Page 59 of Bull Rush

Ramsey

I haveto steel myself when I walk inside Seven Sins because, even from across the room, I can tell Dakota is already in fine form. She’s talking to a coworker and shaking her head, her eyes rolling and then darting to a man at the far side of the bar. Hazel’s friend has never really liked me much and catching her on a bad day is going to make the ask I have that much more unlikely to get a positive reception. But she’s the only one who can really help me with my problem.

It’s at least quiet in here, early enough in the afternoon when most of the locals are still working and the tourists are out on day trips that keep them out of town. But the place is still dark, and the music is low with a heavy beat as she fixes a couple of other guys at the bar their drinks. She finishes them just as I step up, and she pushes a napkin in front of me without making eye contact atfirst.

“What can I get—you.” Her eyes narrow and sweep over me for a moment before she gives me an impatient look.

“I was hoping to talk to you.”

“If you need directions out of town, I’m happy to call you a car to take you to the airport. Hell, if you give me ten minutes, I’ll drive you myself.” She gives me a saccharine little smile for show.

“No. But I do need a favor.”

Her eyebrow arches, and her lips curl in a half-formed smirk.

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this. I mean, the answer is going to be no. But I still want to hear it.”

I just need to remember I’m doing all this for Haze. If it means I get points with her, it’s all worth it.

“I need someone to teach me how to dance. Nothing fancy like you all usually do around here, just enough that I don’t fuck it up.” I force the words out before I can change my mind.

Dakota and her staff teach line dancing and country swing on Fridays and Saturdays in the after-dinner hours of the evening to try to get the crowd coming in earlier and keep some of the braver tourists entertained outside of Cowboy’s. It’s an open-floor opportunity for anyone who buys drinks, but I’d rather not embarrass myself in front of a crowd of people. Doing it in front of Dakota would be enough.

“Why? You planning on coming to Hazel and Curtis’s wedding?” She grins.

“I’m asking Haze out on a date, and I know she likes to dance. I feel like I let her down the other day when we came with my friends, but I didn’t want to look like a jackass.”

“You always look like a jackass, so I wouldn’t worry too much about that.”

“Fucking hell...” I shake my head and push the napkin back to her. “I just want to do a nice thing for her. I could use somehelp. If you’re not willing, maybe someone else is?” I glance down at one of the other bartenders.

“Yeah. Haze won’t like that.” Dakota shakes her head at the blonde down the way. I start to smile at the idea of Hazel being jealous but smother it immediately before Dakota sees. That Dakota thinks she would be? That’s gonna fuel me for the next week at least.

“So?”

“Fine. It’s quiet right now anyway. But I can’t teach you everything in an hour, and that’s all I’ve got.”

“I’ll take what I can get.”

A few minutes later, we’re out on the floor with her reluctantly giving me advice on how to two-step and telling me to keep my elbows in as we make our way along. It’s not coming as easy as I hoped it might, but I’m still picking up the basics.

“Fuck me sideways.This is what you’re doing now? Dancing at a bar in the middle of the day?” Grant’s voice breaks my concentration, and I miss the next step nearly an hour later. I look up to see my older brother laughing as he leans back against one of the high tops.

“Better this than whatever you’re doing. Don’t you have mud to be wallowing in somewhere?” Dakota flashes a look of derision at Grant without missing a beat.

“Lovely to see you too, Hartfield.” Grant’s laugh fades, but his smile doesn’t, and I don’t miss the way his eyes wander their way up her legs.

“I thought I told you you were banned from this bar,” Dakota calls out as we make another pass.

“It’s hard to ban the person who owns the building,” Grantargues, and that’s enough to get her to drop her hand from my shoulder and turn her full attention on him.

“The building, not what’s inside it, Stockton.” She motions for him to quit leaning on her table, and he complies, but in a manner so slow that they’re locked in some sort of hate-filled, eye-fucking situation that I’m feeling increasingly out of place to be witnessing.

I clear my throat. “Dakota’s just teaching me some steps so I can take Haze out one of these nights.”

“I’d have thought she’d have ripped your balls off by now.” My brother smirks, but there’s a look of sympathy behind his eyes too.

“Still standing, balls intact—at the moment.” The song comes to an end and turns over to something slower I don’t recognize.

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