Page 1 of Sweet Whiskey
CHAPTER 1
KINSEY
“Well, if I had to imagine what a dive bar looks like in some bumfuck nowhere town, this is exactly how I’d imagine it,” Brielle says, the disdain dripping in a sickly sweet tone. I bite my lip to hold in my smile because I don’t think it’s that bad.
Sure, one of the lights on the sign is out and instead of Sweet Whiskey, it saysSwee Whiskey.And maybe…the parking lot is littered with napkins and empty beer bottles that made us hesitate to get out of the car, but it has some charm to it. We found a spot on the outer edge near the exit to the freeway, most of the closer spots packed with pick-up trucks.
We’re sitting on the hood of my cherry red 1964 Buick Skylark, taking a breather after a long stretch of driving. This beauty of a car is the only thing left of my mother, besides the folded-up photograph in my back pocket. When I decided to track down my biological father, my best friend said there was no way in hell I was going alone on this road trip. We packed up the last of my items from my mom’s run-down apartment and didn’t look back once leaving the city.
Now that we’ve arrived in the small Southern town of Brackenridge, I’m sure she’s having doubts. She’s as country as I am, which is zilch. The town is miles off a main freeway, and the drive in was on a barely lit road with a two-pump gas station and single stoplight before we reached the bar. It’s a far cry from the city we grew up in, where you could toss a penny whichever way and hit a neighbor or business.
Brielle comes from a pretty well-off family that lived in the nicer suburbs with multi-story mansions, while my mom and I had nights without food, in our government assistance, barely habitable, single bedroom apartment. When she befriended me at school, I had been wary. Shehanded over her jacket, stating it was her extra, knowing mine was too thin for the cold, and I could see through her lie, but that was the moment that sealed our fates forever. We’ve been inseparable since, even after we both presented as omegas just shy of sixteen and got transferred to the academy together. Most of the time omegas are too possessive of their things, and people, to play well with each other. It’s a major reason why they are sent away to prepare for their positions in society, a.k.a. pampered princesses to packs of alphas and betas. Something we weren’t too keen on just yet, considering we’ve never had a chance to explore our own choices.
I sigh, sliding off the car and smoothing my jeans out. They were the best thing to travel in, but god did they suck sometimes. These jeans were my lucky ones, and I wore them to give me the confidence I need for the moment that’s possibly going to change my life. “Well, we came this far. I want to check it out before we head to the inn.”
We’re playing it dangerous by not ensuring we have a room for the night, but I know the moment Brielle sees a bed, she’ll want to sleep. AndI can’t fathom being within miles of the bar where my parents met and not going in until tomorrow.
“Have you thought about if your dad really is there? A man his age at a bar? He’s gonna be the drunk in the corner smacking the waitress on the ass as she passes.” Brielle follows me off the car, scowling at the deep crack in the concrete her heel catches on.
Grimacing, I shift on my feet. “I don’t know, Brielle. I’m hoping there’s more to it, but the way my life has always been…I wouldn’t doubt it.”
My mom did everything she could to provide for me, and that was the double-edged sword. It left her too busy to spend a lot of time with me. If my father turned out to be a drunk, wasting away his life, I wasn’t going to bother fighting for attention from another parent. I deserved better than that, and that isn’t my spoiled, entitled omega side talking.
She sighs, moving closer to me and dropping her hands onto my shoulders. “What did I say? No more self-deprecation. Daddy or no daddy, we did this bitch. We drove…how many states by ourselves? With no stupid alpha telling us what to do?”
My lips pull up in a smile and I grab her waist to yank her into me. Her arms wrap around my neck as we hug.
“I’m keeping my promise as long as you keep yours,” I whisper into her hair.
I know she would have traveled with me if I had asked, but I also know a good amount of the reason she came is because Brie didn’t want to marry the pack her parents had picked out. Like me, she hasn’t found anyone that she wants to tie her soul to just yet. Unlike me, she has parents who could easily force her to do it anyway. Technically, the new laws that passed are to prevent forced bonding, but a lot of people in the city have the money and means to continue the old ways, and the police look the other way.
She grumbles, pulling back and fixing the loose blonde curls hanging down her back. “I’d rather die than marry that pack of stuck-up brats. You could tell by looking at them that Mommy and Daddy probably still chewed their food and just spit it in their mouths.”
“Ew,” I say in disgust, scrunching my nose. “Sometimes your visuals are not needed in any context.”
Brielle reaches down into her shirt, pulling her boobs higher into her bra to give a pushed-up illusion. “How else can I make sure people are listening to me?”
I roll my eyes with a soft snicker. I’m forever grateful to have her as a best friend, and for the way she eases every tense situation without a blink of an eye.
I follow her move and fix my tank top before blowing out a bated breath. “I guess it’s now or never?” I say, the uncertainty in my voice making it crack.
She raises an eyebrow. “You think I’d let you leave without going in? I’ll drag your ass like?—”
I wave my hand in front of her face, stopping the tongue-lashing before she really gets going. “I got it. Thank you for your support.”
With a grin, she hooks her elbow through mine and starts pulling me toward the door. “Good, because ready or not, here we come, Daddy.”
From where we parked, I hadn’t noticed the tall, burly man standing right outside the door. His corded arms fold across his chest, every inch covered with tattoos. He watches us approach, his appraising gaze glazing over us before bouncing around behind us. When we get close enough, he takes a huge sniff that has Brielle and I rearing back. It had been so unexpected.
Sniffing anyone so bluntly is rude, especially to omegas. Everyone is usually more discreet, but I guess that’s the difference between city etiquette and this small town.
He grunts. “Y’all on suppressants?”
Brielle’s mouth drops open. “You can’t just ask us that. Do you have any type of decorum?”
With a heavy sigh, he drops his arms and stands taller. “Look, prissy little thing. Your city alphas may follow the rules, but you ain’t in the city. Alphas around here follow their instincts.”
My eyes widen, and I grip onto Brielle’s arm. City alphas definitely do not follow the rules, so what is he saying? He can’t possibly mean that alphasjust take advantage of omegas. That’s not a city law, but a federal law.
