Page 14 of Denim & Diamonds

“Jesus Christ. Who pissed in your damn Cheerios?” Bill pushed back from the bar and spoke to the guy he’d been sitting with. “Let’s get out of here. There’s a bar on the other side of town where the owner actually wants to sell drinks.”

Hank watched the two guys leave, then got up from the stool he’d been sitting on for hours and walked behind the bar.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I growled.

He took out two shot glasses and a bottle of tequila and poured. Holding one out to me, he shrugged. “Being a friend. Don’t know what crawled up your ass. Don’t care if you don’t want to talk about it. But drink this. It’ll help take the edge off.”

I hesitated, but eventually I slugged back the shot. February had never mentioned that today was visiting day, and we’d spent the entire afternoon together yesterday. She certainly hadn’t mentioned that some guy she was sleeping with was coming for a visit either.

I set the shot glass back down in front of Hank. We made brief eye contact, and he nodded and poured another. I wasn’t much of a drinker—a couple of beers here and there, but rarely hard alcohol. The second shot burned less than the first going down, so I figured that was a sign to keep going.

By the fifth shot, my rigid jaw had loosened enough for me to finally speak. “Thank you.”

Hank nodded. “Anytime, my friend. Go do what you gotta do. I’ll close up tonight.”

Fortunately, I lived upstairs, so I didn’t have far to stumble to make it home. But un fortunately, I took the bottle of tequila with me when I left. Three more shots, and I started talking to Oak, my trusty Saint Bernard.

“Women suck. Do you know that?”

He tilted his head and lifted an ear.

I nodded. “Yeah, you’re smarter than me. Maybe I should sleep in the bathtub, too.”

Oak laid his giant head on my lap. “Is that the type she likes?” I shook my head. “Who doesn’t wear fucking socks with a suit?”

I rested my head on the back of the couch and shut my eyes, still grumbling. “Think his hair was frosted or some shit. Probably uses hairspray, too. I should’ve lit a match near him to check.”

I must’ve nodded off for a while because sometime later I woke to a light knock at the door. Oak rushed to the bathroom—into the damn tub—and left me to fend for myself. I was groggy and started to think I might’ve imagined the knock, but then I heard it again.

I opened the door to find February standing on the other side. She smiled. “I thought you were working tonight?”

I frowned. “What the care do you hell?”

Her brows dipped. “What? ”

“What the care do you hell?” Wait. No, that’s not right . I shook my head and attempted to unscramble the words. “What the care do you hell?” Fuck me.

“Are you…drunk?”

“What are you doing here, February?”

She blinked a few times. “I came to see you, of course.”

“What for? No-sock-wearing-motherfucker not get the job done?”

Her lips pursed. “I’m not sure what your problem is, but I think I should go.”

I leaned forward and spoke in her face. “You know what my problem is, Red?” She didn’t back down in the slightest. I have no clue why, but that turned me on. Though I tamped down the feeling. “Your buddy stopped in and told me what a great lay you were.”

February’s face twisted. “What?”

I nodded. “Mr. Three-Piece-Suit. Told me fucking you was addicting.”

Her head pulled back. “You spoke to Tobias?”

“Tobias?” I scoffed. “Figures that’s his name.”

“I don’t understand. How did you speak to Tobias?”

“Does it matter how I found out your secret?”

“My secret? Tobias coming was not a secret.”

“Well, you sure as hell didn’t mention it to me, and we spent the entire day together yesterday.”

“That’s because I had no idea he was coming.”

“Sure you didn’t.”

“Are you serious right now? You don’t believe me?”

“It doesn’t matter what I believe.”

“It does to me.”

“Why?”

“Because I care about you, you big doofus! And if you weren’t so pigheaded, maybe you could see that you care about me, too!” She looked away for a few heartbeats, and then pushed up on her tippy toes and got right in my face. “Why did it upset you when you found out Tobias visited me?”

I gritted my teeth. “You know why.”

“Yes!” She raised her hands into the air and waved them around. “I do know why! But you can’t even admit it to yourself.”

I stared at her, saying nothing.

“How would you feel if I told you I let Tobias touch me , Brock?”

My face was on fire, and it felt like steam was billowing from my nose and ears.

“No response?” She moved closer. “How would you feel if I told you I let Tobias fuck me then? Would that make you jealous?”

I closed my eyes, doing my best to hang on to my last shred of control. “Please stop.”

“Not until you tell me you were jealous!”

“Of course I was fucking jealous!”

“Then why don’t you do something about it already?”

My chest heaved up and down. She was so damn beautiful, so damn perfect, so not afraid to call me on my shit.

I couldn’t resist her anymore. Cupping her cheeks, I backed her against the wall.

I wanted this woman more than anything I’d ever wanted in my life, and it scared me to feel that out of control.

So I took a deep breath and attempted to pull together whatever restraint I had before bending to kiss her.

Just as my lips were about to connect with hers, she put a hand on my chest .

“Brock…wait.” February’s eyes met mine. “I’ve learned a lot about myself these last two weeks, and I am not going to allow myself to be used by people anymore. I want this as much as you do, maybe more. But not like this. You’re drunk.”

Fuck. She was right. I hung my head. “I’m sorry.”

She smiled sadly. “So am I. But if you ever want to kiss me while sober, just call. I’ll be waiting.”

***

The next morning, I was kicking myself in the ass for the way I’d acted last night. I needed to see February. There was no way I could wait until the next time she snuck out. So I took a calculated risk and walked in through the front door of Sierra Wellness Center.

“Hi. I’m here to visit my sister. I think I might be a little early for visiting hours.”

“Actually, I think you’re a little late,” said the woman at the desk. “Yesterday was visitors’ day.”

“Yesterday?” I did my best to look shocked. “You’re kidding me?”

The woman shook her head. “Visitors’ days are always on Sundays. I’m sorry.”

“Shoot.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “I drove all night to get here in time. Took me twelve hours .”

“Oh my gosh. That’s a long way.”

“Yeah. My sister’s always been there for me. I’m a single dad with four kids , and she’s helped me out a lot, so I wanted to be here for her.”

The woman covered her heart with her hand. “That’s so sweet.”

“Is there any way I could just maybe…say hello? So she knows I was here at least?”

“It’s against policy, but let me check with her counselor.”

“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

Fifteen minutes later, I walked into a small visitors’ room. February was already inside. Her eyes widened when she saw me. “Oh my God. You’re my surprise visitor who drove twelve hours?”

I stalked over to her. “Sorry about that. I couldn’t wait to see you, and that’s the best I could come up with.”

“Is everything okay?”

I pulled back her chair, lifted her out of it, and wrapped February in my arms. “It will be in a minute, and for the record, I’m stone-cold sober.”