The interior of the bar was much the same, slatted wood walls with old, floor length windows that overlooked the beach. The salt from the sea air added speckles and spots to the glass and Gus was out there a million times today buffing them down. Everything had to be perfect for the old man, but what he didn’t know was that he was already pretty damn close. I don’t know where I would be if he hadn’t found me on the street when he did. I’d be six feet down with the rest of them if he hadn’t that’s for sure.
I’d called on Gus’ apartment earlier this afternoon before heading down the bar, eager to get busy and to keep my mind occupied. It was either work or work out and I was fucked from my run this morning. So, we’d headed down to the bar not long after and started to set up for the big opening tonight. It was pretty much done inside owing to the old owner leaving most of the furniture behind and all we needed to do was stock up on drinks and give the place a wipe down. Gus had hired some young guy from town, and I’d spent majority of the afternoon showing him the ropes. The kid was pretty cool and easy to talk to and by that, I mean he was as good as a fucking mute.
I left Wyatt, the young guy who seemed like a pre-pubescent teen rather than a newly turned twenty-one-year-old and Gus on the deck out front whilst they were having a break and I headed for walk down the boardwalk. It was quieter at this time of the afternoon and it was nice to just take a walk around the place that was now my home. I’d never lived near the sea before and the salt air against my inked skin was a welcomed sting. It was true what they said about city air being dirty and suddenly I was wishing I’d done this years ago. Maybe if I had I would have plucked up the courage already to call it quits with fate. I slip my sunglasses on before shoving my hands into my pockets, my feet carrying me in the opposite direction of the cabin. The fairy lights and the vintage street lamps dotted along the promenade are the only source of light out here now that the sun had set behind the cliffs, but that didn’t stop some eager surfers catching some waves.
I watched them a for a bit, leaning my forearms on the railing separating the sand and the walk, noting the twists and turns they made with their bodies. It looked demanding and one hell of an adrenaline rush, something I could maybe even die doing. It was that, that had caught my attention and I already knew I’d be grabbing myself a board soon. Death be damned.
I carried on walking until my boots hit gravel, coming to the south end of the Boardwalk and the beaten-up car dealership that sat on the last plot of land before the road disappeared into the trees, a dirt path that carved its way deeper into the wood was the only viable footpath before disappearing up the sharp-edged mountain. I’d have carried on walking if Gus wasn’t expecting me back at the bar, so I saved the thought for another day. I could walk and walk until I found something. Anything.
As I turned on my boots to head back to the bar a glint of red caught my eye. I pulled my sunglasses off, an accessory I liked to wear even if it was dark and crossed the street to the metal fenced lot.
It was a bike. A blood red bike that shone in the flickering street light as if it was calling out to me. My blood hummed in my ears, rushing faster through my veins as I thought of how much danger I could be in if I pulled the throttle on this thing too fast. Took a bend too quickly.
Or simply drove it off a cliff.
That adrenaline would surely be better than any old surf board could bring me.
My inked knuckles tightened on the crisscrossed fence, the motor pulling me in and promising release from everything I’ve struggled with over the last ten years. I’d never gone off the rails before, aside from leaving my parents’ house to rot into nothing and living on the streets to protect my already shredded heart, I’d been a good kid. An average grade student and a sweet son that helped his mother with chores and his father in the garage. Until they died.
I couldn’t go home, I didn’t have a one to go back to anyway. I was pathetic.
The crash of the waves on the sand across the street snaps my head around, sending me crashing back to reality and to the fact that the people in my head are long dead. Ashes in a fancy vase in the ground that no one will ever see. One last glance back at the shining beauty I was determined to get my hands on I head back to the bar. The streets were starting to get busy and I had a tiny amount of nerves about hitting it off with these new punters. No doubt Gus will win them over, but me? Well, let’s just say I’m not your average town folk.
“WYATT. DOWN THE END” I point in the direction of a group of guys who just walked in and are waiting at the bar to be served. I finish pulling a pint before placing it on the bar and handing it over to the guy dressed in a Hawaiian shirt.
“Cheers” he slaps a bill down on the bar and returns to the table him and his buddies are sat at. I don’t think I’ll ever approve of people wearing Hawaiian shirts. They’re just wrong. We didn’t get many of them back in Bancroft, but I guess some dudes think they’re acceptable attire for the beach.
For your information, they’re never acceptable.
I was happy sticking to my loose fitted T’s and ripped jeans. Pair them with my boots and I was done. How many clothes do people really need anyway? I had the basics and nothing more. I refused to join the rat race that people were always so hell bent on being a part of. After Aurora I was done living to society’s rules. I was doing it my way because my way was simpler and less fucking agonizing. I had less to lose if I didn’t have anything to begin with.
The double doors swing open at the far end of the bar, the old rusty bell over the door alerting everyone within a thousand-mile radius even over the low hum of music and loud voices of punters that someone new had just walked in. Blonde and Red hair bobs through the throng of tourists gathered around bar tables and booths before they disappear again. I try to follow their heads over the crowd when an older guy steps up to the bar and snatches my attention away. Once I’ve served him I glance down the bar to check on Wyatt and my eyes instantly go to the bombshell of a woman he’s serving. Blonde waves fall down her back, highlighted in different strands across her pretty head. Bright blue eyes so blue they’re almost shining out of her long-lashed eyes meet mine briefly before she turns away towards her auburn headed friend. It’s only then that I notice the two guys sat opposite her and my dream of a happy ending to my night quickly fades away, that doesn’t stop my eyes unashamedly running down her body, with curvy hips and an ass to die for I can definitely see myself banging this girl. That black skirt clings to her body like it’s winking at me to come closer, but she saunters away as if that tiny glance she gave me was nothing.
I am nothing.
I don’t get a chance to see her again for a few hours because the place is rammed. Gus is busy making new friends and I’m busy training Wyatt on how to pull a decent sodding pint and serving people. Our first night was a hit, I’m sure word will spread fast in a place like this and I was glad. I needed to keep busy otherwise I’d be sat in the cabin coming up with all the ways I could end everything.
“Hey what can I get you?” I splay my fingers on the wood topped bar as I come up from my crouched position on the floor from restocking the beer bottles. I watch as crystal blue eyes stare at the tattoos on my fingers before making their way up my arms, setting my skin on fire as she does before finally coming to rest on my own. I watch as she sticks her tongue out to run along her bottom lip and my heart jolts in my chest as if she’s just shocked it back to beating. Narrowing my eyes at her I wait for her to answer my question. Clearing her throat quietly, I watch as it bobs when she swallows. My tongue tingles with want, I want to taste her, every inch of that gorgeous curvy body. Electricity bolts through me as her eyes bore down into my soul, sending more adrenaline rushing through me than any bike ever could.
“Two beers please” she smiles a closed mouth smile and I watch as her high cheekbones rise higher up her tanned face. A small gathering of freckles peppers her nose and she looks almost innocent but that thumping in my chest and the tingling in my cock t
ells me otherwise. Fire sparks in my fingertips as her floral scent washes up nose, travelling over every inch of my body and chocking me.
I can’t breathe.
Narrowing my eyes at the blonde bombshell I wonder how she’s done that. I’ve never felt this way since Aurora. That all-consuming pull towards another person, it’s almost like I know her already when in fact I don’t even know her name. Stunning blue eyes bore into me so deeply I’m adamant she’s glaring through my skin and seeing every inch of slick, black pain that’s etched on my insides. Her breath hitches and her chest rises beneath the thin white top she has on and I get a glimpse at a tattoo on her side but I can’t make out what it is. That’s enough to snap me back to reality and I swallow first before speaking.
“Beer?” I cock an eyebrow at her, not pinning her for the beer drinking type, what with that sun kissed blonde hair and the smattering of freckles across her button nose.
“Is that a problem?” she mirrors my movement by arching her perfectly shaped brow at me.
“No, you don’t look like a beer drinker is all” I shrug and reach for two bottles beneath the bar.
“You like judging people about the way they look?” she scrunches her cute nose at me after I place the bottles in front of her, and I can’t help but think about how damned beautiful this woman is. When was the last time I seen an all-natural woman? Every damned pussy I’ve had over the years has been drink fueled and they’ve always tried too hard. I hate it.
When will women get that message? Less is more, but confidence is the best damned accessory you can own. Not that I told any of them of course, I wasn’t planning on settling down with any of them. Not ever.
“Not at all. Chicks drink cocktails and shit, though don’t they?” I push, taking her for a typical city girl just here for the weekend.
“Maybe where you’re from. Not around here we don’t” she grabs the bottles and stuns me stupid.
“You’re from Delia?” I practically gawk, resting my hands on the edge of the bar and digging my nails into the wood to give me some grounding.
“Born and raised” she nods, with a smirk that makes her already full lips look edible.
“Huh”
“Problem city boy?” she huffs, throwing some bills down on the counter before she saunters off back to her friends without even a glance back towards me.
Well damn.
I give myself the pleasure of watching her round ass walk away, it’s the closest thing I’m going to get to bedding her now anyway. Disappointment settles into my gut, but I swallow it down and get back to work. I haven’t been in a relationship for almost ten years but I’m still a man. I may be pretty dead inside, but my dick is in fine working order. The way she’d looked at me though, that was enough to tell me to stay the fuck away from her. I watched the bar empty, but I must have missed the sassy little dove leaving because she wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Something resembling hope bloomed in my chest about seeing her again, but I shoved it away and finished cleaning up.
A few hours later I’d walked back to the cabin after saying goodnight to Gus and pulled out my drawing pad. I couldn’t get the sun kissed hair of the girl from the bar out of my head and it was fucking with me. It was always Aurora. Always.
All the others had just been a means to an end, but none of them had ever fucked with me like this. Fucked me, yes, but not my head. I gripped the pen tighter between my fingers, I always drew with ink because it was permanent, and I couldn’t rub out any mistakes just like you couldn’t rub out any regrets you had with life. Mistakes were permanent, you could try and fix them, but they’d always be there. Gnawing at your skull for the rest of time until they eventually drowned you. My pad was almost full, and I’d have to make a trip into town to get a new one, I don’t even know if they have an art store, but I’d have to find out. First thing on my to do list is to get my hands on that bike, I need a motor to get from the bay up to the town anyways and I don’t trust old man Gus to be my personal taxi.
I finished up with my sketch and grabbed the bottle of Gin I’d nicked from the bar, something Gus was used to by now and I lit my last joint. I’d have to find a local dealer and soon if I was going to survive this gossip fueled hell-hole, but for now I’d have to get by on Gin and Green.
Guitars & Dive Bars
I HARDLY SLEPT LAST night, and I was pissed off. I couldn’t get that damn bar tender out of my head and I hadn’t bumped into Brayden. I’d gone to bed horny, infuriated and with two men in my sights with neither of them seeming to even glance at me. Okay, that’s a lie but I wasn’t a horrid person. In all honesty I couldn’t get the bartended out of my head, Brayden hadn’t entered my head at all at the bar. The way he’d looked at me with those piercing green eyes, filled with so much pain and need had haunted me as I thrashed about in bed all night. I just wanted to sleep, to forget about the tattoos on his hands and arms and how I wanted to move his shirt sleeve out of the way to follow the trail the ink made.
He’d ruined it by assuming I was a cocktail drinking chick and criticizing my choice of beer. I knew I shouldn’t lust after someone like him anyways, but my lady parts had tingled with anticipation and just like that I was thrown back down to reality. If he’s working here, then he lives here and I’m in no mood to be a part of the gossip train that bypassed every old lady in Delia.
“You catching some waves in the morning?” Cash greets me in the living room, throwing his heavy arm around my shoulder. The three of them had crashed here last night instead of going back to their own humble abodes.
“Ask me later” I laugh, pulling my hair free from the trap he created with his stupidly heavy arm. Cash was a doctor up at the local hospital but got most weekends off unless he signed up for overtime. Austin run the surf school down on the beach and helped his sister, Lily-May out at the B&B on the promenade whenever she needed it. We’d gone to high school together but were never really friends back then. I’d been too enthralled with Kaine, my all-time love, my high school boyfriend and supposedly my forever after, and my small group of friends that had since moved away to notice Cash and Austin. It was only when all three of us stayed in Delia did we become close. Rach just joined our group when she moved to town after a bad break-up last year and I hired her at the shop. We’d become a close group ever since and I didn’t ever see that changing.
I walked further into my small kitchen, the place was a tip after the guys had ransacked my cupboards but that was nothing new. I’d just have to get them back by eating all their food and drinking their liquor at some point over the next few weeks.
After I’d presented myself to the magic dick loving whore bag in my living room along with two of the most big-headed surfer guys the town of Delia had ever met, we’d done a round of shots before heading down to the bar.
The sea salt hitting my face in that damp, humid way was utter bliss as we stepped onto the cobblestoned street.
The waves looked gorgeous tonight, big enough to ride but calm enough not to flip you over. I sigh wistfully, knowing that I won’t get to dip my toe in the water tonight, but how can I be annoyed when I get to spend the time with these assholes instead?
“I can’t wait to see this place. It needed a new owner really didn’t it” Rach shrugs, her face impassive as we all nod sadly. Jet’s was ancient, but he kept it in good nick. Him and his wife deserved to retire and it’s not like he’d disappear off the radar, we just hoped that this Gus was as lenient as him.
The boardwalk was bustling with teenagers looking for a cheap, good time. Each of them bustling past us making their way along the walk to the next bar or restaurant. It was common each summer, especially during the weekends for them to do bar crawls from one end of the walk to the other. The result was hysterical. You’d either get a few bodies lined up on the beach the next morning dressed in nothing but their birthday suits or you’d be likely to step over one or two on your way out of your front door. There’s only ever been one alcohol related death in Deli
a and that was over twenty years ago, and it was a freak accident according to the town gossips.
The bar was busy already as we stepped up over the threshold, the old wooden doors having been revamped with some retro glass in the center. I smiled when I heard the familiar chime of the bell as the door swung beneath it. It was loud but because of people talking rather than music, the soft undertones of country music in the background rather than the forefront. I loved already how they’d kept in tune with the theme of the bar, nothing too over-indulgent.
“There’s a booth right there” Austin points to my left and I follow his line of sight to a small bistro booth next to the window.
“I’ll get this round” I tell them as they grab the table before I make my way to the new curved bar. I must say, it doesn’t feel totally different but rather refreshed. Jet would be pleased.
“How can I help?” the teenager smiles at me and I quickly recognize him as Wyatt Jones.
“Wyatt? I had no idea you worked here. Aren’t you a little young?” I laugh, remembering hanging around with his older brother in high school.
“No Luna” he laughs, leaning on the bar with his hands. “I’m twenty-One”
“Well damn. Make me feel old why dont’cha” I huff. “Four beers please” I smile handing him a twenty. I grab our drinks and say goodbye to the kid turned adult and make my way back to the table, only before I do I catch a side glance at the other bartender. I don’t even know why I looked, maybe it was my nosy side wanting to see who else was working here, someone else I might have known.
How wrong was I.
Emerald green eyes bored through my skull like laser beams, his thick black hair falling over his forehead in soft curls and the nose ring in his left nostril was shining in the beaming bar spotlights.
Delia Bay Page 4