Page 4 of The Stolen Dagger
Swiping the few shoulder-length hairs that had escaped their place behind my ear, I grabbed three beers, popped off the tabs, and made my way through the rustic, southern-themed bar to table five.
A band played on the stage at the north end of the bar, gathering a decent crowd for a Sunday night. Jerry’s Barattracted the typical college crowd, being so close to the local campus, but it had a good number of regulars, too.
It was made up of brick walls adorned with minimal decoration. Only a few highway signs and college banners that Jerry, the owner, had collected over the years were displayed.
Under the yellowed, shaded lights that hung from the ceiling, I spotted table five and a familiar head of honey-blonde hair.
Leah sat at the round table next to her boyfriend, Tyler. As I approached, Leah turned with a gasp that startled even me, the one holding the opened beers.
“Kat!” Leah jumped up from her seat, towering over my five-five frame with wide-open arms.
Before I could utter any kind of greeting, she pulled me into a hug. I tensed in an attempt to save the beers, but it had little effect as they were practically crushed between us. I could only stand still and wait for the agony of Leah’s tight embrace to end.
“Easy, babe.” Tyler came up behind her, placed his large hands on her upper arms, and gently pulled her back. “You’re gonna crush her.”
Reluctantly, Leah released her hold and stepped back into her boyfriend’s wide chest. She flicked her bright green eyes up and over her shoulder at Tyler and gave him a small, grateful smile that he returned with an adoring look of his own.
Ugh.They were perfect for each other.It was almost irritating watching them together as someone with a dumpster fire love life.
“Sorry,” Leah mumbled, even though Tyler and I both knew she didn’t mean it. Hugs were her love language, and anyone on the receiving end of one was just as much a victimas they were an unwilling accomplice. “I just missed my best friend so much!”
I chuckled at her dramatics. “I literally saw you this morning.”
“So?” Leah propped her red-manicured hands on her hips and tilted her head slightly, causing her hair to swish over her shoulder and reach the middle of her curvy torso. “Can’t a girl see her bestie more than once a day?”
I couldn’t stop the warmth that blossomed in my chest. I’d never had friends like them before. It was nice to be around people I could depend on again.
I shook my head, smiling. “What are you guys doing here? I thought you were having dinner tonight with your family.”
Leah had a close relationship with her parents. They had made it a ritual to have family dinners at least once a week. I went to one of them after we first became friends, much to Leah’s insistence.
Her parents, Susan and Rob, were the most down-to-earth people I had ever met. Just from that one dinner, they treated me as if I were one of their own. Their open affection toward one another wasn’t very common where I came from, but I soon came to crave the attention and kindness Leah’s parents shared with me.
“We did, but we wanted to surprise you.” Tyler adjusted the square-framed glasses on the bridge of his straight nose and reached around Leah for the beers I was somehow still balancing in my arms. “Here, let me take those before she goes in for another one.”
I laughed, knowing that was a real possibility, but otherwise grateful for his help. “Thanks.”
He handed one beer to Leah, placed the other on the table, and took a swig of the third in his hand.
That was when my alarm bells went off.
“Who’s the extra beer for?” I asked, suspicious.
Leah turned to me with a sheepish grin.
Uh, oh. I know that look.
“Told you she’d figure it out.” Tyler ran a hand through his short auburn hair that looked darker under the bar’s lighting.
“Oh, quiet, you.” Leah turned and lightly slapped his shoulder.
I sighed.
One thing about Leah was she never stopped in trying to improve your life for the better in any way that she thought was needed.
In my case, it was a man.
“Don’t tell me you brought another one.” It was my turn to place my hands on my hips and give her my disapproving look. “You know I’m not interested in dating right now.”
