they claimed a small table in the corner by one of the front windows, away from the other people inside.

  “I seriously can’t wait to have some of their fries. God, those things are addictive.” Bailey spoke of the fries reverently and Harry understood. They were pretty good.

  He chuckled. “Why do you think I got the biggest size?”

  “Because you know I’ll eat all of them. What will you eat?” she teased.

  He rolled his eyes. “Woman, you’ll let me have some of those fries.”

  She shrugged and sipped her soda. “We’ll see.”

  When their number was called, Harry crossed to the counter and stopped for some ketchup before rejoining Bailey at the table. He handed her her burger and claimed his own before ripping the brown paper bag the fries were in, causing them to spill everywhere.

  Bailey immediately grabbed a handful and stuffed them in her mouth, making nomming noises as she chewed.

  Harry laughed. “You are ridiculous.”

  Bailey shrugged and swallowed. “So? You knew this when you chose to come here.”

  He nodded. He did know this, which is why he picked it. He knew they’d both enjoy it and that they wouldn’t worry about it going well. It would be the complete opposite of the night before.

  “I didn’t get a chance to ask last night, but how is the school year going so far?”

  Bailey grimaced. “It’s going. Volleyball is doing okay. We’ve lost a few matches and teaching is, well, teaching.”

  “Have y’all played any of the powerhouses like New Bern yet?”

  Bailey shook her head and finished chewing before saying, “No, not yet. We play at New Bern next week. Looking at their stats, we’ll have our work cut out for us. Last year, you know…”

  Conversation over dinner flowed easily as they chatted about her teaching day and coaching of volleyball as well as his work at the warehouse and the band. It was honestly like no time had passed in their relationship and that they hadn’t spent over a month without talking.

  As they balled their trash up and threw it away, Bailey asked, “Isn’t this in the same shopping center as Target?”

  Harry nodded as he held the door open for her to pass in front of him. “Yeah, I think so. Why?”

  She shrugged. “No reason. Wanted to see if you maybe wanted to walk through it?”

  He glanced at her and thought he saw hope that he wouldn’t say no in her eyes. If she was asking for this, then maybe she didn’t want the date to end just yet either.

  He scanned the parking lot for Target and saw they were close enough to walk.

  They walked through the parking lot and entered the automatic doors into the store. They started in the dollar boxes and worked their way through the store, trying on hats and goofy accessories, pausing to take some ridiculous pictures every so often. A worker had to come talk to them a few times to ask them to quiet down.

  They finally realized they should probably leave before they were banned from the store. And they didn’t want to be known as the people that were kicked out of and barred from going to Target again.

  They laughed the entire way to the car. “Did you see how red that guy’s face got when you tried to talk to him wearing that Viking helmet?”

  Harry nodded and gasped through his laughter. His eyes were tearing up as he recalled the incident. They were in the small costume section near the toy section and he was loudly shouting about conquering the new world when a male employee came to tell them they were being too loud.

  Harry continued talking in the loud Viking voice, ignoring what the employee was saying to him. The worker quickly realized that Harry was making fun of him and grew red in the face, stopping just short of yelling at them himself.

  Noticing that, they quickly left that section and went to another, barely holding their laughter in until they were far enough away.

  They recounted their jaunt through the store the entire ride back to Gunner Falls. Their laughter had finally calmed by the time Harry pulled into the visitor parking outside her apartment.

  They walked up the stairs to her door in silence. As they came to stop outside, he felt awkward which threw him off. Up till now, it had been like old times. But this part of the evening couldn’t be like old times. He couldn’t assume they would both go inside and that they would end up in bed together.

  He cleared his throat and pushed his hand through his hair. “We have a gig tomorrow night. You comin’?”

  “Where is it?”

  “Sandy’s.”

  Bailey nodded. “Yeah, I’ll call Karlie and see about riding together or something.”

  He nodded. “Cool, cool.”

  Awkwardness settled over them again. He looked all around him, anywhere but at Bailey as he tried to figure out how to end the evening.

  “Would it be all right if I kissed you?” Bailey asked, breaking into his thoughts.

  He looked at her with raised brows. “You have to ask?”

  A light redness covered her cheeks and he realized how hard it was for her to ask that. “Yeah, I’m totally cool with you kissing me,” he assured her, already excited at the prospect.

  Their eyes met and he tilted his head toward hers while she brought hers closer to him. He hesitated when they were less than an inch apart, his breath fanning across her face and their noses brushing each other.

  He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers in what should have been a light kiss before he stepped back. But the best-laid plans often turned awry.

  That slow kiss soon morphed into something far more intense. He wrapped his arms around her waist, hauling her body closer to his, while she wound her arms around his neck. Desire coursed through him and he fought the urge to break away and suggest they go inside. If they were going to give this a real go, they didn’t need to rush into anything.

  But he needed to help his dick realize that. He was hard enough to pound nails and if the noises coming from her throat were any indication, Bailey was more than ready and willing to go further with him.

  He sucked on her bottom lip before slipping his tongue into her mouth to caress hers. He skimmed one hand up her side and threaded it through the hair at the nape of her neck. He tugged on the strands, tilting her head further back to deepen the kiss as he pressed her backward until she bumped into the door of her apartment.

  He could kiss her for hours and never grow tired, but the sound of a door opening entered his consciousness and he forced himself to pull back. A brief vision of Bailey leaning against the door to her apartment with messy hair, half-lidded eyes, and swollen lips entered his vision before he looked away to see the old couple from the month before standing there grinning at him. He was thankful he was still pressed into Bailey so his arousal was hidden from them.

  “You get it, son!”

  His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as the couple made their way down the stairs and disappeared into the darkness.

  “Did that…really just happen?” Bailey whispered.

  He looked at her and worked hard to stifle the laughter bubbling its way up. It took him a few moments, but he was able to keep it in check. “It did.”

  He felt in control and stepped back, putting a little space between the two of them. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow night?”

  He wanted
to go in for another kiss, but the spell seemed to be broken.

  “Yeah, definitely. Just text me the time to get there.”

  He nodded and pressed a light kiss to her lips, testing his willpower again, before turning and trotting down the stairs. He worried that if he lingered too long he would end up going too far with her too fast. This entire relationship was important enough to him to wait it out.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Bailey

  The next night, Karlie pushed her way inside Bailey’s apartment. “You have to tell me all about your dates.”

  Bailey’s brows rose as she held the door open. “Hi. Nice to see you. How ya been? I’ve been great, thanks for asking.”

  “Oh please.” Karlie shook her head and stopped at Bailey’s couch, turning to face her. “Pleasantries are the last thing we’re doing right now.”

  Bailey rolled her eyes at Karlie’s words. “Please and thank you are always needed.”

  Karlie cocked her hip out and put a hand on it. “Good thing I don’t need those right now, huh?”

  Bailey sighed, shut the door, and walked further into her apartment. “Well, I guess we’ll fast forward. Why are you here?”

  Karlie rolled her eyes as Bailey flopped back on her couch. She perched on the edge of the couch next to her. “You have a lot of talking to do.”

  “About what?” Bailey was being purposefully obtuse and she knew it, but she wanted to needle Karlie a bit.

  She huffed. “Come on!” Karlie whined, bouncing slightly on her seat. “You have to tell me about your dates!”

  Bailey feigned confusion. “Dates? What dates? I haven’t eaten any of those since I was a kid and my mom force fed me so I’d go to the bathroom.”

  Karlie glared at her. “You know damn well I’m talking about your dates with Harry and not the edible kind. Spill. It.”

  Bailey burst into laughter, she couldn’t help it. Karlie was so easy to wind up. After a few moments, she calmed herself. Before speaking, she crossed her right leg over her left and shifted in her seat, purposefully drawing the moment out to annoy her friend.

  Sure enough, Karlie eventually huffed again and started grumbling under her breath.

  “So, what do you want to know?” Bailey finally asked her.

  “The fact that you have to ask…” Karlie shook her head.

  Bailey chuckled to herself as she shrugged. “We went to dinner. That’s it.”

  “That is so not it. You went on two dates in two nights.”

  Bailey furrowed her brows. “How do you know that?”

  Karlie shrugged nonchalantly, studying her fingernails. “Jax told me.” Karlie looked back at Bailey. “You know he and Harry gossip worse than we do.”

  Bailey snorted. It was true. The two of them were in a bromance that they both denied. “Yeah, we went on two dates in a row.”

  Karlie grinned at her. “Why? Tell me more! Was it just that great? Was it everything you wanted? Was it better than you remembered?”

  “Slow down, speedy,” Bailey joked, “one question at a time. We went on two dates because the first one was a total dud.”

  “A dud?” Karlie asked, confusion showing on her face.

  Bailey nodded. “Yeah, we went to Hero’s and every Tom, Dick, and Harry was there.”

  Karlie giggled. “Including your Harry?”

  Bailey rolled her eyes. “Yes, including mine.”

  Karlie giggled again, covering her mouth with her hand as her shoulders shook with her repressed laughter. Bailey just shook her head. “Anyways…” She shot Karlie a mock glare. “Everyone we knew was there and came up to us throughout the night. We couldn’t just hang out and get comfortable with one another. It sucked so bad.”

  Karlie wrinkled her nose. “That would suck. What the hell? Why wouldn’t they wait?”

  Bailey shrugged. “It’s Gunner Falls. You know how the people are.”

  She paused before continuing, watching Karlie nod. “They’re probably so used to seeing us together that it didn’t register we might want to be alone.”

  “I can see that,” Karlie said, “but it’s kinda rude, isn’t it? I mean…this is the south, the home of hospitality.”

  Karlie played up her southern accent on the last bit, trying to sound like Paula Dean. The two of them dissolved into laughter and took a few moments to get themselves under control.

  “For real though,” Karlie said once their laughter died down. “It is a bit ridiculous that y’all couldn’t enjoy your time together.”

  Bailey nodded. “Yeah, I agree. That’s why we went to Greenville the next night.”

  Karlie looked like the cat that ate the canary with the look she shot Bailey. She leaned forward and propped her chin on her hand, looking at her attentively. “Oh, really? Do tell.”

  Bailey outlined the more successful date to Karlie, finding that she enjoyed the process of sharing it with her best friend. Hiding everything from Karlie was obviously not the way to handle things, especially considering how she'd tried to handle it herself. She made a promise to herself not to do it again.

  “What does all this mean?” Karlie asked her.

  Bailey shrugged. “I’m not sure. We agreed to take it slow and see how it goes.”

  “I sense a but coming.”

  “But…this feels right, ya know?”

  Karlie nodded. “I do know. That’s how I feel about Jax.”

  She reached over and grabbed Bailey’s hand and squealed, making Bailey jump. “Oh my God! I can’t believe it! We’re two best friends dating two best friends who just so happen to be the loves of our lives!”

  Bailey’s brows crept into her hairline. “I don’t know if I’d go that far…”

  Karlie swatted at her. “Oh please. You know what I’m sayin’ is true.”

  Bailey grimaced. It might be true, but that didn’t mean she had to admit it yet. “Possibly, but I want to take this at my own pace and ease into it.”

  Karlie nodded. “I can understand that. You’re putting yourself out there again. Just remember that you can do this and that you love Harry. That’s what matters.”

  She cleared her throat. “I guess you brought all that shit so we can get ready together?”

  Karlie nodded enthusiastically. “You betcha!”

  “Let’s get to it then.”

  They brought everything into her room and spread it out, going through what Karlie brought as well as Bailey’s closet. It reminded her of when they were rooming together in college and would get ready to go clubbing. They would help the other out, borrow clothes, and just have a lot of fun.

  As she fully relaxed, Bailey realized just how much she needed this moment with her best friend to understand how great she had it. Karlie was the best friend she could ask for. Harry was the best guy she’d ever met or been with, and she’d been crazy to jerk him around.

  She had so much in her life to be thankful for and she’d spent a whole month of her life being miserable because things weren’t going her way. Right here, right now, she was making a promise to herself to never go down that path again.

  Once they were dressed, Karlie insisted on taking selfies, telling Bailey different poses to get into with her before picking the few she liked to post to social media.

  Riding that high, the two of them left for the venue to see the band play. After getting their drinks—still water for Bailey—they made their way to a table just off the dance floor that had a good view of the stage. A few minutes after they arrived, the band trooped onto the stage.

  Bailey’s eyes stayed riveted on Harry, drinking him in from his shiny leather shoes all the way to his slightly wrinkled gray t-shirt. She brought her gaze up to his face and met his eyes. He smiled, his the skin at the corners crinkling a bit while she blushed at having been caught.

  “How y’all doin’ tonight?” Harry said into the microphone while he fiddled with his guitar, his gaze still riveted on her. “We’re Southern Sands and we’re excited to be here. Si
nce we’re all locals and I think we all know each other, I’ll skip the usual spiel and get right to the music. How’s that suit ya?”

  The crowd cheered and clapped. Bentley tapped out the three count and they launched into “All of My Love.” Bailey nodded along to the music, letting it wash over her. It felt right to be here, listening to the band play, knowing that she and Harry were figuring things out. This was totally right.

  She bopped to the beat for the rest of the set and was getting ready to head to the stage to chat with Harry before he disappeared backstage, when she saw a familiar face, making a beeline through the crowd toward the stage.

  Those good feelings came crashing down as she watched Emily stop at the stage, obviously talking to Harry, who crouched down to hear her. Bailey’s heart beat faster as she tried to figure out why Emily was there and what it meant.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Bailey

  “Are you okay?” Karlie's words barely registered in Bailey's mind, she was so focused on the duo by the stage.

  Bailey blinked and looked at her best friend, confusion written on her face. “I don’t know.” She looked back at the stage where Emily and Harry were still chatting. Harry was still crouched on the edge and hadn’t hopped down, which she took as a positive sign, especially when she saw Emily cross her arms in front of her chest. That had to mean the conversation wasn’t going well, right?

  “Oh, I see,” Karlie said.

  Bailey glanced at her and noticed that Karlie was now watching Harry and Emily as well.

  “What’s up with that?” she asked, jerking her chin to the pair by the stage.

  Bailey shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think he asked her to be here, but this is a local show, so…” She trailed off as she took in the new dynamics between Harry and Emily. Even from a distance, she could see that Emily’s shoulders were tight and drawn up around her ears. Harry looked bewildered and very uncomfortable.

  Some of the tension in Bailey eased at the realization that he wasn’t pleased with the conversation and likely wanted it to end quickly. She still had to wonder why Emily was there and what that meant. Harry hadn’t been lying, right?