Page 95 of Waiting For Fate

“Fuck it, I’ll go first.” Sawyer claps his hands against his jeans, kisses me on the cheek and walks to the front with Tucker and Tank.

“Oh my gosh, is he actually going to sing?” Lauren whispers, leaning in closer to Taylor and me.

“I really was just trying to give him a hard time, but I mean… I guess so.” She shrugs. I’m watching with anticipation as he stands up on the small stage and the drunken audience starts yelling and clapping.

“Go Badgers!” One guy yells as the MC gets the music ready, earning a fist pump to the air from Sawyer.

“Number thirteen, have my babies.” A woman in the crowd yells, making me want to throat punch her immediately.

“Oh, um. No. Thank you,” Sawyer says into the mic. When his eyes find mine and he gives me a yikes look, I can’t hold in my laugh.

Then the music starts.

I think for a minute it might just be a coincidence, but when he winks at me and Shane pipes up from beside me, I start thinking differently.

“Oh my god, Le. It’s your song.” The song I’ve been obsessed with for years. Well, the performance by Heath Ledger in my favorite movie is at least.

“You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off of you. You're just like Heaven to touch—” And my heart completely leaps into my throat. He dances across the stage, making a big show out of it, and even runs into the crowd, getting down on his knees to sing directly at my feet at one point. When the song ends and the entire bar erupts in applause, he’s still down on his knees in front of me, and without caring who’s watching, I take his face in my hands and kiss him. I’m pretty sure I hear Max woof from behind me and I pull away before I end up laughing directly into Sawyer’s mouth.

“I’ve never been able to keep my eyes off of you, Dove.”

Have my babies’ number thirteen, damn.

CHAPTER 41

SAWYER

“I feel like I’m imposing on a sacred tradition, are you sure it’s okay that I’m here?” I glance out the window of my truck, taking in the surroundings of Leah’s parent’s home.

“Sawyer Clark, are you nervous?” she teases.

“I can confidently say I have only ever been nervous about things that concern you,” I tell her, earning one of those heart stopping smiles of hers.

“How does this concern me? It’s just dinner with my parents. Unless you end up punching one of them in the face or mentioning anything about our sex life, I’ll still like you when it’s all said and done.”

And now I’m picturing her naked. Fantastic. Let me just walk into her parents’ home with a hard-on for their daughter. That would be swell.

I sigh and lean my head back on the driver seat. “The last time I saw your parents was at Thanksgiving. Not my best moment, if you recall.”

“Sawyer, that was months ago. They’ve probably long forgotten about it.” Leah grabs my hand reassuringly, but I roll my head to look at her.

“Really?”

“I mean, probably not, my mom has a scary good memory. But come on, it’s going to be fine.” Her laughter fills the cab of my truck, easing a bit of the nerves I have.

“Okay. If you say it’ll be fine, it’ll be fine. But I did tell Tank where I am tonight in case I don’t come out alive.”

“The two of you as friends does not shock me.” She leans back in her seat observing me.

“Oh yeah? How come?”

“I can’t explain it. It just…makes sense.”

“Whatever you say, Dove. Now let’s go before they get suspicious.” She rolls her eyes as I hop out to open her door for her.

So far no one has reprimanded me for my tone at Thanksgiving, and I’m still alive so I’d say things are going well. Loretta asked me about hockey and my travels, Allen only chiming in when he questioned my stats. I get the feeling he isn’t my biggest fan, but he’s been polite. I’m all but eased of my nerves when he clears his throat and grabs his jacket.

“Let’s go for a drive, Son.”

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