“And…”
“But Dylan asked me out on the date, so I went out to dinner with Dylan and it was nice.” I grimaced when I meant to smile.
“That bad, huh?”
“Worse.”
“Hayden, I mean—” Again I shook my head. “Dylan was super nice, but…” Hayden’s face surfaced in my mind, and I broke out laughing.
“So was it bad funny? Or…”
“No, I was just thinking of something Hayden did.”
“The one that interviewed you?”
“Yeah, and the one that pretended to wolf down my dinner. Anyway, Hayden was on this date with another woman at another table, and it didn’t look like it was going well.” I fanned the air with my hand so the image of him and Anastasia would hopefully evaporate. “I’m not sure what exactly happened, but Hayden ended up buying us a second supper because he said he ate ours.”
Now Rapunzel shook her finger. “What? First his brother ends up lying in your bed and then the second brother resorts to eating off your plate? Goldie Locks, who are these Bears?”
I weighed her comments in the palms of my hands like a scale. “Yeah, that’s the thing. Dylan did sleep in my bed.” My palm shot down low in his favor. “But Hayden…” My palm remained stationary. “His date had more Raclette on the side of her mouth, and he didn’t have any cheese on his face. I know he didn’t eat any of my food. He was—”
“Being a gentleman and covering for her?”
“Exactly.” My palm and the scales in Hayden’s favor rose high in the air. “But it doesn’t matter now.” I exhaled, dropped my hands and twirled my finger in what was left of my green-tinted drink.
“Uh, Why? If Hayden did that to help his date save face, he’s one of the good guys.” Rapunzel held up her finger toward the dark-haired bartender.
The new bartender approached us. Her skin was alabaster and her eyes a piercing blue. “Another Appletini?” she said.
We both nodded and answered. “Yes, please.”
“Okay,” Rapunzel said. “We’ve established that Hayden’s a good guy and your face lights up when you talk about him, so I’m not seeing a downside.”
I tilted my head, and my chest rose and fell with gentle, stirring thoughts about Hayden. “And he’s such an amazing lover.”
Rapunzel was polishing off the last of her Appletini when she practically spit it out. Instead, she swallowed hard and looked at me even harder. “What?”
I shrugged. “Didn’t I mention that we ended up together after my date with his brother went south?”
Four feet of hair shook at me like a wavering flag of protest. “Uh, Goldie, I would have remembered that detail.” She reached over, grabbed my wrist, and I winced. I tried to pull away when Rapunzel pushed up the sleeve of my black jacket. “What the hell? Are those rope burns?”
I cringed and pulled my arm away and tucked my wrist back under the sleeve of my jacket. “More like … belt burns.”
“Goldie Locks!” Rapunzel slapped the bar’s countertop. Grumpy shook his head at her. “Ah, settle down. This is a bar. If you wanted to run a quiet establishment, you should have bought a library.”
“Shh!” I giggled. “I don’t want Grumpy or Doc or any of the seven wonders who own this place to kick us out. Or worse, know the details of…”
“Belt burns?”
I glanced up again at the chandeliers and then back at Rapunzel. “Maybe?”
“Where was Dylan when all this was happening?”
“Well that’s the thing,” I said.
Rapunzel leaned in like I was about to tell her a juicy secret, which wasn’t too far off the mark. “Was Dylan part of this, too?”
I slowly shook my head. “No!” I almost burst out laughing. Instead I swatted her and wished I hadn’t. “Oh, ow.”
“Really.”
I rolled my eyes. “My wrists are still tender, and any contact is a painful reminder of something I’m sure I’ll never experience again.”
The bartender placed two fresh Appletinis between us. I quickly finished the remnants of my first and slid the glass toward her with a smile. I reached for the delicious apple-flavored, alcohol-induced treat and brought it to my lips.
“Okay so what exactly happened?” Again Rapunzel closed in the space between us clearly not wanting to miss any details.
But first I took a long slow, savory sip. I needed liquid courage to tell my best friend how I had let the absolute best guy slip through my fingers.
“Suffice to say, ever since that night I now carry condoms with me.” I patted my purse that hung on the back of my barstool. “And let’s just say that Hayden knows his way around the human anatomy, I’ll never look at a man’s belt the same way again, and as far as Bears go…” I inhaled and I swear his spicy scent rose through my nose and tickled my senses. “Hayden’s not too big. Not too small, he’s just right.”
Rapunzel lightly clapped her hands together. “Oh, Goldie, I’m so happy for you!”
I slowly shook my head. “No. Don’t be.”
“Why? What gives?”
“Dylan gives. He showed up just when things were winding down between me and Hayden.”
Rapunzel elbowed me so hard I almost fell off my barstool. “Nuh-uh. No, he didn’t!”
I gritted a smile. “But oh he did.”
“Why?”
“I kind of invited him over?”
My friend held her face like the kid in the Home Alone movies and looked as horrified. “Who does that?”
“Well, I didn’t expect to end up in bed with his brother!” I said a bit too loudly. “Dylan’s a good guy, too, but he was so nervous. But once I got him to relax, he’s just, I don’t know, he’s fun to be around. He’s sweet and nice, so I thought that maybe he could come over before I went to work and we could have coffee together?”
“At what three in the morning?”
I cringed. “Yeah, I didn’t really think it through. It was one of those moments when you’re saying goodnight to someone and it’s really awkward and you just want to get out of the car and into your house, so you kind of say anything.” I looked at my friend for confirmation, but all she did was shake her long new mane of hair.
“You just get out of the car and go into your house.”
I exhaled loudly. “Don’t be so academic. That’s why you don’t have any dates.” I tried changing the topic. “You’re too rational.”
She slowly shook her index finger at me. “Not going to fly. You asked Dylan back to your house for coffee at three in the morning before the start of your shift.”
“Yeah, I was moving back to mornings, and I thought it’d be fun to, I dunno, have coffee with him?”
“So he shows up when Hayden’s still there?”
I closed my eyes and tried to erase the memory.
“Oh. My. God.” Rapunzel elbowed me to wake me back up to reality. “What happened?”
“Before or after Hayden grabbed his clothes, looked at me in disgust, and took off through my back door?”
Rapunzel leaned back against her bar stool. “Wow.”
I slowly, painfully nodded and took another long sip of my Appletini. “I did text him,” I said with my head practically in the martini glass. “Hayden, I mean. I texted him when Dylan was fumbling around with my coffee maker. I tried to explain to him that I had just invited his brother over for coffee and nothing more, but…”
“Let me guess, your cell phone went dark and silent?”
I nodded. “How long do you think he’ll stay mad?” I held onto my glass and looked at Rapunzel. She had a nice rosy, pink tint to her cheeks. Or maybe it was my frosted glass. It was hard to tell. “Do you think this is irreversible damage? Or do you think maybe after a little time he’ll come around?”
She gently rubbed my shoulder. “I don’t know because I don’t know him. But most guys…”
Her voice trailed off. I didn’t have to hear her finish the sentence to know that most guys wouldn’t be all right if another g
uy, especially their brother, showed up at a woman’s house at three in the morning.
“Did he try to kiss you? Dylan, I mean, in the morning?”
“Oh, hell no. I mean there’s nothing wrong with him, but he’s just kind of…” I couldn’t put my tongue on the right word.
“Passive?” His voice came from behind me.
Startled, I jumped. Rapunzel did, too, but then she yelped. “My hair! It’s stuck.”
I jumped off my barstool and gently released her hair that had wrapped around the wooden spindles of her chair.
The man stood closely beside me. Too close. He towered above me with massive shoulders and a wide frame. He was one bear of a man and definitely encroaching on my bubble.
“Do you mind?” I said to him. “You already scared me and my friend. I think giving us a little room would be nice.” Working the ER, I had learned the necessity of space and how to get it.
He held up his hands in mock protest. They looked less like hands and more like padded mitts. The guy was seriously massive. “Sorry,” he said. “Here I was thinking I was helping. I overheard you bellyaching about some passive puss in boots that couldn’t seem to get his act together, so I thought I’d jump into the conversation and show you how a man, who isn’t afraid of women, acts.”
I rolled my eyes at Rapunzel. She raised an eyebrow toward me and mouthed, “He’s kind of cute.” This only made me give her a longer exasperated eye roll.
“Can we start over?” he said and plopped down in my barstool.
“Excuse me? You’re sitting on my stool?”
“Does it have your name on it?” He slapped the bar and started laughing. His breath reeked of apples.
“Okay, I think someone’s had one too many Appletinis,” I said.
He held up his hand. “Listen, Goldie.”
“How did you know my name?”
“I didn’t. Lucky guess.” He again slapped the bar with his hand. “Hey, Snowy, send me another apple shot. Make it two.” He held up three fingers.
I shook my head and looked at the end of the bar for Doc or Grumpy or any of the seven wonders that owned The Enchanted Forest, but of course, none of them were anywhere to be seen. Stupid little men.
“Listen, I just want my barstool back,” I said. “It’s where we always sit on Wednesday. It’s just our thing. So if you wouldn’t mind…”
“Oh, so this is your barstool?” The man slowly shook his head. “I bet you’re some rich snob from the East side.”
My face must have revealed that I lived on the East side.
“You are, aren’t you? Classic. You snotty little Eastsiders think everything in Amāre belongs to you. Yeah, well, it doesn’t.”
“I just want to sit back down,” I said gently. “My drink is on the bar and…”
“You just want your barstool back, is that it?” His apple-liquored breath dripped with contempt.
“Yes, please,” I said.
“Well I just want my bar back. This used to be The Golden Goose tavern until the owner got a winning lottery ticket, hit the jackpot with three golden eggs in a row, cashed out and took his winnings to the East side. This used to be a place where locals from all around Amāre could come and feel welcome. Now it’s just a hot spot for Easties to spend their money on specialty fruity drinks. So before this was your barstool, it belonged to me.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know the history.”
“No, of course not. You’re too busy worrying about your barstool.”
“I know it’s not mine. I just sit there once a week when my girlfriends and I come out for a drink.” I nervously laughed. “It just feels like it’s my barstool.”
“Well, geez then I better hurry. I’m just a hardworking man from the Westside, but if the lady wants her barstool back…” The man slowly raised himself off the barstool, using the bar top as leverage. He reached behind him, grabbed the wood spindles that formed the back of the bar stool, lifted the entire chair over his head and smacked it against the bar. Wood splinters flew through the air.
Rapunzel screamed, but I was too busy ducking and covering my head to utter a word.
“Westsiders, it’s time to take back the bar.” The man charged toward the center of the crowd.
I grabbed Rapunzel’s hand and tried to make it toward the front entrance, but the room started to spin. I looked at the new bartender, who was happily eyeing the man that had just started the brawl and realized there was more to her Appletini than met the eye.
Chapter Seven
“Hayden, I think we’ve got a fifty-one-fifty at The Enchanted Forest,” Bob bellowed above the drone of reporters hitting the keys on their laptops.
“Ah, fifty-one-fifty, classic Van Halen song,” I said.
“Hayden, it’s no joke or time for musical references.”
“A fifty-one-fifty? That’s police code for crazy and insane. Or something like that,” I said.
“Just heard it over the scanner that the Amāre police have a possible fifty-one-fifty at The Enchanted Forest.” Bob tossed me the keys to the news van. “They’re holding some guy, a big guy, by the sounds of it because he went a bit crazy in the tavern.”
“The Enchanted Forest?” I shook my head. “That’s upscale now. There hasn’t been a bar fight in Amāre since Goose owned the tavern.”
“Well the times they are a-changing, my friend,” my editor said citing his own taste in music. “Now get to The Enchanted Forest and get there fast. I want live interviews. Sounds like there were some women that got caught in the crossfire.”
I headed toward the radio station parking lot.
“And don’t forget the brawler. I’d like to get him on tape, too,” Bob called out.
I nodded and wondered what awaited me. It had to be a lot better than the last twenty-four hours. No matter how many times I reread Goldie’s text I just couldn’t get the image or sound of Dylan pounding on her door out of my mind. I wasn’t sure if it was because he knocked so loud when I had punched the door, or rather Goldie, or if it was because he was even there. I knew Dylan was no threat to what Goldie and I had shared. I just wasn’t willing to let go of what tore at my gut. I felt betrayed. I don’t know why, but I did. It was silly because I barely knew Goldie, but I already knew she was the type of person that would welcome Black Beard himself into her house and offer him shelter if he needed it. She was a nurse. It was just how she was hardwired. She cared. I just didn’t like that she had once again cared for my older brother when I was the clearly the Bear for her. Coffee or not. Innocent or not.
I shook my head and tried to erase the images of her body from my mind. Or her smell from my senses. But she was permanently etched in my memory. I drove the news van fast and furiously to my next assignment. A bar fight was in perfect order.
The Enchanted Forest tavern wasn’t actually in the forest, but rather on the outskirts of Amāre. While the cottage was charming with amber colored-roof shingles and slanted eaves where lanterns hung and lit the way for travelers, just beyond its reach, there wasn’t anything enchanted about the dark forest. It was a place where even the most skilled huntsman wouldn’t travel.
The sirens were silenced, but the lights on top of the trooper’s SUVs swirled in the night air like a foreboding. I stepped inside the cottage that was beautifully decorated with ornate wood beams with woodland animals and hunters carved into the timber. From the barstools to the candle chandelier, The Enchanted Forest was a visual wonder.
“He was sitting on my barstool.”
Her voice rose above the chatter and clatter of dishes and glasses being cleared away. I walked toward her golden hair that gently draped the shoulders of her black jacket. What is she doing here?
I was about to turn away when I noticed the rip on her black jacket, her hands shaking and her friend by her side. I rushed toward her.
“I just asked him was if I could have my barstool back,” she said.
She turned as I approached.
/> “Hayden!” She wrapped her arms around me. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Warmth flooded my body. “Are you okay?” I scanned her face and instinctively leaned in to kiss the top of her head and stopped. I looked at her. “Goldie, what happened?”
“Some guy had a bit too much to drink and ended up getting a tad territorial when I asked for my barstool back,” she said.
“That’s crazy. Where is this brute?”
“Hey, brother.”
I hung my head and closed my eyes. Camden.
“Do you know him?” Goldie’s voice rang high and tight in the tavern.
I opened my eyes and slowly nodded. “Yeah, afraid so.” I turned away from her and in his direction. “Hey, Camden, how’s my favorite little brother doing?”
“I’m your only little brother, so don’t patronize me.”
“He’s your brother? And Dylan’s too?” Goldie looked at me and him and back again at me.
“Yeah, why? Should I set up a date with him, too?”
Goldie’s hand reached up and slapped my face faster than I could withdraw my comment.
“You’re a real jerk.” She turned to leave when Burt intercepted her.
“I’m sorry, Miss Locks, but I still have some questions I need you to answer.”
She looked at me, and her green eyes didn’t shine with flecks of gold. Nor were they alive with fire, passion, or even anger. When I looked at Goldie, her eyes were dull, flat, and sad. I had taken the one thing that I didn’t think was possible from Goldie, her magic.
“Dude, you are a jerk.”
The woman beside Goldie with extremely long, blonde hair snorted a laugh at my brother’s comment. I turned sideways and stood between Goldie and my little brother. “Excuse me?” I said toward Camden.
“Bro, all night long she’s been going on about this guy she’s absolutely crazy about and his lame older brother who kept ruining it for her. I should have known it was Dylan.” Camden shook his head. “But now you go and say something eff’d up like that? What’s your problem?”
“What are you talking about?” I stared at my younger brother as if he’d grown a third eye.
“I mean that you’re about as street smart as Dylan and about as savvy as Grumpy or Doc down there.” Camden cocked his head toward the end of the bar.
Goldie Locks and the Three Brothers Bear Page 6