Thank fucking God.
But that wasn’t why I was going reserve. I was going reserve because I needed to be home to help with bills and shit so that my little sister actually went to school instead of having to take care of my mother—the laziest piece of shit you’d ever meet.
Not that Shawn needed to know that. The less Shawn knew, the less he could share. Seriously, I loved the guy, but Shawn somehow always seemed to share every single detail about my life when he was talking, yet none of his. Which, I supposed, was by design. Shawn didn’t have a much better home life than I did. The only difference was, Shawn seemed to care a whole lot more than I did at this point.
Swayze’s eyes came to me. “What’s next for you, Trick?”
What’s next? What was next was for me to go home to Vermont, help my mother raise my little sister, and hope that I didn’t get sucked back in like last time.
“Going home,” I said. “To school, most likely. I have a job lined up at a bar.”
Her eyes sparkled at my words. “That sounds like a lot of fun.”
She was teasing me.
She was also leaned so far forward on the bar so that she could see me that it was comical.
Shawn needed to take a hint.
Shawn would stick it out to the bitter end, though.
He didn’t like being told he’d lost.
“Tell us about yourself, Swayze,” Shawn urged, leaning forward slightly.
“I…”
The bartender interrupted us.
He was a stout old man with hard, uncompromising eyes.
Former military.
There was no doubt about that.
“What can I get you two?” the hardass bartender asked, shooting Shawn a disapproving look.
Shawn leaned away from Swayze almost on instinct.
“I’ll take a beer. Dark. Whatever you have on tap,” I rumbled.
The bartender’s eyes flicked to me, then to Shawn. “You?”
“Bud. Tap,” he stammered.
My lips twitched.
“I’ll have another, Papa,” Swayze said. “Have you seen Dad? I was supposed to meet him here, but he’s not in the back room.”
Something shuttered over the bartender’s eyes. “Haven’t seen him, honey girl. Just sit right there and wait for him.”
The man was lying.
I knew that without a shadow of a doubt.
The bartender knew where Swayze’s father was, he just didn’t want her to know where he was.
Or maybe what he was doing.
Whatever the reason, I had a feeling Swayze’s father wasn’t a good guy.
My eyes went back to the woman once the bartender left to get our drinks.
She looked pissed.
“Wow, he was intense,” Shawn declared the moment he was out of earshot.
“Former military. Marines,” Swayze admitted. “He’s a lovable guy. To women. Men don’t find him nearly as lovable.”
“I would think not,” I teased.
She shot me a warm smile and then turned her gaze on the bar top, her fingers absently picking apart a napkin.
Shawn got up and slapped me on the back. “You can have her, man.”
Then he was moving toward the end of the bar, leaving the spot empty between the two of us, and heading in the direction of another blonde at the opposite side of the bar. This one looking a whole lot more attainable for him… and looser.
One with quite a few less morals.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Swayze questioned as she looked in my direction.
I gritted my teeth, wanting to curse Shawn.
He couldn’t win, so he didn’t want me to win, either.
But, since I was honest to a fault, I told her the answer anyway.
“When we got out of our truck, we saw you walking inside.” I shrugged. “I called dibs but he whined because he saw you first. It’s a stupid game that he likes to play. One that annoys the piss out of me.”
“So you weren’t playing any games?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
“I find that it works out better for me in the long run if I’m completely honest and open about my intentions,” I admitted. “It allows for fewer misunderstandings.”
She tilted her head slightly. “What kinds of intentions are you having right now?”
My lips curled up at the edges.
“Ones that have you in my hotel room at the end of the night.” I shrugged. “I’d offer you more but, as of eight tomorrow morning, I’m on a flight home to Vermont. Unfortunately.”
She blinked owlishly at me.
Just before she opened her mouth to say more, our drinks were placed down in front of us.
“I’m not sure you’re ready for me,” she said the moment her ‘Papa’ walked away again.
I took a drink of my beer, nearly groaning at the taste.
Shit, that was good.
I hadn’t had an ice-cold beer in so damn long.
“Good?” she asked after I took my second sip.
“The best,” I admitted. “Haven’t had a beer in a really long damn time.”
“Or a girl,” Swayze teased.
My lips twitched. “Or a girl.”
“Do you have a girlfriend?” Swayze wondered.
My eyes were caught on her breasts as she swung around to face me on her barstool, her legs going to the rungs on the barstool between us before she leaned forward, giving me an even better view.
My eyes automatically went to the space between her breasts.
Then to her nipples, which were hard.
“No girlfriend,” I admitted. “Don’t have time for one.”
“Why not?” she asked, moving her hands to rest on her knees.
I licked my lips. “I have a sister that needs special care. When I’m not doing something, I’m at home with her.”
“Special needs?” she asked.
I nodded. “My sister is thirteen and has Down syndrome. My mother is… non-existent.”
Swayze wrinkled her nose. “Your mother doesn’t help? With her own child?”
I snorted before taking another sip of my beer. “My mother doesn’t help herself. How could she help her own child?”
Swayze’s eyes were curious as she took a drink.
“And that makes you responsible?” she asked.
“It makes me what it makes me,” I admitted. “Enough about me, though. Tell me about you.”
She wrinkled her nose again.
Damn, it was cute when she did that.
“I’m here meeting my father on my
