Page 10 of Sizzling In the Mountains

A thick cloud of haze hovers over the roaring crowd of guys who are all yelling at the two shirtless men locked in the barbaric cage in the back of the bar who are currently beating each other to a bloody pulp.

I hold my purse a little closer as I scan the rowdy room, looking for the table of firemen. I’ll feel safer once I’m sitting beside James.

Doug Douglas is standing at the long table near the cage, waving to me with a big goofy smile on his face. I really hope this man doesn’t think we’re on a date. I already made it very clear, but something tells me he has to hear things a few times before it sinks into his thick head.

I make my way through the bar, wondering why the floor is so sticky.

“Hey, doll!” some brute hollers as I pass. “Come sit on my lap.”

I walk a little faster.

“Move, lady!” the waitress barks at me as she barrels past, carrying an impressive amount of beer pitchers in her hands.

It’s mostly men in here, which would explain the musty sweat smell, but there are a few women who look like they’ve never stepped foot in a children’s library in their whole lives. In fact, they look like they might try to rob me in the bathroom. If there even is a women’s bathroom in this place. I better hold it until I get home just to be safe.

The dull thud of knuckles punching meat cuts through the roaring of the crowd. I glance at the cage with the barbed wire wrapped around the top and wince when I see all of the blood pouring out of the two men’s faces.

Who in their right mind would volunteer for that?

“Victoria!” Doug shouts, waving me over. “I saved you a seat!”

“Sit down, motherfucker!” someone shouts as they throw an empty beer pitcher at him. Doug sits and shrinks a little after the plastic pitcher hits his shoulder and bounces on the ground.

I scoot on over to the table and slip into the empty chair. It’s a little too close to the cage for my liking, but I’m not about to ask them all to move.

“Hello,” I politely say to Mason, Doug, and the three other guys I didn’t meet this afternoon. They’re all big muscular mountain men with thick beards of various lengths. I don’t see James though and I get a little tinge of disappointment inside.

“This is Ethan,” Doug says, going around the table. “Lincoln, Colton, and you met Mason earlier.”

Mason nods his head and smiles warmly. He’s sitting right across from me, which I’m happy about. He seems like a nice guy.

“Everyone this is Victoria,” Doug says proudly. “She’s my date.”

“Nope,” I say in a firm tone. “Not a date. We established that earlier.”

Doug looks like he just tasted something sour. “We’ll see what happens.”

I stare at him pointedly. “Nothing is going to happen.”

He opens his big mouth, but Mason interrupts him, putting him out of his misery. “The second fire we had to run to was just a broken microwave,” he says. “Nothing serious.”

“Oh, that’s good,” I say, relieved. I was hoping it wasn’t anything bad.

“And we swung by the library on the way back,” he says, nodding. The two men in the cage fall to the floor, apparently wrestling each other to the death. “We spoke with the gardener and he told us he threw some gasoline-soaked rags into the garbage, so it wasn’t totally your fault.”

I perk up in the chair. “Really?”

Mason nods. “Yeah, and the flag hanging over it was really just bad luck. It never should have gone up like that.”

“Thank you for telling me,” I say, feeling a bit relieved. It’s still a horrible tragedy, but at least some of the crushing guilt alleviates.

“Let’s get you some drinks,” Doug says, waving the waitress over. “How many shots do you want?”

“I want zero shots,” I say as she arrives.

She looks like she could step into that cage and kick both of those guys’ asses while taking drink orders at the same time. She’s very intimidating.

“What do you want?” she grunts. Jeez, I know this place isn’t the most reputable establishment, but customer representatives should at least greet you with a smile. Is that too much to ask?

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