“It just doesn’t make sense,” I say. “Why wouldn’t he marry her?”
“Maybe he didn’t love her,” my mother says, and I shake my head.
“So he just wanted to have sex with her?” I let out a breath. “I’m going to go lie down.” Turning, I walk toward the stairs.
“Kallie.” I stop on the second step. “One of these days, you’ll have to have a conversation with him.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat. “Maybe, someday.” Turning, I run up the stairs and away from the conversation she wants to have.
The nap lasts twenty minutes, and I eat almost nothing for dinner, wondering how tonight is going to play out. Maybe going out isn’t such a great idea, but here I am, getting ready for tonight.
I stare at my reflection in the mirror. I left my hair loose, just curling it and then running my hands through it so it looks like a soft wave. I don’t put on any eye shadow, opting for just a touch of mascara.
A soft knock sounds on the door, and I step out of my bathroom as the door opens. “Okay, this is the most country I have,” Olivia says, and I shake my head.
“There is nothing country about that outfit,” I say, pointing at her blue jeans and a black off-the-shoulder sweetheart shirt that shows just a touch of her toned midriff with matching platform wedges. Her blond hair is perfectly done, and her makeup is lighter than usual.
“Well, this is as country as I get,” she says, shrugging. “You, on the other hand. You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.”
I laugh down at my own outfit. My blue jeans are low riding, and I’ve paired them with a tight flowery spaghetti strap crop top with a built-in bra, my big brown belt, and matching cowboy boots. I don’t want to think about the last time I wore these boots, which was when I was going to prom.
“Well, shall we?” I say, and she nods her head with a huge smile on her face. Casey groans when he sees us coming down.
He drags his feet to the truck, opening the back door for me and the front door for Olivia. “Thank you, cowboy,” she says, getting on her tippy toes and kissing his cheek.
“I don’t have a good feeling about tonight,” Casey says, getting into the truck and making his way over to the bar.
The parking lot is full, and I whistle when I hear the music coming from inside. “This definitely has changed from the last time I was here,” I say, seeing the flash of lights coming out of the window.
“New owner came in and changed things. Put in a pool table, a dartboard, and then brought in a DJ and a band on Friday and Saturday nights,” Casey says as we walk to the front door. “She also expanded, tripling the size.”
“Wow,” I say when he opens the door, and I step in. He was not kidding about the changes. About twenty people are already on the dance floor doing a line dance. Wooden tables are all around the dance floor, and looking past the dance floor, I see the back room is almost full of people playing pool and others watching. “This is so cool,” I say, looking at Casey right before I turn fully and see her behind the bar. Smiling, she tosses a bottle up in the air and then pours it into the shot glasses in front of her. “What the …?” I say softly, and she must sense that I’m looking at her because she looks right at me, and her smile fades. “Casey?”
“Meet the owner,” he says, motioning to the bar, “Savannah.”
I’m about to turn and walk out when the door opens behind us, and just like that, it’s prom night all over again.
Chapter Fifteen
Jacob
“Why are you here again?” Beau asks as we walk into the bar. “Now don’t get me wrong, I’m always here, but you …” He laughs. “You never ever come here.”
“Let’s just say I’m working,” I say, not bothering to tell him about a phone call I got this afternoon.
“What’s wrong?” I answered the phone after seeing Casey’s name.
“We have a situation,” he said, and I sat up at my desk. We had come up empty with the mystery guy. “The girls are making me take them dancing.”
“Dancing?” I repeated, making sure I had heard him right the first time.
“Kallie wants to go to the bar,” he said, his voice lowering.
“But …” I didn’t know what else to say.
“I tried to tell her, but she cut me off every time.” He sounded defeated. “I’m giving you a heads-up.”
“I’ll meet you there,” I said and hung up and then called Beau.
Now here I am walking toward the place I never go to. Especially not on a Friday or Saturday night. I pull open the door, and I’m shocked to come face-to-face with the woman who has my insides all twisted up. Who is everywhere. She’s on my mind when I wake up in the morning. She’s on my mind no matter what I do. She’s even in my dreams. I look at her, and my mouth hits the floor. I look over at Casey, and I want to ask what the fuck is he thinking taking her to go out like this.
“Well, this just got interesting,” Beau says beside me as he walks in to hug Kallie. I want to yank him back by his T-shirt and hopefully choke him at the same time. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?”
“If you touch her again, I’ll make you blind,” I mumble under my breath. When Olivia chuckles, I have to wonder if I said that out loud.
“We should get a drink,” Olivia says, looking at Casey. “Can you get me a drink, cowboy?” She stands in front of him, and I have to wonder what is going on with him. It’s no secret he knocks boots, but he’s never been seen with a woman out.
“Whatcha want, darlin’?” he asks, and she shrugs her shoulders. “Okay,” he says. Then he grabs the back of her head and pulls her to him, and he kisses her on the mouth, leaving no mistake that she’s his.
“I’ll be back. Get a table,” he says, turning and walking away while Olivia puts her hand to her lips.
“What the hell was that?” She looks at Kallie, who just throws her head back and laughs, making her breasts stick out even more. There should be a dress code in here.
“That,” she says, pointing at Casey, “was him throwing down.” Olivia just looks at her. “He’s making sure that everyone knows you’re off-limits.”
“Are you saying he just marked me,” she asks, ticked, “like a dog that pees on a fire hydrant?”
“More or less,” Kallie tells her. “Now let’s get a table, and then I can show you a two-step dance.” She turns and looks at Beau. “See you later.” She turns and sways away, her ass molded in her jeans. With the way her hair swings from side to side, you see that the back of her top is a corset with the bow tied at the bottom. She was a girl when she left, but there is no mistaking that Kallie Barnes is all woman now.
“I know you don’t want to hear this,” Beau says, “but Jesus fuck, Kallie is—”
“I’ll rip your tongue out of your mouth if you finish that sentence,” I say and look around to see Grady and a couple of the guys here. After I called Beau, I called a couple of the guys in and told them I needed extra eyes with me tonight, and I wasn’t wrong. The place is packed with people coming from two towns away.
Savannah took her little dream and made it a reality. Besides Ethan, this is her second love. I just hope no one ever finds out how she really bought this place. I look at the bar and see Casey talking to some of the guys who work for him. They follow him to the table where the girls are sitting. Some people stop to say hi to Kallie as the music just gets louder.
“It’s like she’s a sitting duck,” Grady says from beside me all of a sudden, and I nod. “Is it safe to assume she’s off-limits?” I just look at him, and he holds up his hands with a bottle of beer in one of them. “Enough said.” What the fuck is it that all the men around me want to get to know her?
Following Beau, I make my way to the bar as he sits on the stool at the end of the bar. No one sits on that stool but him. Savannah actually keeps it behind the bar, and he gets it when he comes in.
“What can I get you?” Savannah asks,
and I watch Beau take a big swallow when she leans forward and you see the lace bra she’s wearing under her tank top.
“I’ll have a beer,” I say, and Beau just nods. “That was cool,” I say, “real cool.”
“Shut up.” Beau comes back with, and I lean on the bar and turn to look out. I scan the room, but my eyes go directly to Kallie again. She takes the shot one of the men hands her, tossing it back and then slamming the shot glass on the table. The guys high-five her while Casey looks around at his boys, and then his eyes find mine. He just nods his head, letting me know he’s watching, too.
I grab the bottle of beer at the same time she grabs another shot and drink it while the song changes and the guitar comes on. Kallie jumps out of her chair and grabs Olivia’s hand, leading her to the dance floor. Casey follows them along with the guys who cheer when Kallie stands in the front and looks over at Olivia. Her smile on her face is everything. Her whole face lights up, and I have to say it’s the first time I’ve seen her actually smile in eight years. She kicks her foot forward, and Olivia mimics her, and then she rotates her hips right and left, and my cock suddenly springs to action like he has missed his long-lost best friend.
Kallie puts her right hand on her hip while the other hand goes up, and she swings her hips again. Her hair goes back and forth while she dances. She turns to the other side, both hands on her hips, while she two-steps side to side. She throws her head back and laughs when she turns to the other side and comes face-to-face with Olivia, who is trying her best to keep up. They take three steps forward, and she slaps her hip and her tits just bounce, and I can hardly stand it. One of the guys Casey knows steps up next to her. Olivia gives up and moves to stand next to Casey, who puts his arms around her shoulders. I look back and see the guys laughing with Kallie while she dances.
The whole dance floor moves in sync as she stands in the middle and takes it over. Guys who don’t know her and are not from this town step up and watch. She finishes one dance and then goes into another, and when the third song comes on, she walks off the dance floor, clapping her hands. She makes her way back to their table and grabs a bottle of beer sitting on it. I shake my head. Anyone could have put something in it. Anyone could have switched it, and she would know nothing.
She drinks the bottle in one go and then hands it to Casey, and he nods his head and makes his way back to the bar. “I’ll get three more and a round of shots.” Savannah nods at him and then he looks at me. “What?”
“She just drank that beer that was sitting on the table this whole time, and you didn’t even stop her,” I say, shaking my head. “Someone could have switched it, and you wouldn’t even know it until she hit the floor.”
“I had eyes on it the whole time.” He then leans in. “She’s my sister after all.”
“Yeah, except your back was to the table for three minutes,” I point out, “while you watched your woman dance.” The music changes, and I look over at Kallie and see a guy walk up to her and ask her to dance. Savannah hands Casey his beer and then tells him the waitress will bring the shots to him. He nods at her and turns to walk back to the table and stops when he spots Kallie walking to the dance floor. He looks over at me, and I’m standing now. Beau must sense it next to me when he gets up, and I walk to the side of the dance floor.
The guy who I’ve never seen before must tell her his name, and I want to close down the fucking bar. They hold hands, and he twirls her while other men hoot from the side. The dance lasts longer than I like, and when the song is over, she smiles at him and walks back to the table. I see Casey say something to her, and she just shakes her head. The guy, on the other hand, walks off the dance floor, and his friends are there to high-five him. “What the fuck? Is this high school?”
“It’s called getting the hot girl to two-step,” Beau says. “They are here every Friday and Saturday.” He motions to the group of guys on the side. “Usually leaving with a different girl each time.”
“I don’t know how you do this every single weekend.” I shake my head, and then I look over at the bar and see Savannah dancing. “Okay, fine, I get it now.”
“I leave with her to make sure she’s safe every single time,” Beau says, bringing the beer to his lips. The band gets on the stage, and the lights change, and everyone cheers when they play the first verse of “Body Like a Back Road.”
Kallie puts her hands up, taking a shot from the tray. Grabbing Olivia, she leads them to the dance floor that is full now as they dance with each other. The both of them are oblivious of how much attention they are getting. “Fifty bucks someone asks her to leave with them.” Beau leans over, and I side-eye him. “I’m not saying she’ll go with them. I’m just saying …”
“You can stop talking about now,” I say, and for the next fucking hour, she doesn’t stop dancing and neither does Olivia. And when one of the guys from the side moves up to Olivia and puts his hands on her hips, I know Casey’s going to lose his shit.
“Shit,” Beau says from beside me. Grady is already halfway to the scene when Casey says something to the guy. He turns around, and you can see he’s drunk as he sways and then attempts to punch Casey. “Get Kallie. I’ll take care of this,” Grady says and I nod at him as we make our way closer.
Casey ducks and then punches the man in the jaw, making his friends jump in. Grady gets into it with a couple of them as I make eye contact with Casey who nods at me. He grabs Olivia by the hand and drags her out at the same time I get to Kallie’s side and grab her around her waist, pulling her out right before the guy from before tries to grab her.
She looks over her shoulder in fear until she sees it’s me as the brawl continues. I think someone throws a chair before we make it to the parking lot. “You can let me go now,” Kallie says, trying to push herself away from me. “Jacob, you can let go.”
“I knew this was a bad idea.” I don’t let her go, and if I could toss her over my shoulder and run to my truck, I would. I see Casey’s truck take off, and he looks at me and nods. “Told him it was a bad idea.”
“What the hell, Jacob?” she says, and with my hand on her skin, I don’t see anything else.
“You could have gotten hurt in there,” I say when I stop beside my truck and open the door, finally letting her go, “but did you stop and think of that?”
“It’s none of your business,” she hisses.
“Get in the truck, Kallie.” I don’t give her enough room to do anything but get in the truck.
“No fucking way,” she says and looks around.
“Fine by me,” I say. Picking her up, I put her in the truck so fast she is in shock. “I dare you to run,” I say, getting so close I can feel her breath on my face. “I didn’t catch you eight years ago,” I say, my eyes going to her parted lips as her chest rises and falls, “but I’m not going to make that mistake again.”
Chapter Sixteen
Kallie
It all happened so fast it’s a whirlwind, even thinking about it now. For the first time, I didn’t care that I was back in my old town. I didn’t care that people were probably sitting there just to see how I would react. I didn’t care that tomorrow my mother’s phone would be ringing off the hook with stories about tonight.
I got on that dance floor and left all my problems at the door. I kicked up my cowboy boots and loved every single minute of it. Knowing deep inside I was pushing things, but I didn’t think anything of it. Nothing happens in this town, but oh, how I was wrong.
The whole night, Casey was right there beside us, making sure we were okay, his jaw clenching each time Olivia would swing her hips. His eyes were glaring when someone would get too close. I snickered to myself more than once and then all hell broke loose.
I was almost pushed to the side, but then suddenly I felt hands around my waist, and for the first time tonight, fear set in. That is, until I looked over my shoulder and saw Jacob.
My heart sped up, and it wasn’t because I heard a brawl right behind me. No, it was speeding u
p because Jacob was touching me, and there was nothing I could do about it. My head hated him, yet my heart loved him. The warm air hit me right away when we got outside, and I thought for sure he would let me go. I was banking on it, but he didn’t. All he did was mumble to himself.
“What the hell, Jacob?” Words finally come out, and I curse at him.
“You could have gotten hurt in there.” Stopping, he puts me down right next to his truck and opens the door. In the darkness of the night, the lights from the stars and full moon shine on his face, and I see the anger. Anger and a mix of something else. Something I’m not sure I want to know. “But did you stop and think of that?”
“It’s none of your business,” I hiss; the nerve of him.
Apparently, in the eight years I’ve been away, Jacob’s patience was cut thin. “Get in the truck, Kallie.” He advances on me, not giving me enough room to do anything but get in the truck. I try to waste time, thinking Casey is going to come out any minute now with Olivia over his shoulder, and he’ll save me.
“No fucking way.” Shaking my head, I look around.
“Fine by me,” he says, and then I know he isn’t joking. His tone made it clear he was done having a discussion with me. One second, I’m standing here, and the next, his hands are around my waist and picking me up like I’m light as a feather and putting me in the passenger seat. All I can do is look at him in shock that he just did that. He gets so close to me that I have to hold my breath. “I dare you to run.” His tone is fierce and menacing. “I didn’t catch you eight years ago,” he finally says, and my mouth opens at that. “But I’m not going to make that mistake again.”
He slams the door closed, and I’m stuck here in the seat as if he put crazy glue down, and I can’t move. He gets into the truck and starts it and pulls out of the parking lot. We see Casey pulling out at the same time, and all they do is nod at each other. He turns down the pitch-black road, and he presses his Bluetooth to call Casey. He answers after one ring, and his voice is tight. “What?”
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