Page 7 of Brett and Rowdy (Gomillion High Reunion #5)

Chapter Five

“ H ow are you doing, man? You look like you’ve been whacked in the head with a rock.” Crystal was watching him like a hawk, and Brett just didn’t even know what to say.

“I mean honestly, what the fuck?” Rowdy was fucking beautiful. Seriously, honestly fucking beautiful. This tiny little tight-assed cowboy, so confident even though he couldn’t see.

It hurt.

He wanted Rowdy to be heartbroken, damn it. To think that he’d lost the best thing he ever had. He wasn’t. The man was wealthy and had a kid and a housekeeper. Brett couldn’t even say anything like that out loud because it made him sound like an asshole. He kind of felt like an asshole.

He didn’t want to be one, dammit.

The thing he did want was for Rowdy to hurt a little bit, to think of him—not fondly, but to think of him desperately.

“You okay, man?” Crystal’s voice was careful, like he was gonna shatter or something.

“I’m fine. Frustrated. Fine.”

“Okay, I trust you. Are you sure you wanna do this? You seem?—”

“Nope, we’re going to do this. We’re going to walk into that bar that’s full of folks, and we’re going to be cool.” He wasn’t a dick. Much.

He wasn’t one hundred percent sure how that was going to work, that whole being cool thing, but he was going to do it.

If for no other reason than if Rowdy could fucking do it, he could too.

Of all of them, Ashley was the one who had the most to lose here.

If it was important enough for her to show up and do it, then damn it, they were going to do it too.

“I can’t believe how freaking hot he is.”

Had those words just come out of his mouth?

“Right? He’s like this little stud. I can’t even.

” Crystal chuckled. “I mean, Jesus Christ. It’s not fair.

Don’t forget you need to drop me off at the high school so I can get my car.

Then I’ll follow you to the bar. You know, I gotta tell you, Ashley and Rowdy?

They just don’t read like lovers to me.”

“Well, they haven’t been apparently, for a long time. He left here before graduation even happened. That baby was what? Three or four months old? She was just little, wasn’t even walking or crawling or anything yet.”

“It’s still weird. I mean, would you be friends with him if he’d done that to you? Just walked out and left you with a baby?”

“Shit. I don’t know. I mean, I just don’t know.” He didn’t know what to think about the whole damn situation, and he didn’t want to think about it anymore. Rowdy was past tense. A has-been. They had been into each other. They had been sharing some orgasms. They were no longer that.

In fact, the amount of time that they had no longer done it well surpassed the amount of time that they had.

He dropped Crystal off at the high school parking lot. “I’m going to meet you at Timbers and Tall Boys. We’re going to go. We’re going to nod. We are going to have a beer and let everybody see the four of us hanging out, and then I’m leaving.”

“Understood.” Crystal saluted him. “I think you’re being very brave.”

“Oh, shut up.” He wasn’t being very brave. He was being a fucking chickenshit. He would have been very brave if he had just said, “No, I’m not interested.”

He was pretty freaking interested though. In fact, he was real goddamn interested, and that pissed him off even worse. He had no interest in being interested.

He waited to make sure Crystal’s minivan started, and then they headed to the bar. He tended not to go to places that had mixologists, especially when he just wanted a fucking beer. Although the idea of Rowdy having to order beer there was kind of amusing.

They did have beer in New Mexico, right?

Cerveza?

Man, he was being a giant dick. Okay, he should have smoked a joint before he ever started this project.

Ashley and Rowdy were already there when he got there, Rowdy carefully walking the dog on the patch of grass.

He guessed that was a thing, huh? Even seeing eye dogs had to poop.

He kind of thought of them as like robots, fuzzy little things that just kept anybody from walking out into traffic, but this was totally a dog.

“Hey, y’all.”

“We’re just letting Barney be a dog for a second before he has to go in and be nice.” Ashley grinned over at him. “It’s funny, when he’s not in his harness, he is the biggest goofball you’ve ever met. I can’t believe how they all have such different personalities.”

“Have you had a lot?” Did you go through them at a quick pace or something?

Rowdy’s hat brim dipped. “I’ve had Fred, Wilma, and Barney.

Then when he retires, I’m sure there’ll be a Betty.

They stay with me when they’re not working anymore.

I adopt them until their end of life, you know?

But they get to be just dogs at the ranch and have a ball, run around like idiots.

Play with each other. They’ve worked, they’ve done their job, so I do mine. ”

Okay. That was really cool. How did he fuss about something like that? “Rock on, man. That’ll do you?—”

“All right, let’s get this over with. I’ve put it off enough.”

Ashley stared at Rowdy like he could see her. “I’m nervous.”

“Remember, we are heads high, and we’re the coolest cats in the world.”

Ashley was scared. It was written in her entire body, but Rowdy took her arm and held on. “Breathe, Momma, we got this. Our girl just graduated with honors from Clemson. Our baby girl just graduated from college . She’s amazing. So these people can just go fuck themselves.”

Now that was the Rowdy he knew right there—prideful and burning with just this hint of I’m going to kick your ass .

And it was as hot now as it ever was when they were in high school.

Ashley straightened up, and they headed right into the bar.

The place was friggin’ packed, and he watched Ashley play block.

So he did the same thing for Rowdy on the other side, just making sure nobody slammed into him, stepped on the dog, or was an asshole.

Crystal took up the rear and they managed to walk right up to the bar where Mose was, pulling beers and making cocktails.

They waited for a few minutes, not saying much of anything in the crowd.

Finally, Mose got up to them. “What can I get you?”

“Whatever you got that’s amber and doesn’t taste like horse piss. And then whatever anybody else wants. This round’s on me.”

Ash nodded. “I’d like a margarita on the rocks with salt.”

“Me too, me too,” Crystal called, and Brett nodded.

“IPA for me.”

“Amber, IPA, two margaritas on the rocks, with salt. I got it.” He took the card Rowdy offered and headed off to start a tab.

“Thanks for the beer,” he said to Rowdy.

“No problem. So are we going to find a place to sit, or stand? I don’t remember anything about this.”

Ashley snorted. “Well, that’s because you were eighteen when you left here, and you weren’t drinking legally, remember?”

“I’ve visited!”

Her laughter drew some glances. Rowdy drew more. “There are some tall tables. It’s pretty crowded, but I bet we can whine and get a seat for you at the bar, even.”

“I’d rather not sit at the bar with Barney. If there’s tables, that would be the best, because I can just let him slide underneath and not be in the way. I’m not too proud to ask someone to move.”

“Oh, let’s see who we can ask. There’s got to be somebody asking is going to piss off.” Ashley’s little smile was vicious.

“Atta girl.” Brett looked around. “Deidre’s sitting over there with a bunch of her friends.”

“Oh, that’s perfect. God does love me. I mean, I never really doubted, but every so often it’s so nice to know that it’s true.” Ashley gave him her best real estate smile and good Lord and butter, there was sheer evil behind those eyes.

They got their drinks, Brett carrying the beers, and carefully wound their way over to the table where Deidre and a few middle-aged women were sitting and drinking.

“Excuse me, ladies,” Ashley said. “I hate to bother y’all, but Rowdy here, he’s got a seeing eye dog and really needs to be able to sit. I don’t suppose y’all would mind sharing with us?”

“There’s four of you,” Deidre said, lip curling.” It’s a six top and there’s four of us.”

“Very good. I hate to have to ask, but?—”

One of Rowdy’s eyebrows lifted above the glasses. “Jesus Christ, ladies. Surely somebody is really going to let my ass sit down so that my dog doesn’t get stepped on. Or are y’all just as big a bitches as you always were?”

“Well, I never!”

Crystal chuckled. “No shit on that.”

“That’s not what I heard.” There was no moss growing on Rowdy, that was for damn sure.

Brett did not smile. He did not laugh. But oh God, he was dying inside.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t have a choice. But if you don’t mind…” Ashley was still going for sweet.

“Of course we don’t mind.” He didn’t remember that little girl’s name.

Sally, Sarah, Samantha. Something. She was one of those mousy ladies who desperately wanted to fit in but really was too nice to be with the big mean girls, so she just ended up being the little not-mean girl.

“We’re more than capable of standing. I’m sorry about whatever happened to you. ”

“Got kicked in the head. Snapped my optic nerves like they were chopsticks. Went to work one afternoon, eight seconds later, never saw another thing.”

Just the thought of that made Brett want to barf. He couldn’t imagine.

“Well, that’s what happens when you’re rodeo tr?—”

“Deidre!” There was Sally, Sarah, Samantha again, this time not sounding quite so mousy. “That’s enough. Please, Rowdy. Have a seat.”

“Well, if you’re going to be like that, Susan, then you can just sit here with them and we’ll go find somewhere to sit.”

Susan. Her name was Susan.

Susan rolled her eyes. “I’m not eighteen anymore. If y’all wanna go sit somewhere else because you don’t wanna sit with Rowdy, have fun. I’m perfectly happy right here. We’ll hang out.”

Deidre and a couple of her other hangers-on stomped off, and Ashley sat with Rowdy and they all plopped down.