Page 59 of Scrape the Barrel
“Fine,” I clipped. I didn’t feel like being teased to the end of days at the moment.
“Bullshit. We want the tea,” Beck said.
Lennon barked out a laugh. “You’re spending way too much time around those buckle bunnies.”
Beck shot him a glare. We all knew he wasn’t one to sleep around, but his use of the word was a bit funny. If he wasn’t at events, he was staying with friends or visiting home. If I was being honest, Beckham only had eyes for one girl his whole life, and if I had to guess, that most likely hadn’t changed to this day.
“I took her on a date. That was all,” I said.
“Don’t forget the part where you brought her daughter,” Bailey added.
“You what?” Beck asked. “Might as well walk down the aisle now.”
“There’s no harm in including Avery,” I defended.
Beck’s eyebrows rose. “A woman letting her child around the guy she’s going on a date with? She definitely thinks it’s serious.”
“It was one date,” I reminded him. “Plus, I’m Avery’s instructor. So she already knows me by default.”
“A lesson isn’t the same as a date,” Bailey piped in.
“Come on, Cal. You can’t keep yourself hidden away forever,” Beckham said, his tone a bit softer now.
My thumb picked at the leather rein in my hand. “I’m far from hidden.”
“Is that so?” Lennon asked.
I nodded in response. “Yep.”
“Then how come you only just met Sage a little over a month ago for the first time because you’d never been to Bell Buckle Brews before?”
“Lots of people don’t go to cafes,” I told him.
“False,” Beck said. “Everyone in this town goes to Triple B.”
I frowned. “I doubt that.”
“Proof’s in the pudding, angel baby,” Bailey teased.
“What fucking pudding?” Now I was just getting irritated, and that didn’t happen often. What were they trying to say? That I should hop out of my comfort zone to just make myself uncomfortable for fun? Pass. “This is why Reed stays away from all of you and your lady talk.”
Beck smiled, his chin held high. “I’m single, so no lady talk for me.”
“Don’teven get me started on your woman problems,” I said to him. “Woman as in singular.”
Beck’s smile fell, knowing exactly who I was talking about. He wanted to give me shit about Sage? I could throw it right back in his smug face.
“Brothers,” Bailey murmured, like he wasn’t already one of us.
“Zip it, Cooper,” Beckham warned, as if he read my thoughts.
“Anyway,” Lennon started. “Oakley texted me that Sage and the girls are going to the bar tonight, if you all wanted to join.”
I turned to look at him as my horse, Ace, continued on his way. “Sage is going to the bar?”
“Yeah?” he replied, like that wasn’t abnormal. Was it? I didn’t know Sage enough to know if she went to the bar often or not. I figured she didn’t because she didn’t typically have anyone to watch Avery, but what did I know?
“I’ll go,” I said quickly.
