Page 65 of Double Bucked

There’s a part of me that wants to enjoy James getting his ass chewed out. But the pain on Claire’s face makes me queasy.

James goes still. When his robot brain is done calculating the damage he’s done, he says, “I think I’d better go after her.”

“Yep.” I nod. “I think that’s wise.”

Fucking dick.

I watch as James follows Claire out. I rest against the abandoned pool table and take a swallow from my beer. Jade sidles up beside me. She’s been uncharacteristically quiet. She’s wearing the face of a princess whose carriage has turned into a pumpkin. We both know: the fantasy is over.

For good.

“I called a car,” she says. There’s no anger in her voice. Just a flatness. “He’s waiting for me. Escort me out, cowboy.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I clean my beer and walk her outside.

Claire and James are in the wind. Jade’s black car whisks her away. Back in the bar, I find Rafe playing hook and ring. We kill the rest of the pitcher and close down the bar.

The Kentucky night is cold, dark, and bitter when I stumble outside. If I breath it in deep enough, I can almost get the taste of Claire’s perfume out of my lungs.

I hear the jingle of dropped keys. Rafe curses as he drunkenly fumbles around his car.

I step up behind him. I snatch his keys off the gravel and pocket them. “No, sir,” I tell him.

The sound of a car horn breaks us up. I look up to see Maeby in the driver’s seat of her blue pickup. She jabs her thumb to the back of the truck.

“Degenerates in the bed,” she says.

Rafe and I climb into the bed of the truck. My back hits the hard bottom. Rafe grunts as he collapses beside me like a dead fish. We lie on our backs and stare up at the dark sky scattered with stars.

“Women,” Rafe sighs.

“Women,” I agree.

But I ain’t thinking about women.

I’m thinking about one woman in particular.

20

RANSOM

Then.

“I’m not losing my virginity in the back of a truck.”

Claire folds her arms as she stares into my truck bed.

I hop up. “No. You’re not. We are.”

I made it all romantic and everything.

A nice, soft quilt lines the back of the truck, stuffed with pillows. I rolled out a sleeping bag on the bottom of the bed to even out the ridges. There’s a basket with cheese, crackers, and strawberries and a sparkling cider. A bouquet of flowers is wrapped up beside it, and a lantern spills soft light on the whole spread.

I think it’s cozy. But Claire’s got the edge of her mouth turned downward.

I like the way she frowns. Makes me wanna kiss the frown right off her face.

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