Page 13

“Another drink?” I drain my pint before nodding at my pool partner’s empty glass. She shoots a quick glance at the table where a bunch of her girlfriends are watching us. Letting some random guy at a bar bring you a drink isn’t smart but I can tell she’s about to say yes, against her better judgment. “Why don’t you come with me?” I say on impulse. I don’t want to be responsible for this girl trusting the next guy who makes the same offer.
I take Tess and Con’s order before leading Sara through the crowded bar. At some point, she threads her fingers through mine. “I almost lost you,” she says with a laugh, giving herself an excuse to grab my hand. I give her another smile and don’t pull away because I don’t want to be rude.
Declan is behind the bar tonight and seeing me push my way to the front, he ignores the crowd of frat boys and college bros, flipping a pint glass off the rack to build me a Guinness. Cari is standing a few feet away. With James. He must’ve been hiding out at the bar, waiting for her to show up. They’re being quiet about it but I can tell that they’re arguing. He must’ve been who she was on the phone with.
With one eye on Cari, I watch Declan set my pint down before he holds up the mixer gun. “Cran or sour?” he says loudly, smiling at the girl next to me. Gilroy’s college girls drink one of two things—whiskey sours or cranberry and Malibu.
She flushes. She’s been drinking whiskey sours all night. “I’ll take a Guinness,” she says, tightening her grip on my hand.
Declan gives her a dubious glance but builds her a pint anyway. “Con too?” he says, already moving for another glass.
“Yeah,” I say, distracted by the drama unfolding a few feet away. James keeps reaching for Cari’s arm and she keeps pulling away, shaking her head. “Tess wants a—”
“I know what Tess drinks,” Declan says, his tone tight enough to pull my attention away from Cari. I watch as he places a single ice cube in a rocks glass before adding two fingers of Jameson.
“I said no!” Cari says loudly and I look back just in time to see her throw her drink in James’ face. She turns to make her getaway but he’s too fast for her.
“Bitch,” he shouts, reaching for her arm, his fingers so tight around her bicep the tips of them disappear into her flesh as he starts to haul her close. People are paying attention now, the immediate crowd surrounding them gone quiet, but no one tries to intervene.
Drinks and the girl standing next to me forgotten, I take two strides and push into the middle of it, bringing myself nose to nose with Cari’s boyfriend. “Hey, James,” I say, keeping my tone conversational. “You’re gonna want to let go of her arm. Now.”
“Yeah,” he sneers at me. From the corner of my eye, I can see his fingers dig in deeper. “What are you gonna do about it, boy scout?” We’ve spend enough time together over the past nine months to decide that we didn’t like each other but we’ve always been nice for Cari’s sake. That’s over now.
“What am I gonna do?” Without looking, I reach a hand across the bar, smiling a few seconds later when I grip my fingers around the smooth handle of the baseball bat that Declan passes me from behind the bar. “I’m gonna invite you out back and when we get there, I’m going to take this bat to your fucking head,” I tell him, my tone still pleasant. “How’s that sound?”
James is drunk but he’s not stupid. His gaze shifting between the four of us, he lets go of Cari. “Keep her,” he says, mopping the vodka soda Cari threw at him off his face, before giving her an ugly look. “She’s a slut anyway.”
The slur has me jerking at the bat, but Declan still has ahold of the other end and he won’t let it go. “Easy,” he says under his breath. At least that’s what I think he says. My blood is rushing so loud in my ears that he could be reciting the Gettysburg Address for all I know.
We all watch him weave his way toward the door, the crowd parting, making a jagged path for him until he’s gone. As soon as the door swings shut behind him, the crowd lets out a cheer.
“That was a newone,” Declan says, stashing the bat back behind the bar. James is gone and Sara is back at the table her friends are crowded around, all of them shooting me looks that range from wary to lustful. I don’t really care about any of it though. Tell the truth, I just want them to leave and take Sara with them.
Tess has Cari cornered in Conner’s booth, trying to calm her down. Not that she’s hysterical. In fact, she looks so angry that I expect her to demand the bat from Dec so she can go after James and finish what I started.
“Why?” I say, cutting Declan a look. I know what he’s talking about. “Because I’m a pussy?”
“Bitch, please.” Now he laughs at me. “I’ve seen you go to work—I know you’re not a pussy. But you usually look for a more diplomatic solution before you ask for the bat.”
“So, what?” I’m getting irritated which is a new one for me where Declan is concerned. Out of the three of us, Dec and I are the most alike. It’s Conner who usually manages to piss me off. “I’m a nice guy and nice guys can’t stick up for his friends?”
“Is that what that was?” Declan says, calling me on my obvious bullshit. It’s last call and the crowd has moved on to various frat houses and off campus housing to continue the party. It’s quiet but I pretend not to hear him, even though I can hear him just fine.
No. That’s not what that was and we both know it. That wasn’t about me defending a friend and we both know it. It was about Cari and the way I feel about her.
Declan shoots a quick glance over my shoulder before looking me in the eye. “Look, cousin, take it from—”
Before he can say what’s on his mind, Sara breaks into our conversation.
“That was nice, what you did for that girl,” she says, her hand back on my arm. “Not a lot of guys would’ve done that.”
“She’s a friend,” I say, the automatic answer that explains everything I’ve done or will ever do for Cari.
I must’ve said something right because Sara smiles. “Some of us are headed back to my place,” she says, looking over her shoulder toward the table where her friends are waiting. “Wanna come?”
I might be a nice guy but I’m not so nice that I don’t catch the double meaning in her words. If I go with her, we’re going to end up fucking.
I almost tell her she’s got the wrong Gilroy. That the one she wants looks just like me and is currently chatting up one of her friends. Instead, I smile and let her down gently. “I’ve got work in the morning,” I tell her, shooting Declan a quick glance. He knows I don’t have work tomorrow but he keeps his mouth shut.