Page 61 of Worth the Chase

“You know what I meant,” I said, trying not to offend her because she’d just turned my bouquet of shit into something magical.

“Bella is one lucky girl.” Lizbeth grinned.

I gave her a shit-eating smile of my own. “Does everyone know?”

“Youknoweveryone knows. That date at the resort spread like wildfire in the group chat.”

She held up her cell phone, and I was thankful that I had no fucking idea what she was even talking about. If there was a group chat about my dating life, I was glad to not be a part of it.

“Thanks for making these look so good,” I said before paying and heading outside.

Dropping my sunglasses over my eyes, I walked down Main Street toward the barbeque restaurant. As I neared it, the smell of meat smoking invaded my senses. Addi didn’t even need to advertise the place. That scent alone could sell them out daily.

When I pulled open the door, the bells jangled, and I stalked over toward the bar in search of my girl. I spotted her instantly as she turned the bottles so that the labels faced the front. Pushing my glasses back on top of my head, I cleared my throat as soon as I reached the bar and stood at one of the empty stools, next to some men who had become regulars.

She spun around, her eyes finding mine, and she smiled before she saw what I was holding in my hand. “Hi,” she said, her voice sounding so damn happy.

“Hey, beautiful,” I crooned.

The old men sitting at the bar started howling.

“Don’t you have somewhere else to be?” I pretended to be annoyed, but I wasn’t at all.

“Why would we go anywhere else? We get a meal and a show here,” old man Jenkins said. His voice was rough, years of smoking edged around it.

I waved the men off as I handed the flowers to Bells, who was still grinning from ear to ear.

“These are so pretty. And colorful. I love them. Thank you.” She made her way from around the back of the bar to hug me.

If these old men wanted a show, I’d sure as hell give them one. I lifted her up with one arm and started kissing her right on the mouth. This woman was mine, and I wanted to make sure the whole damn town knew it. Group chats be damned. They could come see it in person.

My tongue inched inside her mouth, and she moaned against me.

We pulled away at the sound of Addi shouting, “Enough, brother,” from somewhere in the place, and reluctantly, I stopped.

“Don’t want to get you fired,” I whispered before giving Bells another kiss.

“Thank you for the flowers. I hope they never die,” she said, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“They’re definitely going to die.”

“Well, that’s just unfair,” she whined as she walked back behind the bar and refilled one of the glasses with beer.

“I agree,” I said because it was kind of shitty that they didn’t live forever. “Where’s Anna? The glasses are safe for another day?”

“Oh my gosh, I totally forgot to tell you.” Bells leaned forward, her elbows on top of the bar. We’d texted a few times this morning, but we hadn’t had a real conversation until now. “She’s moving.”

I hadn’t expected that. I figured she’d quit the bartending gig, but moving hadn’t even entered my mind. “Moving? Like out of Sugar Mountain?”

Bells nodded, her lips a tight line. “Yeah. Her old college roommate offered her a job down in the city, so she’s going to take it.”

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. “Are you okay with that? Are we mad at her now?” I asked because I was down to feel however Bells felt. If she told me we were pissed at Anna and never speaking to her again, I’d back her up.

That was what good boyfriends did.

I mean, I assumed that’s what good boyfriends did. I’d never been anyone’s boyfriend before, but I thought it was what Patrick and Thomas would do, and they were my barometer for shit like this.

Bells looked at me like I was the cutest thing on the planet. At least, that was how I interpreted the look.

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