Chapter 3
Bryn
Mitch was hilarious—like Will Ferrell meets Jim Carrey, side splitting, I can’t breathe, I might piss myself, funny. From the moment we walked into the pub, I was in stitches. Maybe my nerves had something to do with it, but his light blue eyes, crooked smirk, the way he actually made eye contact with me when I was talking, how he was acting completely normal—like we were old friends catching up, not two strangers wondering if we were going to bone by the end of the night—it all made me surprisingly comfortable, which made me even more nervy.
“So anyway, to make a long story short, I caught the cheating bitch with my dad’s business partner. It was a fucking shit show and a half, but I’m glad they’re both gone and my dad is finally moving on.” Mitch finished his story, leaning back in his chair.
“Wow, yeah, sometimes people really can pull the wool over your eyes.” I knew all too well how easy it was for some people to lie, backstab and cheat—fucking disgusting.“Trust me, people are assholes, to put it mildly.”
“I bet there’s a story behind those words.” Mitch put his hand on my shoulder. “If you ever want to talk about it, I am a pretty good listener.”
I was thankful for the out and the fact that he wasn’t pressuring me to open up even after he was spilling his guts about his fucked-up family situation.
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.”
The bartender brought us another round of Bud Lights.
“I have to say, it’s nice to just sit in a quiet bar and have a few drinks with someone I can actually talk to.” Mitch’s smile faded into a hard line as he picked at the corner of the bottle’s label. “Leaving everything and everyone was a hard pill to swallow, but I know it was for the best.”
“So, why here?” I probed.
“If I am being completely honest, I would have gone anywhere. Just so happens that the first place to accept my application was here. Right when I got hired, I was gone.” He pursed his lips while thumbing the top of the brown bottle in front of him. There was something big he was running from, I could tell, more than just the crappy family drama.
“Why the sense of urgency to leave Florida?” When my question registered, his eyes snapped to mine. I probably was digging in too deep but there was no taking the question back.
He paused and took a sharp breath in. “I was dumped by the woman I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with. The thing that sucks is that I knew before she and I even started whatever it was we were doing that she was in love with this other guy, but I talked her out of being with him to be with me. I knew it was selfish, and I couldn’t really be surprised when she picked a famous rock star over a nobody firefighter. How could I blame her for something like that?”
“Wait? Like actually famous? Anyone I would know?” Probably not the most politically correct or nice question to ask, but curiosity got the better of me quickly.
He stared down at the bar top as he mumbled, “Maverick Steele from The Hysterics.”
Wrong time to take a swig of my beer—it went straight up my nose and I started to violently choke as I white-knuckled the edge of the bar. Mitch patted me on the back a few times until I could finally form words.
“Holy fuck!”Cough—choke—gasp—cough.
He laughed a little. “Yeah, I would leave me for him too. He’s like sex on a stick of rock star gorgeousness.”
I blushed a little; I mean, Maverick Steele was hotter than hot and The Hysterics were one of the biggest current bands, but Mitch seemed like such a sweet guy.
I looked at the bartender, waving him over. “Two shots of chilled Jameson please.”
Mitch grabbed my hand. “Shots?”
His smirk was back and a fire was lit in my belly. “Yes, shots. I think you deserve it.”
The bartender was quick and within a few minutes, two short glasses full of liquid courage were sitting in front of us. I winked at him and held my shot up to his, high in the air. “Here’s to on her—hitting on her, getting on her, staying on her…and if you can’t come in her, come on her.”
Mitch laughed a little. “You’re something else, you know that?”
I threw my shot back. “I’m surrounded by dirty men all day, what do you expect? Being the only chick in the department has its perks from time to time.”
“Touché. I’ve got one.” Mitch ordered us another round of shots and held his high in the air, laughing as he said, “I can’t believe I’m about to say this one to a chick I barely know, especially one I am totally in to.”
“Out with it! I wanna hear it!” I demanded as I snickered, putting my hand on his forearm.
“Fine, here goes nothing. Here’s to the breezes that blow through the treezes, that lift the girl’s skirt high above her kneezes, it reveals a spot that teases and pleases. Here’s to snatch, down the hatch!”
I laughed uncontrollably. “That definitely is a good one and I am totally going to have to steal it.”