New In the Neighbourhood - Volume 1 (Neighbours: A Contemporary Christian Romance - Series 1)
Page 6
this beer.” Jed downed the contents of the bottle and let out a satisfied burp.
“Nice,” Lester observed with a raised brow.
Jed just grinned. “Thanks. Wanna share some garlic ribs? Maybe some Buffalo Wings? This place ‘as great appies.”
“No thanks. I ate at home. Barbecued burgers.”
“And you didn’t invite me?” Jed grinned widely. He glanced around and then elbowed Lester in the ribs. “Check out the hotties that just walked in.”
Lester frowned. He didn’t like some of the slang used to describe women, but he did glance in the direction Jed pointed. The girls he was referring to were indeed attractive, but they knew it, too. Typical oil-town girls looking to flaunt themselves and get a few free drinks, as far as he could tell. Too much makeup and clothing that was too tight and too short. He turned back and faced the mirror behind the bar.
“I’m gonna talk to ‘em. You comin’?” Jed asked.
“Thought you were hungry.”
“Not anymore. Come on.” Jed gestured with his head toward the girls.
“Not my type. You go ahead.” Lester took a sip of his beer.
“Suit yourself. You may end up taking a cab alone, if you get my drift.” Jed winked and stood up.
Lester watched Jed’s retreating figure in the mirror and shook his head, a slight smile on his lips. His gaze shifted and caught another pair of eyes watching him in the reflective surface. She was sitting just two stools down from him. As soon as she realized he’d noticed her watching him, hers dropped downward. Lester turned his head to take a closer look at the real thing and when their eyes met again, this time without the mirror as a go between, he nodded and smiled.
Here was a woman who wasn’t trying too hard. She was pretty, yes, but in an understated yet exotic way. Her distinctly Asian features were petite and perfectly formed with a small, straight nose and compact lips. Her eyes were slanted upward; luminous and dark, and her hair, which hung to her shoulders, was jet black, shiny and straight.
“Sorry about my friend,” Lester said as an opener.
Her perfectly arched brows raised a notch. “Why should you be sorry? You can’t control the behaviour of others.”
“True.” He smiled again. “I’m Lester, by the way.”
“Hello, Lester.”
He glanced at the empty counter in front of her. “Can I buy you a drink?”
“No thank you.”
Lester blinked, not quite sure where to go from here. “Oh. Okay. Um, you come here often?”
“Not really.” She didn’t exactly smile, but he thought he saw the corner of her mouth twitch just a bit.
“I see.” He twisted the bottle in front of him and focused on the wall ahead. Big mistake. She was looking at him in the mirror again with that same mixture of interested aloofness.
“I’m meeting someone,” she said to the mirror.
“Ah.” His head bobbed up and down. “Right.” There didn’t seem much else to say. He downed the rest of his beer and set the empty bottle on the counter with a decisive clunk. “Well, nice to meet you, uh… what was your name again?”
“I never said,” she replied.
He laughed and shook his head. “Right again. I guess I better quit while I’m ahead. I hear there’s a mechanical bull in this place with my name on it, so I guess I better go check it out.”
Her composed mask slipped just a bit. “Really? I didn’t know that.”
“So my friend tells me.” Lester gestured with a nod to the table where Jed was sitting, an arm around each girl.
The pretty Asian girl beside him shivered. “I’d be too afraid to try something like that. Isn’t it dangerous?”
Lester sat up a little straighter. “A mechanical bull? It could be, I suppose, if you don’t know what you’re doing. You might pull a muscle or two. Now riding a real animal, that’s a whole different story.”
“And you have?” she asked.
He nodded. “Broncos, mostly.”
“So you’re a rodeo man.” It was more a statement that a question.
“Not so much anymore. I got hurt a couple years back and decided it wasn’t worth it.”
“Yet you’re still going to ride the mechanical bull? That doesn’t make sense.”
Lester could see the disapproval in her face and didn’t quite know why it mattered. He just shrugged. “I haven’t decided yet.”
He saw a well put together Asian man approaching in the mirror, and apparently, so did she. “My name is Sherri, by the way,” she said quickly. “Sherri Chan.”
Before Lester could respond, the other man was behind her, placing a familiar hand on her shoulder. She smiled up at him and he kissed her on the cheek. Lester swung off the stool without looking back and headed toward the games area of the club, or at least where he thought the games area would be.
Sure enough, just around the corner from the main bar, the establishment opened up into a much wider, larger room. At least six pool tables took centre stage, with blinking arcade games straight from the eighties lining the circumference. At the far end, roped off and with plenty of room for viewing on three sides, was a mechanical bull. A padded floor ensured soft landings.
Lester strode straight to the roped off area and leaned on one of the padded posts. He hadn’t seen anything like it since he was a teen. There had been one set up as an exhibition ride at a rodeo he’d gone to once, and he’d tried it out then, just for fun. If memory served, it was a piece of cake to ride once you watched its rhythm for a bit. Not like a real animal whose whim dictated the strength of each thrust and twist.
“Would you like to try it?” a male voice asked from behind him.
Lester turned to see a young black man smiling at him. Lester’s brows rose slightly. The man had dreadlocks and a definite ‘gangster’ vibe. Not the kind of person he’d expected to see in a place with such country flair.
“Um, not sure. I was just admiring it for now. Definitely brings back memories.”
“You ever ride one of these things?”
“A few times.” Lester smiled.
The man stroked his chin and nodded. “I bet you go for the real thing. A real rodeo cowboy.”
Lester just shrugged, but he couldn’t help smiling.
The other man stretched out his hand. “Cory Roberts. I’m part owner of this joint.”
Lester’s eyebrows rose for real this time as he took the other man’s proffered hand. “Pleased to meet you. Lester Tibbett.”
“I know what you’re thinking.” Cory’s eyes twinkled. “What’s a brother like me doin’ in a place like this? The answer? I’m a closet cowboy. Don’t let the looks fool you.”
“I see.”
“So? You ready to take it for a spin? My partners said I was crazy when I installed it, but maybe if we could get someone to show us how it’s done, more people would start using it. First ride’s on me.”
Lester thought about it for a moment, and then nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Lester climbed over the ropes followed by Cory, who then proceeded to show him how to mount and where the hand straps were located. Lester already knew, but figured the other man needed to go over it for insurance purposes. “I’ll keep the speed down for this first one,” Cory said. “Once people hear it, they’ll come running.”
“Great.” The word got whisked away when the bull jumped into action. Lester felt his head whip back and he tightened his knees. He’d almost forgotten how it felt to ride a bucking bronco, or in this case, a mechanical bull, and he tumbled to the mats after only three seconds.
He stood up, only slightly winded, and brushed at his jeans. Of course, there was no dirt or debris on them, but it was a habit that had come rushing back instinctively. “Again,” he said.
About ten people had already gathered around the perimeter of the ropes. Lester ignored them and mounted the bull with one fluid jump. Now that he’d had a taste, the rush of bronco riding had come flooding back and he was determ
ined to conquer the thing.
The whine and grind of the bull started up again and this time he was ready. He secured the reins tightly around his one hand and allowed the rest of his body to settle into the jolting rhythm that was rodeo riding. Stay loose, let your body become one with the animal. That was the secret to not getting bucked off.
He raised his free thumb and Cory increased the speed. This was a piece of cake. He could do this all day. Somewhere in the recesses of his mind he was aware of a loud Newfoundland brogue cheering him on. Jed. He grinned and gave him the thumbs up.
The hand signal was also the sign for Cory to increase the speed again, which he did. Then Lester saw her, pushed right up against the ropes. Sherri Chan, she’d said.
The momentary distraction caused him to lose his centre of balance. Two more jolts and he was catapulting from the bull’s back, his head thumping on something on the way down.
Then the buzzing room became a hazy grey of softness.
Stay tuned for more from the neighbourhood with Volume 2 - Stuck In the Neighbourhood! (Featuring Sherri Chan)
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