Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 564(@200wpm)___ 451(@250wpm)___ 376(@300wpm)
My nerves were shot as evidenced by my foot bouncing out of control. I was jonesing hardcore from being sober for the last few days. The result of giving up alcohol before anything else took a turn in the wrong direction again.
Absently, I dragged a damp terrycloth towel over the bar top, wiping away nonexistent debris. It was almost ten o’clock at night. The few patrons in attendance were regulars. They’d be dropping out, one by one, soon enough.
Maybe my problems were from being all alone in a place I never really wanted to be rather than the alcohol I drank.
Probably time for counselling, considering it was close to eight years since my world fell apart. Maybe. Seemed a lot to unpack.
I’d replaced liquor and beer with Dr. Pepper, so I grabbed a glass, dragging it through the ice and reached for the soda gun to fill the glass.
“Mace, another round,” Louis said, slurring every syllable.
“You sure? I think Debbie’s gonna be pissed,” I said, before tipping my glass for a long drink.
“She’s always pissed off. One more ain’t gonna make it any less pleasant at home,” Louis answered, and he wasn’t wrong. Debbie and Lori were longtime friends. They fueled each other’s anger.
“How ‘bout you, Rocket?” I asked, using the familiar nickname. My mouth watered as I poured Louis’s likely last beer of the night.
Instead of succumbing to the delicious taste of a cold beer, I passed Louis his cold one and reached for my phone to turn up the volume to the high-tech, old-school-looking jukebox. Luke Combs’s “Back in the Saddle” helped process my cravings as I hummed the tune.
“Nah. I gotta head out,” he said, and drained his glass empty.
“You aren’t drivin’, are ya?” I asked. Both men lived in the only housing neighborhood in town, located directly behind the bar.
“Nah. I’mma pattin’ my feet and bendin’ my legs. Makes my heart stronger,” Rocket stated loudly, saying those words every time he answered that question. A guttural laugh followed.
“Yeah, I’ll go with you,” Louis said, swaying more than Rocket when he stood. They’d be a loud twosome on their way home.
“Put it on our tab?” Rocket said, digging in his pocket to give me a ten-dollar tip.
“Same for me. Add a tip to my account,” Louis said, reaching for his cowboy hat, sitting it skewed on his head.
In that minute, I didn’t have the courage to toss the freshly poured beer, letting it sit on the bar top instead, and followed both men to the front door as they shuffled out of the bar.
“I’m leavin’, Mace,” Manny called from the back door. Better. I’d take off too as soon as I closed the till.
With a flip on the deadbolt on the main entrance, I let the country-and-western song fill my solitude. That was the exact moment when my shields lowered and my heart and head let go of the tight grip I had on them.
Tonight, like every unguarded moment of the last many days, Slade filled all my attention.
All the guys were great. Best I remembered, I ended up having a good time that night. Outside of each one’s business success, I related to all of them. They shared the same fundamentals about life as I did, but none of that mattered as much as my intense physical attraction to Slade Whitaker. It had taken effort to keep my wayward thoughts at a distance. Last night, when I left the bar, I drove the sixty or so miles to a box store open all night to load up on any magazines I found with Slade’s image.
He was so damned pretty. Slade’s facial hair hit just right for me, but the other very revealing part about Slade’s career that turned me on like a teenage boy was that Slade never wore any real clothing in any coverage in the media. Every inch of his body was ripped, tight, and tattooed. I shook my head at the images. How did Slade manage to be sexier shaved and clothed?
Man, he had it all.
Slade’s laughter rang through the far recesses of my mind. A bold, rich sound that caressed my heart and cock… Possibly imprinted there permanently.
The sudden, rapid knock on the front door startled me just as I was caught in the middle of a growing erection for no apparent reason and needing some rub time sooner rather than later. I jerked around as if being caught with my hand in a cookie jar. After my most recent thoughts, Slade’s face, peeking through the glass threw me for a loop.
Joy filled my heart. Sanity seemed uncertain.
Did I conjure his image or was he truly there?
Slade’s grin tossed my fear of a mental lapse aside. I was drawn to the guy, a magical tug, causing me to pivot, an unconscious smile spreading across my lips, giving away every feeling I’d had over the last few seconds.