Chapter Twelve
“Are you guys sure about this?”
My stomach does another flip as I pull my truck into the parking lot of
Billy Bob’s, a white clapboard building with no neighbors in sight, twenty
miles outside of Greenbank, near the highway. It looks like it might have been
a large ranch house at one point, its second story built into a high-peaked
attic. The sides haven’t seen a coat of paint in a few years.
Music blares through the gaping windows, where neon lights flash,
advertising various liquor and beer brands.
“My friend is meeting us here tonight.” Veronica eyes the row of bikes
parked along the curb, leather-clad men and women alike hanging off each
other, bottles of beer in hand, laughing boisterously.
What the hell am I doing here?
We pile out of my truck. I can’t help but do a double take at all of them.
When we pulled away from Jenny’s house, waving at her mom, they were in
regular t-shirts and summer skirts. As soon as we rounded the corner, they
started stripping, revealing tank tops and jean shorts that barely cover their
asses. They traded sandals for heels hiding in someone’s backpack, and spent
the last fifteen minutes testing out the lights on my visor mirrors to cake on
their makeup.
I do a quick glance at my clothes. Having no idea what we were doing
and not having many options, I settled on jeans and a black tank top that I had
borrowed from Katie and forgot to return. It’s far from fancy, but it’s tight and
low-cut and has a slogan across the front that says, “If it feels good, do it.”
The scathing look on Mama’s face when she saw me come down in it made it
all worth it.
But Jenny made me pull over and take my jeans off right in the driver
side, swapping them for this black skirt that’s loose but short. Really short.
A man in his midtwenties is leaning against the thick post on the front
porch, his smirk growing more lascivious as his eyes pass each of us. He’s
one of the bikers, I gather by his heavy black boots and leather cut. His chin-
length blond hair is pushed back off his forehead, allowing me a good
glimpse of his handsome face.
When his eyes land on me, they settle on my chest for a good five
seconds.
I can’t help but cross my arms.
He chuckles. “Sounds like you and I are a lot alike.”
Doubt that.
Reaching a hand out, he scoops Veronica up with one tattooed arm, his
fingers sliding up her shorts to grasp her ass. And squeeze. In front of
everyone.
“Hey, baby. Missed you,” he murmurs, burying his face in her neck for
a second.
I can’t help but widen my eyes.
Veronica is with a biker?
Oh boy. Between simply wearing cut-off jean shorts and dating a biker,
I think her mother, who leads the choir at the church and wears a dress 365
days of the year, would gladly take the shorts.
I’m guessing she has no idea about him, though.
“That’s Declan. She met him at her dad’s shop. He brought his car in
for fixing.”
“Oh.” I guess that would make sense. How else would their two
worlds ever collide?
Veronica pulls away to give him a pouty look. “Where have you been?”
He shrugs, releasing her but not without running her body down the
front of his in a very deliberate move. “Here and there.” His gaze shifts to me
again. “Who’s the new girl?”
“That’s our DD. Come on, I want a drink.” She grabs hold of his hand
and tugs him inside. He follows with a playful grin on his face.
It stinks of beer inside. Not freshly poured beer either. Stale beer, as if
it’s been spilled and left to soak into the worn wood floors and tables for
decades, and it’s never coming out.
To the left is a simple bar with a weathered-looking bleach-blonde
woman about twenty-five pounds too heavy behind it, gabbing and smiling as
she pours drinks, breasts to rival mine in size spilling out of a loose top.
Everywhere else are people of every age, most of them people I don’t
recognize. Which is odd, being only twenty miles away from Greenbank,
where it’s like I know everyone.
“Band plays over there on Friday nights.” Jenny points to a stage on the
right.
“How often do you come here?”
“This will be our third time.” Her eyes graze the crowd. “There are so
many hot guys here.”
Clearly I have misjudged the debate team captain and mathlete Jenny in
a major way.
I let my eyes wander, too, to the source of music—a jukebox beside the
stage. A muscular man with sandy-brown hair flips through the catalogue of
songs while an exotic brunette woman in a spandex tight-fitting dress grinds
into his side, running her long, hot-pink nails back and forth over his back
intimately.
I wanted to get out of the house and forget the fact that I’m not with
Henry, but this isn’t where I want to be. The staff lodge at Wolf Cove, sharing
drinks and stories with Ronan and Katie and my other friends… that’s more
what I was thinking.
This place feels… off.
Beth thrusts a bottle of beer in my hand.
I try to give it back to her. “I can’t. I’m driving.” After Saturday night,
I’m definitely not ever drinking again.
She rolls her eyes at me. “It’s one drink, and we’re not leaving for a
few hours.”
A few hours. Great.
I take the bottle for the sake of holding something, and then trail them
toward the back.
~ ~ ~
“When are you going to see Henry again?” Jenny leans in to glance at my
phone.
I pull it against my chest, protectively. So you’re on a first-name basis
with him, too? “Not for a while. He’s leaving for Beijing in the morning.”
She sighs. “Wow, that’s so cool. Too bad you can’t go with him.”
“Yeah, too bad.” Though, after what Mama pulled, I want to just pick
up and leave. But I can’t do that to Daddy.
“Jenny!” A blonde girl waves at Jenny from the other side of the table.
“Sherri!” Jenny squeals. “I’ll come around and give you a squeeze in a
bit, okay?”
“Okay!”
The blonde gets herded along the path by a broad-chested guy who’s
holding her hand. He glances once our way before continuing on.
Jenny leans in. “She has no idea that I fucked him out back about a
month ago.”
It takes me a few seconds to recover from that bit of naked truth. “Were
they together then?”
She snorts. “Yeah. For, like, a year now. And she thinks he’s so in love
with her.” The smug smile on her face as she watches them talk to someone
else tells me she doesn’t feel the least bit guilty about it.
“Wow. That’s….” I’m not sure exactly what I want to say.
I really don’t think I like you?
One of Declan’s friends hollers at Jenny and she immediately abandons
me to climb over the table, flipping her hair over her shoulder. They’ve been
flirting all night and I’m pretty sure they’re going to hook up soon.
Declan and Veronica disappeared for a while, but they’re back and
standing at the next table over, her hand settled on the buckle of his jeans
possessively. She’s had at least two shots of something amber since she’s
been back, so I’m guessing she’s drunk.
Where Beth is, I have no idea. I haven’t seen her in a while.
Everyone at that table is drunk, I’m sure. They’re all smiling and
laughing hysterically, shouting over each other, their hands all over the place.
And the one guy has this intense expression on his face like….
My eyes widen as I catch a glimpse of a head in his lap. I’m guessing
it’s a woman. She must be crouched under the table, her body mixed among
the tangle of feet because I can’t see the rest of her. All I can see is that head,
bobbing up and down to the beat of the music, her brunette hair spilled on
either side.
Is this what they do at bars like this?
I avert my gaze and shrink into my corner, where I’ve been holed up for
the past two hours, watching everyone chug back pitchers of beer.
My phone vibrates in my hand.
Tell them they can get a ride with you now or they’ll have to find their own way home.
I can’t just abandon them.
I didn’t hear from Henry until about an hour ago, after I told him where
I was and how much I’d rather be anywhere than here. I haven’t told him
what my mother did. Partly because I’m embarrassed, but mostly because I
don’t want him looking at this as proof that maybe we shouldn’t be together.
He suggested that once already, and it nearly ripped my heart out.
Honestly, I don’t even think it’s about Mama hating Henry. Mama just
has a plan for her life, and her life involves my life, and she may be the most
narrowly focused human being on the face of the earth.
A commotion starts at the table right next to us. Declan is standing
chest to chest with a guy who looks a lot like him—blond hair, scruffy face,
leather, handsome. They’re staring each other down as they exchange low
words. Veronica has been pushed off to the side, replaced by three or four
guys, their hands flexing.
Readying for a fight, it would seem.
Where the hell are the bouncers? I glance around, but don’t see any. I
do, however, see the bartender pulling a baseball bat out from beneath the
bar and tossing it to a big burly man with a long beard and a bandana over
his head.
He cuts his way through the crowd and taps Declan’s shoulder with the
end of it. “Am I gonna have to send you home with a cracked skull?”
I note that he doesn’t address the other guy. Either he has ties to him, or
Declan is the real threat here.
After a painfully long moment, Declan’s body visibly relaxes and that
wide, leisurely grin stretches across his face. “No issues at all, Dad. Just
making sure he knows she’s mine.”
Several eyes flicker over to Veronica, clearly the root of this
confrontation.
“She’s with you. Got it.” The other guy’s Adam’s apple bobs with a
hard swallow.
“Well, all right then.” Declan ropes his arm around the guy’s neck
playfully, ruffling his hair once. “Glad I didn’t have to beat your ass. Mom
wouldn’t have liked it.”
Oh my God. They’re brothers.
Who were going to start a brawl over Veronica.
I’ve got to get out of here.
“Take your dick fight outside next time,” the bearded man—their father,
apparently—mutters, sauntering back toward the bar, tossing the bat toward
the bartender. She catches it with one hand, her other hand keeping a pitcher
held up to a tap with deft precision.
Veronica shifts back into Declan’s side with a nervous smile, her eyes
flickering to his brother’s face a few times. The second Declan looks away,
his brother winks at her.
I have a feeling these two are going to fight before the end of the night,
and I really don’t want to be here for that.
I squeeze out of my corner and weave through the crowd toward the
narrow hallway in the back. It’s unmarked, but I’ve seen enough people
milling in and out of there to guess that this is where the restrooms must be.
It’s lined with people, leaning against either wall in small groups of
two and three, beers in hand. None of them look like they’re actually waiting
in line, so I slip around them, looking for the sign for women’s. I find it on
the left. But the door is locked, occupied, forcing me to wait.
“Abigail!” Jenny calls out. I turn to see her pointing to a door I just
passed. “Meet us in here, after.”
“Actually, I really think I want to….” My voice drifts as she
disappears into the room. “Leave.”
With a sigh, I settle against the wall and wait.
Ten minutes later, there’s a line behind me and I’m crossing my legs.
I’d even consider using the men’s bathroom, if it wasn’t occupied too.
“Come on! Hurry up!” A guy pounds on the men’s room door, turning to
shake his head at me. “Ridiculous that they don’t have stalls, isn’t it?” he
mutters with a slur.
I nod in agreement, because it is. There must be two hundred people
packed into this bar. This has to be some sort of code violation. Among
many, I’m sure.
He holds up the half-empty pitcher of beer. “You need a drink.”
“I’ve got one back at the table. Thanks,” I lie, trying not to cringe. I
watched the busser dumping the ends of several pitchers into one and then
topping it up with draft beer when they thought no one was looking. I guess
they don’t like waste.
The door to the men’s washroom opens.
“Finally!” he hollers, watching as, of all people, Beth stumbles out,
drunk.
And trailing behind her… Jed.
I’m not sure who’s more shocked.
His eyes widen when they take me in. “Abigail? What are you doing
here?”
“If you’re gonna fuck, next time go outside so people can piss,” the
drunk guy with the pitcher complains before slamming the door shut.
“It’s not what it looks like.” His eyes dart to Beth, whose smooth, sleek
hair is all mussed and her bright pink lipstick has been smeared.
Some of it, on his lips.
He couldn’t possibly look more guilty than if I had actually walked in
on them doing it.
I do the only thing I can. I start to laugh. “It’s exactly what it looks like,
Jed. And I don’t care. I’m glad you’re moving on.” Even if it is with Beth.
“I’m not, though! I swear. I’m still waiting for you!”
The women’s bathroom door opens and two women walk out, smiling
and brushing their hands against their noses. I try to step in but he grabs my
arm.
“I swear, I’m not moving on. I just needed….” He frowns. “I have
needs!”
I tug my arm away. “And you should go fill them with Beth, or whoever
else you want. Because I seriously don’t care!”
He flinches as if I slapped him. “You don’t mean that.”
“Actually, I do. And I have to pee.”
Beth sways into Jed, falling against his chest, her eyes closing.
“Be a good person and drive her home now. She’s too drunk to be
here.” With that, I lock myself in the bathroom.
One down, two to go.
Something tells me getting Jenny and Veronica out of here won’t be
nearly so easy.
~ ~ ~
The door to the room is pushed shut, and there’s a sign hanging off the nail
that says Private.
I knock on it once, rather gingerly.
“Just go in, doll!” someone hollers, chuckling at me as they pass by.
Okay….
I turn the knob and step into a narrow hall that leads into a dimly lit
room.
“Who is it!” a deep male voice hollers.
“Abbi.”
“Close the door.”
I comply, pushing it shut softly behind me. Ahead of me, balls skate
across the green felt surface of a pool table as someone takes a turn, and a
red-striped ball sinks into the side pocket.
A round of male cheers goes up.
“Better catch up soon, ladies,” Declan teases.
They’re playing pool. Okay. This, I can handle. More than what’s going
on out there.
I step into the room just as Jenny’s shorts hits the floor. On the other
side of the table, Veronica is stumbling out of hers, too.
“What took you so long?” Declan smiles down at me in that
mischievous way of his. “Your friends are losing and losing fast.”
And they’re clearly playing for clothes.
The girls are down to nothing but their bras and panties, everything
else, including shoes, cast to the floor.
Meanwhile Declan and the guy Jenny was flirting with are only missing
their shirts.
“We’re just warming up.” Veronica chalks her stick and puckers her
lips to blow on it, sending blue powder into the air.
“Beth just got a ride home with Jed. I’m going to head out too, so if you
want a ride now….”
“Let us just finish this game.” Declan’s big hands fall on my shoulders
to massage them, a touch too rough. “Okay?”
“Okay,” I hear myself squeak. Because what else do I say to this big,
burly guy, no doubt anxious to see these girls naked?
“Here, we’ll even let them take the next shot, even though it’s ours.”
He guides me over to a black leather couch that has probably seen a lot of
asses and, by what’s going on in here, maybe other things too. There’s
actually a small sign above it that reads, “No cum on the felt—Management.”
Oh my God.
“Why don’t you just sit your pretty little self next to my brother and
watch. Gunner, this is DD. DD, this is Gunner.”
“Hey, Double D.”
I turn to offer Gunner a polite smile, and find his eyes locked to my
chest.
“Maybe you two can play each other next,” Declan suggests, slapping
Veronica’s bare ass as she leans over the table to take her shot, her pink
thong leaving nothing to the imagination.
I avert my gaze, feeling my cheeks blush.
“What’s wrong? Never seen this before?”
I’ve seen this and a lot more, I could say, but I have a feeling that
admitting that won’t help me in this situation.
Veronica misses the shot. “Damn it!” She giggles.
“This isn’t fair!” Jenny moans.
“Top or bottom, top or bottom…. What do you think, bro?” Declan
calls out.
Gunner seems to ponder it for a moment. “Let Double D pick.” He
nudges my leg with his.
I shrink away from him, earning his laugh. “No. It’s okay.”
“Come on. You gotta pick!” Declan booms, and they all stare at me,
expectantly.
“Whatever ends this game faster so I can go home,” I finally mutter.
Declan grins. “You heard her. Bottoms, ladies.”
They look at each other with a hint of nervousness and then, with
matching giggles, they slide their panties off.
“Damn….” Jenny’s guy—Mutt, I heard Declan call him a minute ago—
murmurs, his eyes locked on the thin strip of hair between Jenny’s legs.
“Take your shot.” Declan slams the end of his pool cue against his
thigh, making him flinch.
He does, quickly and with seemingly little effort, sinking two balls at
once.
Declan grins, his eyes shifting between Veronica and Jenny, watching
expectantly as the two of them reach for their bra clasps. Beside me, Gunner
shifts in his seat, his legs falling farther apart.
I’m beginning to grasp the rules, and they don’t seem very fair. So, if
they miss a shot, they have to strip, and if their opponents sink a ball, they
have to strip. The guys have only lost their shirts, which means they’ve only
missed once.
Did Jenny and Veronica realize they’d be naked long before the game
was even finished?
Because that’s what they are now: buck naked in a pool room in Billy
Bob’s, with three guys staring at them, looking ready to bend them over the
table any second.
And somehow I’ve been caught in the middle of this.
“I can wait in my truck for you guys.” I reach for my purse but
Gunner’s faster, grabbing it and moving it to the other side of him, out of my
reach.
“You’re the only sober one here. You’ve got to make sure your friends
make it home safe.” He says that with a dark look in his eye. He’s toying with
my guilty conscience. Because, yes, I’m the DD and yes, I can’t just leave
them in here. Especially not now.
“So, what now?” Jenny asks shyly, tucking a strand of hair behind her
ear as her eyes dart from Mutt to Declan to Veronica, dropping to take in her
friend’s naked frame. They’re quite similar, though Veronica’s breasts are
bigger and perkier.
I wonder if they’ve done this together before? Jenny seems nervous
enough to make me think not.
Mutt takes a step back and gestures at the table. “How about we let you
take a shot.”
She bites her bottom lip as she searches the table, settling on the solid
yellow ball in front of him.
She leans down to ready her stick.
And Mutt moans at his view of her from behind, inciting a round of
laughter from his friends. “This just isn’t fair,” he grumbles.
She sinks the ball into the hole with a squeal and a jump, her perky
breasts bouncing.
The guys kick off their boots.
She misses her next shot.
What now? There’s nothing left to remove.
“Rony, why don’t you take a turn?” Declan nods toward the table.
Veronica shrugs, seemingly more comfortable right now than Jenny. Or
Mutt, who’s had to adjust his groin area twice in the past thirty seconds.
She faces us this time as she gets ready, leaning over the table, her
brow furrowed as she eyes the solid green ball.
“Hey!” She jumps a little, enough for me to see the wide end of the
pool stick just barely sticking out between her legs.
Declan doesn’t stop though, coming up closer behind her, nudging one
of her legs farther apart, sliding it back and forth against her clit.
“You’re distracting me!” she complains, but it’s through a soft pant.
Beside me, I hear “fuck” slide out between Gunner’s lips and his own
breathing grows ragged. He climbs off the couch and comes around to stand
next to Declan, his arms flexed and folded over his chest, his eyes sharing the
same view as his brother.
My purse still within his grip.
Declan smiles, adjusting the angle of his wrist slightly. The tip of the
pool cue sinks into her.
Her eyes close and her lips part. The moan that escapes her lips isn’t
one of pain.
“Take the shot.”
She does, finally, and somehow manages to sink the ball.
Declan yanks on his belt, unfastening it, letting his jeans drop to the
floor. His hard cock juts out inside his boxers, waiting. “One more ball,
baby. That’s all you need to get.”
Until what?
Wariness grows inside me. I really don’t want to be here.
Jenny cries out. My head snaps to the far right corner to find her
sprawled out on an old wooden rectangular table with her legs thrown over
Mutt’s shoulders. Mutt, with his pants pooled down around his ankles, and
his hands gripping her thighs, is thrusting in and out of her with abandon. I
was so distracted by the others, I didn’t even notice those two sneak off.
Jenny’s drunk. Am I supposed to stop this? She may have been nervous
to strip in front of everyone, but it doesn’t seem like she cares who’s
watching Mutt fuck her now. I know that stage. I’ve been there a few times
and it’s heaven.
Despite how uncomfortable this whole situation is, I find myself
squeezing my thighs tight with anticipation for that feeling.
“Purple, in the corner pocket,” Declan demands. “From over there, on
Double D’s side.”
Veronica’s eyes flicker to me once and then she’s rounding the table
until she’s on the side closest to me, twisting and turning her body, trying to
figure out the right angle. Finally, she perches herself on the edge of the table
and lifts one thigh up, opening her legs up wide. She stretches the stick
behind her back, pushing her chest out. It’s an odd, very revealing position,
and I’m sure Declan knew that when he chose the ball.
As she tries to get a handle on the angle, Declan comes around to
continue sliding the slick, fat end of his pool cue over her clit. “What do you
think, Double D? You want to play a round with my brother, after?”
Over to the right, the table bangs repeatedly against the wall. Mutt has
flipped Jenny over onto her stomach and is driving into her. It reminds me of
the way Henry fucked me in the barn.
God, what will Henry say when I tell him what happened? Will he be
pissed that I stayed and watched instead of leaving them here? Or would he
be more pissed that I left two drunk girls with these guys?
Two drunk girls who don’t seem nearly as innocent as I thought they
were.
“No. I can’t. I’m sorry.” I stand and begin moving away from the couch
and the table.
Gunner’s suddenly there, blocking my view of the exit. “Where are you
going?”
“Just over there.” To the doorway, to hide.
Veronica takes the shot, putting the ball into the pocket. She flops on
the table with a laugh. But it doesn’t last long before Declan’s dragging her
off the table by her thighs. “You know the rules about the felt.” He gives her a
gentle push into the couch, and yanks his boxers down.
And then he turns to look at me, his rigid cock in his hand as he
languidly strokes it.
I avert my gaze but not nearly fast enough to avoid the sight.
He grins and grabs the back of Veronica’s head, pushing himself into
her mouth.
She opens wide, accepting him hungrily. “So, Double D? You gonna
play or what?”
All I can do is shake my head.
“Too bad.” He juts his chin toward Gunner. Some sort of silent signal
passes between the two of them.
Gunner thrusts my purse into my hand on his way past me. “Stay and
watch, or wait in your truck for them. Up to you. We’ll be a bit.” He
unbuckles his pants and pushes them down as he settles back onto the couch,
giving me a glimpse of his rigid cock. It’s even bigger than his brother’s.
“Ready, Rony?”
Declan pulls out of Veronica’s mouth just long enough for his brother to
hoist her up and onto his lap. She cries out as he sinks into her, only to have
the sound muffled by Declan’s thick cock sliding back into her mouth.
For a brother who was going to start a brawl earlier over her, he
certainly shares well.
And I think both girls are fine. Drunk, but fully aware of what’s going
on. I’m the poor sucker here.
“I’ll be waiting in my truck for you guys.” I doubt that anyone’s
listening to me. Hugging my purse to my chest, I run for the door.
Someone—likely Declan—pulled the latch across the top, locking
people out.
I yank on it now and throw open the door.
And plow into a hard body.
I look up into familiar and devastating crystal-blue eyes.
