say.
Mitch’s voice huffed into a defeated sigh, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “Mags, I’m sorry, I was just shocked. That’s all, and with everything ...” He locked his wide eyes on the floor and rubbed the back of his neck angrily a few time.
I looked around to all of the bystanders as Walker came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing the back of my head. No one looked mad; just sadness blanketed their faces. Everyone started to murmur amongst themselves, shrugging. One of the guys broke from the group and clapped Walker on the shoulder, smiling down at me, “We all miss Randy, but ... if you two are really together, who are we to judge?”
Mitch handed Walker a towel to sop up the blood from his busted lip. “If you hurt her, man, a fat lip won’t be your only punishment.” They both chuckled and Walker agreed he would treat me as well as I deserved, and I nodded that I would do the same for Walker.
Unknowingly, Walker and I had just solidified ourselves as a couple without even thinking it through. A slight panic came to my chest, not knowing if I was really ready for this kind of commitment. I waved away my insecurities and stress to enjoy the moment.
We all gathered back into the living room to watch the end of the game. Like we had predicted, our team fell short, never able to recover from that fumble in the first quarter. We were used to the disappointment by now, so no one seemed too upset at the loss. Walker and I said our goodbyes to everyone and made our way to his truck hand-in-hand. I was so relieved that everything went well.
Opening the door for me, Walker grinned. “Do you want to go home, take a shower, and then go out tonight?”
I smiled back at him and nodded. I was finally ready to act like a couple, why not go and celebrate my newfound happiness? This was just one more step out of the darkness of my depression that I was so glad to be taking.
17
After getting home, taking a shower and nap, the long day tailgating still weighed heavy on my mind. Even though it was a great day, the regret of how Mitch found out about Walker and I was a little rough for me to deal with. I pushed the guilt and stress from my mind once Walker’s truck turned off in the parking lot of The Saloon. I was determined to not let anything ruin this night with Walker.
Walker’s hand rested on the small of my back as we made our way to our usual spot at the back bar top of The Saloon. Even with all of the line dancing, boots stomping and music blaring, I could still hear my breathing and heartbeat quicken at the slightest touch from him. Through the dim lighting, I turned and beamed up into his light green eyes, happy we weren’t fighting anymore. Right then, I promised myself Randy would not assault my thoughts and ruin the evening again, but it was getting more painful as the smell of the bar brought back so many memories.
The dirty carpet reminded me of the first time Walker and Randy took Cali and me to The Saloon during freshman year. She and I were appalled the guys brought us to such a dump. After a few shots, Cali and I were tearing up the dance floor, making Randy and Walker teach us every line dance possible. The smile on the bartenders’ faces brought back how Randy knew every one of the veteran barkeeps. Hot red filled my cheeks at that thought; most of the people here knew Randy before he died and here I was making goo-goo eyes at his best friend. Suddenly, I felt sick.
Climbing onto the bar stool, I gestured a polite nod at a not-so-pleasant grin lurking at the other end of the bar. Cindy’s long blonde hair whipped around as she made her way, huffing to the back room. After the events of the last time we saw each other, I would have done the same thing. I smiled to myself knowing t tramp had tried to sink her claws into Walker’s flesh for the last time. The little moment of victory was incredibly sweet. I heard him chuckle next to me, obviously seeing my triumphant grin. He ordered us two Bud bottles and shots of whiskey, calling it our usual to our bartender. His hand slid into mine as I turned to face him. The dark haired bartender smiled warmly and winked at me as she placed our order in front of us; apparently she enjoyed my effect on her co-worker just as much as I did.
“To roommates.” Walker grinned at me, holding his beer up for mine to clank against.
I replied with a giggle, “To us,” and took a long swig of my beer.
Next, we quickly threw back our shots. I thought Walker was going to spit his out from laughing at the awful face I made while letting the amber liquid burn my throat.
“Come on Mags, don’t turn into a lightweight on me.” Walker knew exactly how to get my attention, and I gestured to have two more shots slammed onto the bar. We smiled at each other, saluted to a good night out, and fired the second round down. Chasing my whiskey with some beer, I popped off the stool and held my hand out for Walker. My favorite dance was starting and I was ready to do some boot scooting. Smiling, Walker grabbed my hand and led me onto the dance floor.
We jumped in line and started to dance away, laughing and letting our drinks soak into our blood. Slowly I started to care less about who was watching, and more about the times Walker’s hand brushed my shoulder or hip. It was amazing to me how nice the shivers traveling down my spine felt. Huffing and puffing as the song ended, I threw my arms around Walker’s neck and kissed him hard on the mouth. He responded quickly and passionately but pulled away just as fast. I leaned back on my heels to frown at him, but his smile was too adorable to even fake a mad face at.
A two-step started and Walker began to lead me around the dance floor in unison with the other couples. He pulled me in close and kissed my hair before really getting into rhythm with the rest going around the wood floor. As we made our way around the circle, our eyes met with tons of people we knew and to my surprise, they all waved and smiled warmly. Maybe no one saw me as the harlot I felt I was, and that notion was comforting.
Once the song came to an end, I felt Walker’s soft lips barely brush my ear asking me if I was ready for another drink. My entire body buzzed with excitement as I agreed and let him lead me through the crowd by our intertwined fingers. I was practically giddy with attraction and lust by the time the beer brushed my lips. I turned my back to the bar, leaning against it to relax and people watch for a moment. Walker turned to me, resting his hand on my knee and leaned in to give me a quick kiss on the cheek. “I’m having a great evening, for the first time, in too long …” His husky, southern voice trailed off in my ear as a goofy grin spread across my face.
I nodded and mouthed the words “me too” in his direction.
A familiar pair of eyes caught my attention from across the bar and my blood went cold. Kris Brennan was a fling that had entertained me during one wild spring break cruise Cali and I took together during college. Kris and his fraternity brother, Braden, were a secret buried down deep in our girl’s week we swore to never tell our guys about. Randy and I were in the middle of an epic battle of stubbornness during that time and were on a “break”. That week had forever been referred to as our spring fling but only in the confidence of Cali’s and my friendship.
I had barely seen Kris since, even though we went to the same college and were both actively part of Greek life. I think it was because I avoided him, and his entire fraternity for that matter, at all costs. The handful of times I had seen him, he always referred to my love for key lime pie or some other snide reference to our sex-capade of an encounter. I gulped as he held his beer up to gesture 'hi' to me with a wide devilish grin on his charming face as his eyes darted to my ring-less finger. To my horror, he started to make his way around the bar to us. He was just about a few inches shorter than Walker, built kind of like a soccer player, which, standing next to Walker’s line-baker form, made Kris look puny. If Kris wasn’t such a sleaze ball, I would have still considered him attractive with his sandy blonde hair and big, round, chestnut eyes.
My entire body tensed as his velvety voice, as sexy as he could make it, breathed a hello in my direction. I did the polite half hug, kiss on the cheek gesture of, “Hey Kris,” that he went in for as Walker’s grip on my knee tightened to an almost painful level.
Pulling away as quickly as I could from Kris’s awkward embrace, I put my hand on top of Walker’s and introduced the guys. Walker’s eyes were sending laser beams into Kris’ as they greeted each other with only head
