Page 39 of Don't Trust the Cowboy

“And tomorrow’s different?” Crystal points out.

“Everything’s different after cake and beer, see.” Blair states, which gets a strange look from Jade. I notice that they lock eyes for a moment, but I try to ignore it, as Crystal lights up the candles on the cake. As I take a step to stand next to Piper, as we sing Happy Birthday to her, I see Blair’s hand lower to Jade’s rear end, but neither of them sees that I see it. I shake my head and smile, as we sing to her, and as she blows out the candles, we all hoot and holler encouragement.

“I’ll drink to that.” Blair says as she gets them all out in one exhale.

Piper reluctantly sips her beer as we clink glasses again and again, and I ask her. “Darlin’, have y’all never drank before?”

Crystal scoffs. “Once. And she puked all night, remember? I was there holding her hair.”

“And she vowed never to do it again.” Jade says with a joking grin. “But that was like three years ago at that freshman party.”

“Four years ago.” Piper corrects. “And I only puked because I mixed.”

“Well, that’s your mistake right there, darlin’.” I tell her, putting my arm around her. “Ain’t nothing to fear here. We’ve only got a twenty-four case of one type. No puking shall happen tonight.”

Cassidy changes the subject. “So, what do you want for your birthday, Piper? Aside from cake, beer, and our presence?”

She grins. “I’m not much for birthdays.”

Jade guffaws. “I’ll say. This is the first time ever that we’ve been able to celebrate it with her. She’s very weird about her birthday.”

“No shame in that.” Levi Paxton says. “My daddy hasn’t celebrated a birthday in years.”

“That’s because he’s been tying one on every day, and his days blend together. Every day looks like a celebration.”

“Now, that’s no way to talk about your daddy, see. Not when he’s been cleaning up his act.” Cassidy chides, good-naturedly.

“He’s been trying to clean up his act for years.” Nash says. “He just hides it well. Just like he hides the fact that he doesn’t like us working here for Billy.”

“What’s he got against Billy?” Piper asks, almost defensively.

I kiss her temple. “Nobody in this town is a fan of mine, darlin’. No shock there.”

“I don’t get that.” Piper says, and I’m guessing that the beer is starting to relax her tongue a little. “What’s Billy done that’s so insulting to this town, hm? He went away to fight for this country, came back, and now he’s trying to bring some revenue to this town. I don’t get it.”

Levi interjects. “It’s because he’s seen as a black sheep. He’s the only Barnes kid that ain’t working for his folks’ factory.”

Blair sticks a finger in the air. “Not true. Daddy and mama fired my ass from there just yesterday.”

Nash starts to laugh. “Hey, maybe you’ll be the new black sheep!”

“Or just another one.” I add with a soft chuckle. “See, none of that really bothered me, and now that you two boys are working here, everyone’s going to see sooner or later, that I don’t mean any harm to anyone. And none of it matters, anyways, because I simply don’t give a shit.” I say, lifting my beer in the air.

“Here here!” Cassidy says, clinking my bottle.

Blair and Jade look at each other, and it looks like they want to kiss, but instead he just winks at her. I’m not sure if this is going to be a problem with Piper or not, so I try to distract her. “Hey, darlin’, y’all didn’t answer Cassidy’s question. What do you want for your birthday?”

She finishes her sip of beer, and I notice that her bottle is almost half empty. Her eyes are looking a tad glassy and I smile. She’s having a good time and enjoying her birthday. Mission accomplished. “I want to learn to ride a horse.”

That’s my girl. “We’ll get right on that first thing in the morning. I promise.”

She looks at me and I can tell, as sure as the nose on my face, that there’s something else. She wants me to kiss her. Her eyes are glued to my lips, only coming back up to gaze into my eyes every couple of seconds.

“’Lan sakes, Billy. Lay one on her!” Blair says, but I’m not sure if he’s just trying to lighten whatever his motivations are with Jade, or not.

But before I can think twice about it, Piper grabs me gently by the shirt, pulls me to her, and kisses me smack on the lips, and not in no innocent, friendly way, neither. It’s a kiss. Full on, lips on lips, if there wasn’t a room full of people, I’d probably slip you the tongue, kind of kiss. There’s an audible smacking noise when she pulls back, just to let you know the power of it. I check myself, making sure that Jade and Crystal aren’t giving me daggers with their eyes for their friend, but Crystal is grinning at us, and Jade, well, she and Blair are giving each other googly eyes, and I don’t think that they even noticed.

“Happy Birthday, doll.” I murmur to her. Her glassy eyes are still trained on me, like she’s in some sort of trance.

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