Beck smiled, his chin held high. “I’m single, so no lady talk for me.”
“Don’t even get me started on your woman problems,” I said to him. “Woman as in singular.”
Beck’s smile fell, knowing exactly who I was talking about. He wanted to give me shit about Sage? I could throw it right back in his smug face.
“Brothers,” Bailey murmured, like he wasn’t already one of us.
“Zip it, Cooper,” Beckham warned, as if he read my thoughts.
“Anyway,” Lennon started. “Oakley texted me that Sage and the girls are going to the bar tonight, if you all wanted to join.”
I turned to look at him as my horse, Ace, continued on his way. “Sage is going to the bar?”
“Yeah?” he replied, like that wasn’t abnormal. Was it? I didn’t know Sage enough to know if she went to the bar often or not. I figured she didn’t because she didn’t typically have anyone to watch Avery, but what did I know?
“I’ll go,” I said quickly.
Beck let out a snort and I sent a glare his way. “What?”
“Don’t act too eager,” Beck teased.
Smart ass.
I wasn’t too eager. I would’ve gone either way. Sage hadn’t joined us on any of our bar nights before and I’d gone to almost all of them. It wasn’t just because of her.
Okay, a little bit was because she would be there. But we’d gone on a date and I hadn’t seen her since, so of course I wanted an excuse to see her. Plus, I liked Outlaw’s Watering Hole. The place gave that nostalgic feel and somehow, my nerves never shot up in the neon lit bar.
“Oakley said something about Mom watching Avery,” Lennon added.
“Is Sage bringing her by the ranch before they go?” I asked.
“Hoping to get back in time to see her?” Beck questioned jokingly from the side, but I continued to ignore him.
Lennon shook his head. “Mom’s in town picking up some supplies, so I believe she’s picking Avery up on her way back here.”
That made sense. It wouldn’t be logical for Sage to drive all the way out here to drop her off just to go back into town to the Watering Hole.
“When you say ‘the girls,’ you mean Brandy will be there, too, right?” Beck asked. Brandy had been Lettie’s best friend since kindergarten, so I saw her as a little sister. We were pretty close, but that’s all she was to me. Another little sister to love and care for.
I turned my attention to Beck. “What other girls do you think would be coming?”
“His buckle bunnies,” Bailey teased with a grin.
Beck gave him a mocking grin with a shake of his head and then said, “No, dipshit. But you’ve got to invite Reed.”
“Oh, God, Beck. Please. For once, I just want one fucking peaceful night at the bar,” Lennon complained.
Beck pouted. “I’m only here for a few days. I miss them sometimes.”
“So miss them separately,” Bailey said. “Even I can’t handle them in the same room together.”
“That’s saying a lot, seeing as you’re with our sister,” Beck joked.
It was Bailey’s turn to smack him on the shoulder now. They’d go back and forth like that all day if they could.
They continued poking fun at each other until we made it back to the barn about an hour later. The silence that met me in my truck was bliss as I headed home to shower off the smell of the ranch.
Something about the familiarity of Outlaw’s Watering Hole made me feel at home, how strangers rarely hung out there and you could always expect the same thing when you visited.
Seeing Sage in that bar made me anxious with excitement, like if she fit in there, somehow she could fit into my life, too.
I’d made the mistake long ago jumping into a relationship too quickly, and I was all too aware that I could be repeating history. But something about Sage McKinley drew me in like a moth to flame, and damn, if I got burned in the process, would it really be all that bad if I got to be near her for even a fraction of my life?
22
Sage
Maybe mixing alcohol with the thoughts swimming through my head wasn’t the best idea.
My eyes trailed the condensation rolling down the side of the glass as the ice melted, turning the already-weak margarita to water. I didn’t know if they served wine at bars, so I’d opted for a margarita, really only because I didn’t know what else to order.
I got pregnant shortly after I was legal to drink, so I didn’t spend much time at bars. This was the first time I’d been to one since…well, before Jason went to prison. He didn’t like me going out to bars all that often anyway. He thought I’d cheat on him. I guess what they say is true—the ones who are paranoid are more than likely the ones doing it themselves.
Unfortunately for me, I didn’t figure it out until after he went to prison. But even if I had found out before, I wouldn’t have been able to get away from him. He may be locked up in a concrete building manned with guards at all hours, but the real prison was my mind, and I wished I could say my sentence ended the day he was taken away.
Thoughts of him still haunted me, and while I thought it was getting better, today just made them come back around tenfold. I tried to keep my glances at the entrance to the bar minimal, but all I kept expecting was him walking through that door and dragging me out of here.
Avery was safe with Travis and Charlotte. We had no connection to that ranch for Jason to find us there, which meant she was okay for tonight. It was after she left there that I had to worry about.
