“Sounds good, man.” Beaver raised his hand and got Mel’s attention and pointed to me. She smiled and walked to the bar.
Mel was a stunning woman. Normally I’d find myself attracted to her, but I currently only had eyes for a particular brunette with red streaks. Placing her hands on the counter, it appeared she was checking me out. “Let me guess, Crown and coke?”
I lifted my eyebrow. “Good memory. Actually, tonight I think I’ll just stick to beer.”
“You being a light weight tonight? That’s no fun.” She pouted but was teasing.
“Something like that, but I’ll stay fun, promise.” I winked at her.
She flushed red. Yep, definitely flirting with me. While Mel worked behind the bar after getting my beer, Kat came out from the hallway I’d stopped her in the other day. When her eyes made contact with mine, she stopped moving forward. She looked shocked to see me. I knew I hadn’t gotten my nights mixed up after Beaver confirmed that it was card night. So why did she look so puzzled? Seeming to shake off whatever was going on in that pretty little head, she continued on her path behind the bar.
When she got right in front of me, she looked at me with a completely impassive face. “You got everything you need?”
“That depends. If we’re talking about my drink, then yes. If you’re referring to my needs then I’m far from being good.” I was totally aware that I was being a pushy bastard, but curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to know if I had been reading her right. Judging by her eyes going as big as saucers and the slight gasp that came from her mouth, I’d say I nailed it.
“Well, hot damn cowboy! If you need any assistance with that, and my girl here won’t take care of you, I’d being happy to go a round with ya,” Mel practically shouted from the other end of the bar, causing Kat to blush.
Kat whipped around to face Mel and gave her a look that said ‘shut the fuck up or we’ll go a round later’. Mel gave her a knowing grin. Something was up between these two girls. I bet if I got them drunk enough I could figure it out. Which is what I’d intended on doing with Kat anyway. I was going light on the beer and I planned on wiggling some secrets out of my little tattooed vixen when she was good and buzzed. Was it deceiving of me to do it? You bet! But like I said, nothing about me is redeeming anymore. I wouldn’t use the harsh ways of interrogation I’d learned in the Army, but I could tweak them to work in my favor.
Just as Kat turned to face me again, one side of her mouth tipped up to give me a slightly shy smile and she nodded before she went around the bar to start picking up people’s trash and tell them it was closing time. I sat there, subtly nursing my beer while I watched her move around the floor, smiling at the locals and making casual conversation. These were the moments when she let herself go. There was no tension in her shoulders and she wasn’t looking around waiting for something bad to happen. She was stunning. Her innocence radiated out of her. I understood the need to be a hard ass, I just didn’t understand why she was being one. But, right in this instant, she was so pure. She was untouched and dazzling. She drew people in with her brightness.
Just when she turned to me, I saw that shield go back up in her eyes. She walked up to me and said, “Okay, Ruth and Sandy are going to take their ‘I hate men’ party somewhere else, and we are locking the doors. If you want to move over to that table over there,” she gestured at a table by the dance floor, “that’s where we normally set up.”
I stood right before she walked by me. Kat stepped right into my chest. My hands came up to her shoulders to steady her. Her hazel eyes shot up to mine, and I gave her a private smile. “Always almost falling around me, aren’t you?”
She jerked out of my grasp and maneuvered around me. “You wish,” she barely whispered as she walked away.
I chuckled. Grabbing my beer, I went to the table she had indicated and sat down to wait for the three of them to join me. It was only twenty minutes of watching them scuttle around before they came over with a couple of bottles of tequila, salt, and limes. Beaver pulled a small box out of his back pocket which contained the cards we were playing with. He sat down across from me before Kat got a chance to grab that chair. She either didn’t want to sit by me, or she wanted to be able to look at me. I’d pretend it was the latter.
Beaver started shuffling the cards while Mel poured 4 shots of tequila. “Ok, so here are the rules. Clubs are trump, aces are the highest unless it is played against a trump. Whatever is laid down first has to be played by that suit. If you don’t have that suit then you can lay down whatever you want. Highest card is a trick. Call the number of tricks you think you can make before the hand starts. Losers take a shot. Let’s do this.” He passed out seven cards to each of us.