I can’t help it but the words fly out—‘Yeah, well, it wasn’t Parker’s name she was crying out the other night, so …’
Wolfman chokes on his drink, whacking his chest as he coughs. ‘Are you kidding me? You’re sleeping together?’
I dip my head, widening my eyes at his overly loud voice, then grit out, ‘No, it’s not—it’s not like that. We’re just friends.’
He shakes his head. ‘Just friends, my ass. You’re a terrible liar, you know that?’ Wolfman drinks down the last dregs of his beer. ‘I’m gonna need another beer before we get into this. Want one?’
‘Sure,’ I push out, leaning back in my seat with a sigh as he climbs out the booth. Why can’t I just keep my mouth shut for once?
As soon as Wolfman’s gone, I’m left with the view of Honey and the back of Parker’s head again through the gaps in the groups filling the middle booths. And I can’t rip my eyes away—at the coy smile she flashes as they speak, the occasional melody of her chuckle that I can hear over the music all this distance away, the fairy lights in the rafters twinkling in her eyes.
It reminds me of how alone I am—how usually I’d have picked up a girl at the bar by now, and she’d be sat here with me, pressed up against my side. It’s the only way I’m going to distract myself. Even if it’s not what I truly want.
Because what I want ran away from me nine years ago and doesn’t seem to have changed her mind.
I stand from the booth, letting my eyes wander the bar as I take in the groups of women clustered around the haunt. Painted lips, low cut tops, and thighs wrapped in tight denim promise me plenty. But nobody feels distracting enough to keep my head from turning back to where Honey giggles shyly with Parker.
That is until my gaze snags on a blonde woman I’m pretty sure was one of Holly Slade’s friends in high school. Tara is her name, I think.
Everyone knows that blondes aren’t my type—so much so that they rarely ever approach me anymore. Even if they don’t realise that the reason why is the beautiful blonde sat a few booths down, most likely on a date with another man. A man who would slot into that stable life she’salways going on about, I bet. Much easier than a beaten down bull rider.
I might have hung up my horns trying to be a better man the second Honey came back into my life with pointless hope, but I think it’s time I fix them back on. Hopefully with Tara’s help.
19
Honey
‘Well, ain’t this cute,’ Sawyer’s drawl cuts right through my conversation with Parker as he appears at the end of our booth.
Obviously, he’s smirking at us both under that thick moustache of his, arms crossed and tensing plenty so that his biceps are bulging out of his T-shirt. The angle of his head has a loose strand of hair falling endearingly over his forehead. He’s the perfect picture of the devil, hard edges and a torturously handsome grin highlighted in red by the glow of the neon signs around the bar. Temptation wrapped up in Wranglers and boots and it has my bodybuzzing.
The only problem—there’s a beautiful woman hanging by his side. The one he’s been talking to at the bar for the last half hour while Wolfman chats with her friend. She’s in a tight little low-cut sweater dress and knee-high boots that emphasise her long legs.
And to make matters worse, she’s blonde. Heneverdates blondes. I’ve seen enough social media and news articlesover the years and heard enough small town gossip since I’ve been back to know that he’s never been seen with a blonde.
Except for tonight.
I shouldn’t take it personally, but it’s a knife in the gut regardless. A hammer shattering the illusion that I might be the reason he never dated blondes. That I might still hold a place in his heart.
Parker’s sigh is telling enough as he slowly looks up at Sawyer. It only makes Sawyer’s grin spread further.
‘Like a little high school reunion,’ Sawyer teases, before he unexpectedly scoots into the booth beside me. He gestures to the seat next to Parker for the woman to sit in. ‘You remember Tara, right?’
‘Hey, y’all.’ Tara waves and flashes us all a sweet smile.
Taking up as much space as possible, Sawyer stretches his arm out across the back of the booth behind me, oddly claiming considering the woman he just picked up is here. Still, the sudden heat of him next to me, the momentary brush of his solid thigh against mine, sends a jolt of warmth through me and I have to shuffle slightly away.
Thisis why I had to come out tonight—to give my body some respite from him. I knew being left alone with Sawyer for the weekend was never going to be easy when I originally organised for my mom to look after Noah, but that was before that night on the back deck. Now I can’t go a second seeing him without hearing the words he hummed against my neck or remembering the way he curled his fingers—
Don’t go there, Honey.
Not when he’s likely about to do those very things with the beautiful woman sat opposite, and probably a couple ofother women when he’s away at the bull-riding event this weekend.
This is not how I wanted my evening to go.
I wanted my mind off him. Off the fact that I still need to break the news that my apartment is ready, and we can go home. Off the fact that my understanding of home is all muddled—that my apartment feels just as much like home as Lucky Star. Ashim.
‘Sawyer.’ Parker gives a terse nod.