“Emma Grace, my love, I must say you look exactly like my next girlfriend,” Micah declares dramatically as he brings my hands to his lips. Rhett’s grip tightens on my hip. Surely he isn’t worried about this?
“Well, isn’t that just precious? You know, you look exactly like the guy I turn down two seconds from now.” I smile sweetly and bat my eyelashes.
Micah leans back, hands on his chest like I’ve wounded him. It lasts about a millisecond before his sight latches on to Cam. He makes a beeline straight for her and grabs her by the waist, dipping her in a dramatic fashion and laying a kiss right on her lips. He lifts her back to a standing position and breaks the kiss.
“I had to know what it was like, kissing my future bride and all,” he tells her, still holding her waist.
“Well, I hope you enjoyed it,” Cam replies stoically.
“Abso-fucking-lutely. And don’t worry, baby cakes, there is more where that came from.” He smirks and throws his arm over her shoulders.
“I’m not worried. You see,” she says as she extracts herself from his arms, “if you ever put those lips near me again, I will render you completely useless to the rest of the female population. Capiche?”
Micah backs away slowly and holds his hands up in surrender. “No need to go all Misery on me, woman. Chillllll.” He rounds Cam with a wide berth and makes his way to Shayna.
“Shay-belle, help me. All the crazy people around, you’re the only one I can turn to!” Shayna giggles and gives Micah a playful shove. Hmmm, it looks like Shayna might have a little crush. I make sure to stow that information for the next girls’ night.
I say hello to the rest of the table and get a chin lift from Luke, which I’m assuming is a hello in macho-broody-tough-guy speak, and a smile and hello from Tanner. Rhett grabs me a chair and pulls it next to his.
“Here, girl.” Luke’s gruff tone has me looking for whom he’s talking to. His eyes are trained on Cam, and he’s gesturing at his abandoned seat. Cam looks to me and then back to Luke with a raised eyebrow. She sits in the chair and doesn’t utter a word. Very un-Cam-like.
The blonde who walked away earlier is walking back toward the table. I watch her until she passes behind me, but I don’t miss her fingers as they trail along Rhett’s shoulder. I feel his arm around me tense, and his face loses its carefree smile. In fact, everyone at the table quiets down. She lays her hand on Tanner’s shoulder and leans to whisper in his ear. He says something back to her, obviously frustrated. She stands, places a hand on her cocked hips, and raises one perfectly arched eyebrow at him.
“Alright, Marley, fine.” Tanner stands and looks to the guys. “I’ll be back, just walking Marley to her car.”
“Boys,” the blonde says seductively, smiling at Rhett while pointedly ignoring Cam, Shayna and me. What. A. Bitch.
Tanner places his hand on Marley’s back and they head out the front door of the bar. The table is quiet and the guys share a look, having a silent conversation that I’m sure has something to do with the scene we were all just privy to.
“Fuck it. I’m going to grab some beer,” Rhett says before leaning to give me a kiss.
Rhett grabs us each a beer, and we settle in as stories are passed around the table. Tanner shows back up a few minutes later and sits back down, withdrawn from the conversation around him. We laugh and cut up for a while before there’s a break in the music. The DJ announces karaoke. No sooner do the words leave his mouth than Cam shoots a look my way.
“Oh, it’s on, whore-a-licious!” I say.
“Fuck yes it is!” Cam exclaims, pumping her fist in the air.
The entire table has turned to watch our out-of-the blue exchange. Karaoke was our pastime in college. We went all the time, mostly to goof off and blow off steam, but it’s been forever, and I’m itching to make a fool of myself.
“One for old times’ sake?” Cam asks.
“Let’s do it!” I grab her hand and we make our way to the stage. I glance back at Rhett, and he’s watching me with a grin on his face. He has no idea what he’s in for.
We jump on stage and take our positions as the lights dim and the music starts. It only takes a few beats before the crowd knows exactly what song we’re “singing.” I can hear the guys whooping from the table across the dance floor, but I don’t dare look up before the first verse starts. Cam grabs my hand and gives me a squeeze. I squeeze hers back for good luck. Then we proceed to bring the entire bar to its feet—singing along to “Ice Ice Baby.”
Chapter Thirteen
Rhett
“This is the best fucking thing I have ever seen in my life. Two hot chicks singin’ Vanilla Ice. Life does not get fucking better than this,” Micah yells over the blaring music.
All I can do is nod as I watch M sing her heart out with her best friend, just having fun and being carefree. I missed all this over the years, and I’m so thankful I get to see it now.
“More beer?” Luke asks, just as the music stops.
“Hell yeah, dude, we need more beer. I need to get Cam drunk enough to come home with me. I bet she’s a spitfire in the sack,” Micah exclaims, and Luke slaps him on the back of the head.
“What the fuck was that for, asshole?” Micah says, grabbing his head.
“Ouch,” he yelps as Luke slaps him again.
“One word. Respect. Learn it,” Luke says, deadpan.
“Ok, father dearest. You’ve made your point.”
“Dude, stop fucking laughing,” Micah whines at me. “Have you ever had Luke lay hands on you? That fucker is strong. My head hurts. I don’t know what crawled up his ass, but I wish it would fucking crawl out now.”
The girls make their way back to the table, laughing hysterically in their own little world.
“Where is Shayna?” Cam asks.
“Well, mother of my future children, she went to the ladies’ room and hasn’t resurfaced. Actually, one of y’all may want to go check on her. She may have fallen in,” Micah says, laughing.
“I’m here, sweetness. You know us girls. We bond in the bathroom. It’s like a sisterhood in there. I met Chelly, and she’s pissed at her boyfriend, so we were just chatting, but it looks like I missed all the fun out here.” Shayna giggles.
Luke puts two pitchers of beer on the table, and I grab two cups, filling up one for me and one for M. She takes the cup and immediately starts chugging it. I just stare at her. I can’t believe she just chugged a whole cup of beer.
“What? You act like you’ve never seen a girl drink beer. Singing takes a lot out of a girl, ya know. I have to hydrate,” M says, putting her cup down dramatically.
“Actually, I have seen girls chug beer, but I’ve never seen my girl chug beer,” I say while pulling her into my lap and kissing her deeply.
“Get a fucking room. That is disgusting. Unless you plan on letting me watch. If that’s the case, then you may proceed,” Micah yells.
“I’m going to play pool. Any takers?” Cam says over Micah.
“Future lover of mine, I’ll play pool with you. You know, I just Googled ‘sexy’ and a picture of you popped up.”
“Really? You’ll get the same result if you search for ‘not interested,’” Cam smarts back at him, causing us all to laugh.
“I guess we’re going to play pool now,” I say, nipping at M’s ear. “We should really go and be social, but I just kind of want to sneak away with you so I can keep you all to myself.”
I fucking love how she shivers under my touch. I can’t wait until I get her alone. I set her on her feet and put my hand at the small of her back as we head over to the pool tables. Tanner is being awfully quiet tonight, so I make a mental note to see what’s on his mind.
“Rack em’ up, boys,” Tanner calls out, speaking for the first time since Marley left earlier.
“He speaks,” Micah yells dramatically, his hands in the air.
“Don’t be a douche, Micah. I know your gran’s number. You don’t want sweet gran knowing how her grandso
n is behaving, do you?” Tanner says, smirking at Micah.
“Man, you leave my NeNe out of this. Do not call her, ever. She still thinks I’m her sweet boy, and dammit, it’s gonna stay that way.”
We all lose it and start laughing hysterically. I’m not sure if it’s because Micah’s gran still thinks he’s a sweet boy, or because he got so scared that Tanner might call her, but this shit’s funny as hell.
“This is not a laughing matter, you fuckwads. She will tan my hide if she even hears me so much as curse.”
“Stop. Oh please, Micah, for the love of God, just stop talking. My stomach hurts from laughing. Just please, shut up,” Cam squeaks, gasping for air.
After we all get calmed down, we start to play our games. M is sitting out and watching us play. I’m playing a game with the guys, and Shayna and Cam are playing at the table next to us. I’m really glad everyone is getting along and falling into comfortable conversation. It’s important to me that my brothers get along with my girl and her friends. I can breathe easy now.
“Naw, girl, you’re holding your stick wrong. You’ll never hit that ball in holding in like that,” I hear Luke saying to Cam.
“Well, this is the only way I know how to do it,” she says back to him.
Before I can blink twice, Luke is over at their table, positioned behind Cam and showing her how to properly play the game. I expect a crazy comeback from Cam, but instead I hear nothing. I haven’t known Cam long, but I have never seen her miss a shot at a witty comeback. I glance over at M, and it would seem that she’s just as transfixed on the scene playing out before us as I am. Honestly, Luke is slightly out of character too. Hell, normally he would just tell her how to do it. He is not a touchy-feely kind of man. There seems to be a storm brewin’ between those two, and I don’t wanna be caught in the crosshairs. Tonight will make for a night in history, that’s for sure.
Chapter Fourteen
Emma Grace
It’s been a month since our first date so yesterday when Rhett called me and told me to be ready at six and dress comfortably, I was caught off guard but equally excited. I had no idea what he had in mind. However, nothing would have prepared me for mini golf. As we pull up into the mini-golf course, I am giddy. It’s been a week since we all hung out at Reed’s, and even though we’ve talked on the phone and texted throughout the week, it’s good to spend some actual time with him.
“Ready for me to kick your butt?” he asks, turning off the car.
“Not a chance, big guy.” I laugh as he climbs out and comes to open my door.
We get our putters and bright, colorful golf balls and head to the first putting green. Rhett gestures for me to go first, so I place my ball down and take a swing at it. The fluorescent pink ball flies up over the first putting green, hits a makeshift boulder that is placed as a decoration, and lands in the middle of what looks like the sixth hole.
Rhett bursts into laughter. “Babe. It’s putt-putt. As in, you putt the ball in one hole at a time. We aren’t trying to make it to the eighteenth hole in one swing.”
“That’s what I thought I was doing.” I huff. I’m not quite as amused as Rhett over my high-flying ball.
Still laughing, he runs off to retrieve my ball and comes to help me line up my next shot.
He stands behind me and wraps his arms around mine, showing me how to hold the putter. I can feel the heat of his chest through my back, and I find myself leaning into him to get closer. He helps me practice the swings with his chin resting on my shoulder and his cheek against mine.
“It might make it easier if you were a little less stiff, M.” His voice rumbles as he slides his hands off of mine and onto my hips. He pulls them back into him and moves us both side to side, trying to loosen me up for my swing. He goes to step back and his hands linger on the edge of my ass.
“Babe. It’s putt-putt. Not foreplay. Hands off the goods,” I smart off at him.
He holds his hands up in surrender, chuckling. I shake my head and glance back down to my ball. Taking a slightly less aggressive swing, I hit the ball and it rolls toward the hole, landing a few inches away.
“Yippee!” I squeal, jumping up and down.
“Much better. Before you know it, you’ll be the next Tiger Woods.”
Rhett takes his turn and sinks his ball on the first swing.
“Show-off,” I mumble on my way to my next putt.
It takes three more tries before I can sink my ball in the hole. We pick them up and move to the next wonky putting green, complete with a tunnel and several funky obstacles blocking the hole. This should be fun.
“I think that any time I start to doubt myself, I’ll just bring you to play mini golf,” Rhett suggests after my eighth attempt to finish the second hole.
“Glad I can make you feel so good about yourself.” I roll my eyes in case he didn’t pick up on my sarcasm.
“Babe, I don’t even have to play. Just watching you attempt this is the highlight of my week.”
“Oh, c’mon! I’m not that bad,” I say, just as my ball lands in the second cup. “See!” I gesture to my accomplishment.
Rhett just gives me a pointed look. “Okay, so I suck. At least I’m not a spoil-sport.”
“True. Your determination is cute.”
By the time we reach the eighteenth hole, I’ve gotten considerably better. Well, not considerably…but still. Rhett and I have laughed so hard at my failed attempts to win the game.
He’s really good at this. It shouldn’t surprise me. He seems to be really good at whatever he puts his mind to.
My average number of swings per hole has been somewhere around five or six…or seven. But who’s counting.
Rhett’s is two. Show-off.
On my seventh swing, my fluorescent pink ball slips into the eighteenth hole and disappears for good.
“Great game, M&M,” he says, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
“Flattery will get you nowhere, Mr. McCoy,” I reply, wrapping my arm around his waist.
We make our way to turn in our clubs and head out to the car. Before he opens my door, Rhett turns to stand in front of me. His other hand joins the one he has on my cheek and he looks down at me, cupping my face.
“Not ready to let you go yet, M. You up for pizza?”
“I’m always up for pizza.” I smile at him.
He smiles back, and I can’t help but get lost in his smile a little bit. The way it takes over his whole face. I’ve never actually seen someone smile with their eyes, but Rhett can. And it’s beautiful.
We hop in the car and Rhett takes us to Romero’s. I’ve had this pizza a few times since coming back to Alabama and it is amazing. It’s quickly becoming a favorite of mine.
We pull into Romero’s and walk in to get a table. The place is surprisingly packed for a Thursday night. We are able to get a booth on the back wall and Rhett orders us two beers.
The waitress returns with our beers and asks for our order.
“Large pepperoni and tomato?” He asks, looking at me. When I nod, he looks to the waitress to confirm and hands her our menus.
“How did you know I liked pepperoni and tomato?” I ask.
“The night I came over and you and Cam had ordered pizza, you had like three slices of pepperoni and tomato. Never touched the other one.”
He remembered. Such a small detail, but he remembered. And what’s more, he cares enough that he held on to that detail.
“How are things with school? Did the kids do alright with that The Outsiders project you had them working on?” Rhett asks. I love that he asks. And when I answer, he really listens. I know this because I told him about it earlier in the week when the kids were presenting their projects on which characters they thought they were most like.
“It’s going great. This might be my favorite lesson of the year. It gives me the best feeling to see these kids actually enjoying books. I love being able to share my love of reading with them and have them get something out of it. I stil
l have a few kids who are a little shy about speaking in front of the class, but that will get better as the year goes on.”
"I'm glad you like your job."
"Me too. I was really worried about moving to a new school, but the adjustment has been easier than I thought it would."
"So you aren't planning on leaving anytime soon?"
"What?"
"Well, you told me that you and Cam left Chicago because you were both unhappy there and needed to make a change. I just want to make sure Alabama is making you happy. I don't want to see you leave again, M."
"I don't think I'll be leaving any time soon, Rhett."
"That's good to hear. Don't think I'd take to it very well, seeing as how this is going."
"What's going?"
"You and me."
"And how are you and I going? May I ask?"
"Well, from my perspective, I'm spending time reconnecting with a woman who has been my best friend since I was born. A woman who is beautiful on the inside and on the outside. A woman who, though she has changed and likes disgusting things like Taylor Swift and pizza with pepperoni and tomato, is funny and smart and makes me think on my feet. A woman who I like more and more each day I spend with her."
Well, he just laid it all out there. Again. He has a habit of leaving me speechless.
"I like you more and more too, Rhett."
"I definitely feel like we have something worth taking a chance on. I told you that I would be patient, and I will be, but I hope that you are starting to feel the same way about me."
"I'm getting there."
He flashes that gorgeous smile my way and nods his head once, accepting the fact that I need a little more time. The waitress brings our pizza and we dive in. Serious conversation aside, we eat and continue talking about work, our crazy friends, and little things in between.
By the time Rhett drops me off at home, I'm full. My belly is full of delicious pizza, my heart is full from great company, and my mind is full of everything that Rhett said at dinner.
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