“Lots of others in here,” Ed said.
I broke my stare from the woman and curled my lip at him. “Who the fuck said I’m here for that shit?”
Ed showed his hands. “You were just staring…”
“I wasn’t staring,” I said.
“Well, I know what I’m here for,” Chris said.
“Me too,” Matt said.
“Yeah?” Chris asked, smiling for the first time in ten years. “You ready? You’re on the rebound, man. You’ll have women throwing themselves at you.”
“Not for that,” Matt said. “Christ, man. I’m still married. She went to stay with her mother for a little bit. Just so we could figure this out.”
“Oh, you meant you’re going to sit there and sulk all night,” Chris said.
“Drink it away,” Matt said.
“I’ll give you a ride home,” Ed said to Matt. “Drink away.”
“What about you?” Chris asked.
“What about me?”
“You going to stand here and sob all night like some woman?”
“Who the hell pissed in your coffee this morning?” I asked.
“Nobody. I’ll see you all on Monday at work.”
Chris walked away from the table and I shook my head.
“He’s a dick,” Ed said.
“He’s always been a dick,” Matt said.
“He’s got a point though,” I said. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m going to finish off my drink and go for a ride.”
“You’ve been doing that a lot lately,” Matt said. “Finishing a drink and going for a ride.”
“How cute,” Ed said, “the house guest is watching you, Rams.”
“Fuck off,” I said to Ed. “He can crash with you from now on.”
“Funny,” Matt said. “I’m staying home now. Obviously.”
“What’s up with the late-night rides?” Ed asked.
“Just keeping myself sane.”
“Trouble sleeping?”
“You my doctor?” I asked Ed.
He showed his hands. “Just being a good friend. I know things have been hectic. That shit with Sarah went bad quick. And you know… everything else…”
“Everything else what?” I asked.
“Hey, take it easy, Rams,” Matt said. “We’re just talking.”
“Maybe I should go hang out with Chris.”
“Yeah, good luck with that. He’ll end up…”
Ed’s voice trailed off and I watched his eyes move to the left. I reluctantly turned my head again and was back to watching the same woman and the same scene at the bar. This time though the guy touched her shoulder. She quickly dropped her shoulder and faced forward at the bar. She reached for her phone. Probably a sense of comfort and the hope that the guy would take the hint and walk away. Instead, the guy reached for her phone. She quickly pulled it away, then he grabbed her arm.
I pushed back from the table.
“You see that, right?” Ed asked.
“I see it,” I said.
“She came in with a friend,” Ed said.
I looked at Ed. “You’ve been watching them?”
“We’re out drinking, Rams. I’m here for the same reason as Chris. I take notice of things.”
“Where’s her friend?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Ed said. “She went to talk to someone, I guess.”
I looked back again and the guy was pulling at the woman’s arm.
What could have been flirty now looked childish and maybe a little threatening.
“I’m going to get a beer,” I said.
“You just got one,” Ed said. “It’s almost full…”
“I said I’m going to get a beer,” I repeated.
“Oh, shit,” Matt said. “Rams… wait…”
I was on the move. With no good reason and bad intentions. Letting the frustrations of the week reach their peak and having the perfect excuse to let them out.
I walked up to the bar and pulled away the empty seat that belonged to the woman’s friend who left her stranded. Throughout my life, people always asked me if I had a conscience or a little voice that spoke sensible things. I did have that voice, just like everyone else. I just chose not to listen to it.
As I leaned against the bar and stared forward, I heard the woman say, “Okay, that’s enough. Please. I said it already.”
“Ah, damn sweetie, don’t be like that to me. You’re sitting all alone, waiting. Nothing bad is gonna happen. I know who you are. I know you’re free this weekend.”
“Just get the fuck out of here,” the woman said.
Wendy gave a side eye glance. Then she looked at me.
I made a motion for a drink and Wendy nodded.
She quickly got me another beer and brought it to the bar. “Everything okay?” she asked in an obvious, loud voice.
“Just great,” the guy said.
“You sure about that?” I asked, startling him.
The guy turned, and his eyes went wide. “Holy shit, Rams. What’s up, man?”
“How about you walk away?” I asked. “Go back to where you were sitting.”
“Oh, were you working this?” he asked. His eyes were a little woozy. Whiskey making him say, and do, really dumb things.
“Working this?” the woman asked. “You’re a fucking pig.”
“There’s only one pig here, sweetie,” the guy said.
I let the beer bottle go.
Wendy said my name, but there was no stopping me.
I pushed at his right shoulder to make him face me again. And I clocked him in the jaw with one solid punch, reducing him to nothing but a heap of asshole on the bar floor.
“Dammit, Ramsey!” Wendy yelled.
I stepped forward, hell bent on hitting him again.
The woman moved off the barstool and got between me and the asshole on the floor. She touched my chest with one hand.
I looked at her hand, then at her face.
My lip slowly curled. “It’s not for you. It’s for me. Now move.”
“No,” she said. “That’s enough.”
“You know this guy?”
“No,” she said. “But I’m not going to let you kill him and end up in jail because of me.”
“And who are you exactly?” I asked, playing the game of getting to know her.
“Jordyn,” she said.
Her lips were naturally red, a little pouty, and fuck me for noticing that. Her eyes were hazel, brighter in the cheap bar light, making them glow with a golden blue.
“You can take your hand off me now,” I said. “I’ll walk away.”
“You’d better get the hell out of here,” Wendy said. “Give you a chance to get ahead of this before the cops come.”
I sidestepped and saw the guy on the ground, rubbing his jaw, groaning in pain.
“Is it broken?” I called to him.
“No,” he said.
“Good. You send the cops after me and I’ll find you and break it for sure.”
“I’m out of here,” Jordyn said. “It was a mistake to come out.”
She fumbled for her little flannel patterned bag on the bar.
“Don’t worry about the drink,” Wendy said. “It’s on me. You should stay though.”
“I’ve had enough,” Jordyn said. “Tell Norah thanks for nothing.” She turned to move, and I was blocking the way. “Excuse me.”
I moved and watched her bolt through the bar and out the front door.
I stood there for a few seconds before turning my head, watching as the asshole kicked himself back against the wall and held his jaw as he refused to look at me. Two other guys came rushing over to his aid.
I felt something poke my back and turned to see Wendy holding a baseball bat. Her eyes were wide, bloodshot, her black makeup around her eyes making her look like a stereotypical burglar.
“You gotta go, Rams,” she said.
“You gonna hit me with that bat?” I asked.
“I’m s
erious. No more fighting. Out.”
The two guys that helped the asshole I hit were giving me side glances. I laughed to myself. Wouldn’t have been the first unfair fight of my life.
I felt Wendy poke the baseball bat against my back again.
“Now,” she said.
I made fists and walked toward the door.
The saddest part of the night was that I didn’t get to finish my beer.
I made it only a few steps before I paused when I felt someone staring at me.
As I looked, I saw movement, someone trying to slip to the side of the bar. There was a narrow alley-slash-walkway on each side of the building that went to the back parking lot, which was just a bunch of gravel where everyone parked, attempting to keep their vehicles lined up the right way.
“Hey,” I called out.
I followed, but not fast though. I didn’t want to be the guy chasing a woman down an alleyway.
“Sorry if I fucked up your night,” I called out.
That’s when she finally stopped. Her head spun around, eyes gazing just over her shoulder, giving her a wicked look that even made a guy my size shiver for a quick second.
“Just wanted to let you know. In case you don’t get out that often.”
“What makes you say that?” she asked, still standing with her back to me, her head slightly turned.
“Haven’t seen you here before,” I said.
“You come here a lot?”
“There are only a few places you can drink in this town.”
“Right,” she said.
“I wasn’t spying on you or anything either. Just took notice of what was happening and did something about it. If you and that guy were…”
“Not even close,” she said.
I started to take a few steps and the woman didn’t move.
“Are the cops really going to come now?” she asked.
“Probably,” I said. “I’m sure someone called, and they’re on their way now.”
“You’ll get arrested, won’t you?” she asked.
“Don’t know,” I said.
“Why aren’t you going somewhere else then?”
“I wanted to apologize to you first,” I said.
“You did nothing wrong.”
“I messed up your night.”
“My night was already messed up,” she said.
“How so?”
“I was supposed to work tonight but was told that they didn’t need me at the last second.”
“You a doctor or something?” I asked.
I got her to laugh and she finally turned all the way around. “Hardly. Catering. The person handling the schedule overbooked it. I’m only part-time so I got cut first.”
“Damn,” I said. “And you came out for a drink and I ruined that.”
“No, the guy grabbing my phone ruined it. You kind of saved it.”
“But still kind of messed it up,” I said.
“Fine. Yeah.” She looked around. “Are you sure you don’t want to get out of here? If the cops show up and that guy wants to press charges…”
“You can vouch for me,” I said. “He was grabbing you.”
“Oh, I don’t want…”
She suddenly looked scared half to death. As though the cops were going to arrest her for doing something wrong.
“Hey, I’m just messing with you,” I said. Then I added, “Jordyn.” Just to say her name.
“That’s me,” she replied. “And you’re Ramsey.”
“Rams,” I said. “Cops call me Ramsey.” I winked.
She swallowed hard. “I’d better get going. Thank you for what you did. I don’t know how to pay someone back for that.”
“Hey, are you really letting the rest of the night go?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I think I owe you as much as you owe me.”
“Okay…”
“Did you drive?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I was supposed to be the sober driver for Norah.”
“You can still do that. Let her know you’re going for a ride.”
“A ride? Where? With you?”
“Yes. Somewhere. Yes.”
Jordyn laughed. “I’m supposed to just get into your car and leave with you?”
“I drive a truck, for the record,” I said. “And why not?”
“Why would I?”
“Fine. You drive your car.”
“And you get into my car?”
“I’ll drive. You drive. You just follow me.”
“Where?”
“To have a drink.”
“Another bar? No thanks.”
She started to turn, and I touched her arm. Gently. I wasn’t too stupid to forget what had just happened inside Shammy’s.
“No bar. Just you and me.”
“No thanks… Rams…”
The way she said my name made me grit my teeth.
“Okay,” I said. “No pressure. Just offering. I am sorry for what happened. If I had to do it again, I’d have hit him harder.”
I started to walk and then Jordyn was the one reaching for me. “Wait a second.”
“Yeah?”
“Where are you going?” she asked.
“If you’re that curious, just follow me.”
“How can I trust you?” she asked, her eyes almost flirtatious.
I grinned. “Can’t be worse than the guy in there, right?”
“True.”
She opened her hand and I started to walk again.
The cool early autumn air went through me and I took a deep breath.
“Hey, Rams?”
I stopped and looked back. “Yeah?”
“Give me one minute… I’ll follow you then.”
5
Way Up Here
Jordyn
I basically had two choices on the night. Okay, maybe three. First being going back inside of Shammy’s and just pretend like nothing happened. That meant sitting at the bar hoping that nobody else would bother me like that guy did. The second choice was to just go home. That was possibly the logical choice because I could go home and sleep. That was logical because it involved my bed, my comfy covers, and a night to do completely nothing and relax. The last choice was the one I took.
Following Ramsey as he drove toward the edge of the town.
What exactly was I doing?
That was a question that had no answer in my mind.
I had myself ready to work, only to be told not to come in. Then came the decision to go out with Norah, which turned into what I thought it would. Not that I could blame her for wanting to enjoy her life. I probably should have done the same. Except the guy I attracted turned out to be a creep who thought it was fun and flirty to touch my drink, try to touch my phone, and touch my arm when I clearly didn’t want it.
Yet, I was following the guy who punched the guy who was touching me without my approval.
It was almost like stepping over fire to step into fire.
The truck pulled to the side of a large and steep dirt road. It didn’t look like much, but right over the ridge was a cemetery. It was a strange kind of cemetery because it was on such a steep hill and overlooked the entire town.
When Rams stepped out of his truck and left the door open, I knew where this was going.
I sat there and watched him walk toward my car.
He was everything that screamed trouble, or maybe a night of fun. Built a mile wide with a pissed off look on his face, my headlights reflecting off the dark color of his eyes as he stared straight ahead, right at me as he approached my car.
I put the window down, playing coy and actually enjoying it.
“Did you get a flat tire?” I asked.
Ramsey grinned.
A sense of comfort went through me and that’s when it finally made sense.
I was comfortable around him.
Yet I had no idea why.
“I was going to give you a ride to the next part.”
“You want me to sit in your truck while you drive to the top of a cemetery?”
“Exactly.”
“And that isn’t supposed to scare me why?”
“Then we’ll just sit in the bed of my truck down here where you can’t see anything. You tell me.”
“I’ll take my chances,” I said.
“With what?”
“Following you again.”
“You want to follow me up there?”
“Not the first time I’ve driven that road in a car.”
Ramsey raised an eyebrow. “Well then. I’ll just keep an eye on the rearview in case you get stuck.”
“If I get stuck, just keep going,” I said. “But remember me.”
Was that flirting, Jordyn? Is that how you flirt?
Lucky for me Ramsey started to turn and didn’t see my cheeks become hot.
The last time I did anything spontaneous like this… was too long ago to admit.
Ramsey started to drive again, and I followed.
The cemetery had always been the ultimate party place back in the day. Because you were sort of hidden, had the best view of the town, and if you were smart enough to know how to get off the little mountain, you could get away from the cops before they caught up to you and busted you for drinking.
When I finally parked the car for good, I shook my head, still trying to come to terms with what was happening on my Saturday night.
As I walked around my car, feeling the crisp, fresh autumn air hit me, Ramsey surprised me by pulling a couple of bottles of beer from the back seat of his truck.
“As promised, darling,” he said with a smooth coolness that would have made me swoon and melt back in the day.
“Thanks,” I said, taking the bottle of beer.
“Here, have a seat with me,” he said.
He opened the tail gate of his truck and patted it. He jumped up and the entire truck bounced. I did the same and the truck didn’t move at all.
I looked out and down to the small town that was home. Random lights from streetlights, pizza places, and houses. But above us was the real view. It was so dark at the top of the hill that the stars were massive clusters of twinkling lights.
Every Other Weekend Page 4
