Wild Hearts

by Vivian Wood

  He looked at her with her wide eyes as she took it all in. Alex could see it coloring her perspective. The place was a bit of a dive. A touch dangerous. “You know, they say every time someone tells you a ‘walked into the bar’ joke, you always picture the same one. Whatever that might be.”

  “Really?” Faith asked. “I never thought about it. I guess I do. Mine’s like the one in Desperado.”

  “Sorry to hear that,” Matt said with a grimace as he surveyed the crowd. It was largely mixed. Rednecks, city college kids who thought they could slum it, retirees, and underage travelers.

  “Hey, darts!” Faith said. “Y’all game?”

  “Y’all?” Caleb asked. “Didn’t take Georgia long to rub off on you.”

  “I’ll get the first round,” Alex said. “Y’all get set up. What’ll it be?”

  “Beer—”

  “Whiskey,” Faith interrupted Caleb. “On the rocks.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Alex said. The guys looked at him strangely—he never drank whiskey. “Lady’s choice,” he said with a shrug.

  By the second round, it was clear that Faith was in her element. “You’re a shark!” Caleb said, tipsy before he took the last pull of the amber liquid.

  Faith laughed and covered that beautiful mouth with her hand. “Hardly,” she said. “I can just hold my liquor better than you guys.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Matt said. He still worked at the first round and made a face with every sip.

  “Sorry, they don’t serve appletinis here for you,” Alex said. “I asked.”

  Faith grinned at him.

  The combination of the whiskey that warmed him from the inside and her smile that lit up the room was undeniable. He stood up from the barstool to take his turn at darts and felt the room start to shift. It had been a long time since he’d let himself get buzzed like this.

  “Okay, final round!” Caleb said. “Winner takes all. Or chooses the next game. You know, same thing. Alex, make this round so Faith doesn’t make us play truth or dare or some girly shit.”

  “Hey!” Faith said.

  He took the dart, but it was as if his arms were simultaneously too heavy and hollow as a bird’s. He barely made it onto the dartboard at all.

  “We win!” Faith said and gave Matt a side hug.

  “Yay,” Matt said, underwhelmed.

  “All right, all right,” Caleb said. “What’s it gonna be, Faith? Makeover madness in the bathroom?”

  “You wish,” she said. “No, the billiards table just opened up. Let’s do classic pool, stripes versus solids.”

  “Works for me,” Alex said. Finally, a game he actually liked. As he started to walk toward the cue sticks, Faith put her hand on his arm and stopped him.

  “And truth or dare,” she said.

  Caleb groaned. “I knew it.”

  “You’re the one who gave me the idea!”

  “Fine,” Caleb said. “How is this going to work?”

  “Alex and I are stripes, you two are solids,” she said. “Whoever misses, scratches, whatever has to take a truth or dare from someone on the opposite team.”

  “This is stupid,” Alex said under his breath.

  “You’re stupid,” Faith shot back. But with that smile, he couldn’t be mad at her.

  Matt was the first to scratch, to no one’s surprise. “Yes!” Faith said. “Okay, Matt, truth or dare?”

  “Truth, I guess.” He gripped the cue stick like it would save his life.

  “Hmm, let’s see,” she said. “How old were you when you had your first real kiss?”

  Matt turned bright red. “I don’t remember,” he mumbled.

  “Bullshit!” Caleb said. “Everyone remembers.”

  “I don’t—”

  “C’mon!” Caleb said.

  “Fine! Nineteen. Okay?”

  Caleb burst out laughing. “Shit, man, what were you doing hanging all over . . . what was her name? Vicky? That whole time in high school for?”

  “Vicky was just a friend!”

  “Well, obviously,” Caleb said with an eye roll.

  Faith banked three solids before she missed the fourth by a hair. “Yes!” Caleb said. “Truth or dare?”

  “Truth,” she said. Faith picked up her third whiskey, which had started to sweat.

  “Oh, come on!” Caleb said.

  “Lady’s choice,” she said with a smile.

  “Okay, fine. Have you ever had a one-night stand?”

  “Sure,” Faith said as she put the glass down.

  “Really?” Caleb asked. Clearly, he’d expected a different answer. “How’d it happen? What did—”

  “That’s two questions,” she said. “I don’t have to answer the second.”

  “Cheater!” Caleb said as he shook his head.

  “First rule of truth or dare. Always ask an open-ended question,” she said.

  “Women and their manipulations,” Caleb said under his breath.

  Pool was usually Alex’s game, but the pressure of the children’s game over it put him on edge. He didn’t just miss the first stripe he tried to bank—he put a solid away for the other team. “Damn, Alex, out of practice much?” Caleb asked.

  “Out of practice when drinking three glasses of whiskey? Yeah. I’d say so,” he said.

  “What’s it Gonna be?” Caleb asked. “Truth or dare?”

  “Shouldn’t Matt ask me?”

  Before Matt could respond, Caleb cut him off. “Nah, you know it’d be lame. C’mon.”

  “Fine,” Alex said. He looked hard into Caleb’s eyes that were so much like his own. Caleb knew him better than anyone, and they were on dangerous ground. He didn’t like the direction the questions were going. “Dare.”

  “Oh! We got a live one!” Caleb said. “Hold on a minute. I need to confer with my partner.” He pulled Matt aside and put their backs to Alex and Faith.

  “What do you think they’re going to do?” she asked him.

  “I have no idea. It’s like they’re at their first slumber party and on a sugar high. Maybe make me take my bra off so they can freeze it. Or a pillow fight.”

  She slapped him lightly. “You have no idea what girls really do at sleepovers, do you?”

  “Okay! We got it,” Caleb said. “I dare you . . . to kiss . . . Faith.” There was a devilish look in his eye that Alex hadn’t seen in a long time.

  “What? Hell, no. Are you crazy?” Alex asked.

  “Hey!” Faith said. “Rude.”

  “Not about . . . not about you,” he said.

  “Oh, come on! You know the rules,” Caleb said.

  “This is childish.”

  “Come on!”

  “It’s stupid!”

  “Oh my God, just come here,” Faith said.

  Alex wasn’t sure if she kissed him or if he kissed her. All he knew was that suddenly his lips were on hers, and they were softer and sweeter than he could have ever dreamed. Somewhere far in the distance there were whoops, hollers, and an old jukebox hummed. He felt her hands on his chest, and somehow his arms were around her waist. They fit perfectly in that deep curve right above her hips. He wasn’t sure, but he thought he felt the tip of her tongue against his. Alex let out a noise in the back of his throat.

  Faith pulled back, unable to look at him. Alex could feel his face as it burned.

  “That was something,” Caleb said. All the play had drained out of him. Matt stared at a television in the far corner.

  Faith picked up her drink and downed it, while Alex and Caleb followed suit. “Should we keep playing?” Faith asked. They have to know this is a terrible idea, Alex thought, but everyone picked up their cue sticks.

  The next couple of truth or dares were much milder. It made Alex think maybe whatever strangeness had happened was over. Still, the next time it was his turn to choose, he picked truth.

  “Truth, huh?” Matt asked. He scratched his chin. “Okay. Do you feel like you’re over Rebecca?”

  “Matt,” Caleb hisse
d.

  “What? I’m curious.”

  Alex looked at Faith. How much does she know? He didn’t have a clue what Mama or the guys had told her.

  She looked back at him. A soft expression spread across her face. “I know about Rebecca,” she said.

  He was taken aback but also flooded with relief. “Yes,” he told Matt, though he still looked at Faith. “I’m over her.”

  In one pull, Alex finished the nearly full drink they’d poured two questions ago. “I’ll be at the boat when y’all are done drinking.”

  “Ferry’s gone, man,” Caleb said.

  “Our boat, idiot,” Alex said.

  He didn’t make it far toward the Saint Rose community dock before he heard steps behind him. “Hey!” Faith called. “Wait up.”

  Alex glanced behind him but picked up his pace.

  “Alex! I’m sorry,” she said as she caught up to him. “I didn’t mean to make things awkward.”

  “It’s fine,” Alex said. “Really. You’re not the one who made it awkward anyway.”

  “Will you stop?” she asked out of breath. “Just for a second.”

  Alex halted sharply and looked down at her. “What?” he finally barked.

  “Are we . . . are we good?” Faith asked. “Because I thought, back there at the bar when you kissed me—”

  “I kissed you?” he asked.

  “Or when I kissed you! Whatever! I just . . . you didn’t feel anything? Because I—”

  “You’re drunk. Go back to the bar.”

  “I’m drunk? Not any more than you! And you and I both know we’re nowhere near buzzed enough to—”

  “Faith! Please,” he said.

  “You don’t get to do that!” she said. “You don’t get to pretend you didn’t feel anything. Or blame it on the drinks or the game or whatever.”

  “It was a stupid game,” he said.

  “Yeah! It was. Okay? I was just playing around. I didn’t think Caleb and Matt would, you know. But how can you deny what was there when—”

  “Faith, seriously. Go back to the bar.”

  She looked at him with big eyes, lips partially parted. Most of him wanted nothing more than to lean down and kiss her again, but he stopped himself. She was clearly frustrated, but she’d just have to stay like that.

  “I can’t believe you,” she said. She licked her lips, and that just made him want her more.

  Alex didn’t say anything. He knew if he started to walk away, she might follow. This was a showdown, and one he’d have to wait out.

  Faith stared down at the grass. The pink neon from the bar lit up her skin and made her glow like something magical. “Fine,” she said finally, and turned on her heel. He watched her leave and listened to her Converse sneakers in the gravel.

  Alex didn’t turn toward the boat until she was out of sight. I can’t think about how it felt to kiss her, he told himself. Don’t be an asshole. Or how it felt when she said Rebecca’s name.

  No. It was all too much, and it was better not to think about right now.

  Chapter 11

  Faith

  She groaned and pulled the pillow over her head. The hangover pounded into her brain, and the sunlight that streamed through the window dug into her eyelids. How much did I drink last night?

  As Faith rolled over, flashes of last night appeared. She remembered the darts and how she’d gone drink for drink with all the guys—except Matt, of course. Then the billiards. No, it wasn’t just pool. Truth or dare. And the kiss. Oh God, the kiss.

  The more she thought about last night, the more details emerged. How it had gone from a stupid dare to something more. She was sure of it. Alex had to have felt it, too. Right?

  Even if he did, I didn’t have to go running after him! Did I think throwing myself at him would do something? But she couldn’t help it. Faith pushed the heels of her hands into her closed eyes and let out a moan. Maybe it isn’t as bad as I think.

  She reached toward her phone on the bedside table. After she’d stumbled home drunk with Caleb and Matt, she couldn’t remember the details. Mascara had rubbed off onto her hands, and her phone was nearly dead. Clearly, she hadn’t had enough sense to wash her face or plug in the iPhone.

  It was early in the morning in California, but Natalie would answer. She called Natalie on FaceTime and checked her smeared makeup on the screen. She looked nearly as bad as she felt.

  “Why are you calling so early?” Natalie asked groggily. Faith could make out the familiar floral duvet cover and baby-blue pillowcases. “Jesus, what happened to you?”

  “A lot of whiskey happened to me,” Faith said. She rolled onto her back and held the phone above her head. “Whiskey and a lot of stupidity.”

  “Oh yeah?” Natalie asked with a yawn. “The two tend to go together. What’d you do?”

  “Why do you think I’m the one who did anything?”

  “Because you always instigate,” Natalie said with an eye roll.

  “Okay, fine. I went drinking with all the guys here I told you about. Well, almost all of them. We went to some dive place on the mainland.”

  “You? You went to a dive bar?” Natalie asked. “Why do you always tell me no when I ask you to go—”

  “Listen!” Faith said. “Anyway, we’d had a couple of drinks already, then I said we should play pool.”

  “Okay . . .”

  “And truth or dare.”

  “Oh God, Faith,” Natalie said. “All right. Who’d you kiss? It was the hot one, right? The brooding one you told me about?”

  “Shh!” Faith hissed into the phone. She glanced around the room. “Yes, okay? God, how did you know?”

  “How did I know? You always go for the mysterious ones, Faith! You act like I don’t know you at all.”

  “Yeah, well, that wasn’t the worse of it.”

  “No?”

  “After, you know. He booked it out of there, and I followed him.”

  “You followed him.”

  “Okay, I, like, ran after him.”

  “Oh my God.” Natalie rubbed her eyes. “What happened? Was he drunk, too? Maybe he doesn’t remember.”

  “I mean, we all drank the same amount. He pretty much blew me off and left. I don’t—I haven’t seen him since then.”

  “Well, don’t worry about it,” Natalie yawned. “I’m sure it’s no big deal.”

  “Maybe,” Faith said. “Ugh, my phone is about to die. I need to let you go, go find the charger.”

  “Okay,” Natalie said. “But seriously? Don’t worry about it. Even if he remembers, you can write it off as being drunk.”

  “You think?”

  “You were drunk, weren’t you?” Natalie asked. “It’ll be fine.”

  Faith blew Natalie a kiss and scrambled out of bed to look for the charger. As soon as it was plugged in, she started to search for other contractors in the area. Downstairs, she heard the occasional door close and pot bang, but all was quiet. Mae must have figured out they were all hungover and wouldn’t bother with a grand breakfast.

  She pulled a granola bar out of her bag and tore through the sweetness as she perused contractors. Most were available on Saturdays and answered her calls. The first couple had accents so thick she could barely make out what they said. The next handful provided ballpark bids so astronomically high she almost choked. George really is giving me a deal, she thought. It was tough to give up such an attractive bid, but she knew she had to. If he’d screwed over Alex like that, there was no way she’d hire him.

  Finally, she called Just Peachy Contractors and an upbeat man with a voice that reminded her of her dad’s answered. “This is Craig.”

  As soon as she introduced herself and gave him the address, he interrupted.

  “You mean Lydia’s old place, ma’am?” he asked.

  “You know it?” By now, she wasn’t surprised.

  “I know all the properties on Saint Rose.”

  His bid wasn’t nearly as good as George’s, but it was doabl
e. Remember the inheritance, Faith told herself. She hadn’t touched the cash Lydia had left her, so it still didn’t seem real. Still, even if she used that cash for the renovations, she’d have plenty left over.

  She hung up with Craig feeling lighter and with a verbal agreement to meet at the site to finalize the bid and planning.

  Now for the tough part. George. Faith sighed and kicked her long legs out from under the covers. She felt a little bad about George having already done some of the groundwork but knew she shouldn’t. After all, she’d still pay him for the survey work and what he’d done so far. She couldn’t be the only client who’d pulled out early in the process.

  Faith scrolled through her recent contacts until she found a 912 area code from the day she’d talked with George. “Faith!” his voice crowed when he answered. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” He lingered over the word “pleasure” in a way that made her feel dirty. I’m doing the right thing.

  “Hi, George,” she said and adopted the professional voice she used when speaking with troublesome clients. “I just wanted to give you a call and tell you that I’ve decided to go a different direction. With Lydia’s property. So, I, uh, I’m sorry, but I can’t hire you.”

  “You can’t hire me,” George repeated. His voice had changed, gone nasty. “Don’t you mean Alex won’t let you hire me?”

  “Alex?”

  George gave a mean laugh. “C’mon, Faith. How stupid do you think I am?”

  “I don’t think—”

  “Alex put you up to this and don’t try to say otherwise.” She heard him spit a stream of chew. “Little fuckin’ cunt.”

  “What?”

  “Alex,” he said slowly, but not until after a long pause.

  “Look, George,” she said. “I can assure you that I made up my own mind about this. And after talking to you now, I know I made the right decision.”

  “Y’all are goddamned morons if you think any contractor in the state is going to offer the kind of bid I did. That was a fuckin’ friends ’n’ family discount. Hear me? I was doin’ y’all a goddamned favor—”

  Faith hung up before she could hear any more. She longed for the days of landlines, when she could have slammed the phone down, especially as she noticed her shaking hands. Where did that come from?