Page 12 of Loch
The next couple hours went by with us chatting. I learned he had an older brother, who fled as soon as he graduated high school. He also had a younger sister that was about to graduate. He said that she was probably going to marry her high school sweetheart and start a family. He bet she would be knocked up in less than three months. She was following in their parent’s footsteps.
It was typical small town story. The one that you didn’t read about in books or see in the movies because it was boring.
“Yeah, I totally agree,” Chris said seeing the grimace on my face and understanding my thoughts. “I like the free life. I have faith that when it’s time the world will send me a sign. Like the love of my life will fall out of the sky or something.” We both erupted with laughter at the ridiculous idea.
Chris said he didn’t want to leave town. But he also didn’t want to settle down right away and fall into that small town mindset. However, he wasn’t dating anyone and said he had a hard time finding anyone in town. I wondered what exactly he meant by that. I had a feeling there was more to tell, but we weren’t close enough yet for him to tell me.
At a quarter to seven, Brandon walked in the door. The place was still quiet. Chris and I were laughing about some story he was telling me about a bad camping trip.
“Hey,” I said to Brandon, flashing him a warm smile. “What, they left you behind?” I gave a fake sad face and he laughed as he took a seat at the bar top.
“Apparently, I got something more important to do.” His eyebrows went up for a brief second. I knew he was saying more, but I didn’t have the code to read between the lines. I pulled out a beer and set it down in front of him.
“Are you allowed to talk to me now? There’s no one around, I think you’re safe,” I said. He ducked his head for a quick moment and I saw he was shaking with a silent laugh.
“Yes, I can talk, Reagan. What do you want to talk about?” He started to relax on the stool.
I took him in for a few beats. He had a boyish quality to him. I guessed he was around twenty-five. Something in his eyes still held a light to the world; unlike most of the other guys. I looked down his arms, following the swirls of colors and images. His left arm was filled with old time sailor tattoos. A heart and dagger with a banner design was centered on his forearm. Inside the words ‘Live to Love’ were written. It made me smile. The other arm looked incomplete. Like an idea had started and then changed a few times. I had a feeling that by the time it was done it would be a collection of art telling a life story.
“You have any?” he asked. I pulled my eyes up to his.
“Not yet.” I shrugged. To that, he smiled and his face lit up. Holy Hell! He had dimples, the kind that was so deep it made me want to stick my finger in them. I couldn’t believe I’d never noticed them before. I had a feeling tattoos fell under one of his passions. I had always wanted one. Well, I had always wanted many. I had ideas in my head, but for some reason I wanted that first one to be special, and nothing I wanted seemed to fit the bill.
“I could give you one, ya know? If you want or when you’re ready.” He looked away for a moment like he was nervous.
“You ink?” I leaned forward, very interested in this new detail.
“Yeah. I’ve been doing it a few years now. Done a lot on the guys. Don’t have a place yet, but I hope to one day.”
I wondered if he had done any of Nate’s. I was about to ask, then I thought better. That would leave me open to admit that I had seen Nate with his shirt off. Not sure that was something he wanted everyone knowing. Even if it was innocent. Sort of, anyway. The thoughts that followed definitely weren’t. I felt my skin get heated as I thought about it.
“Yes,” I said, getting back on topic. “Yes, I would love that. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”
Before we could say anything else, the door opened and in walked four girls. All pretty much looking the same. Big boobs, small waists, tons of makeup. Their clothing only threatened to cover something and the highest heels I’d ever seen. I wondered if there was a strip club nearby I didn’t know about. I heard Chris groan behind me and something inside me sank. They plopped themselves at the other end of the bar and shot me a nasty look. Then the shorter one with blonde hair turned to Brandon and giggled before she said her hello. It was obvious she knew him and she was in some way trying to mark her territory. I rolled my eyes. To Brandon’s credit, he tossed out a quick wave of the hand.
“I gotta make a call, be back in a minute,” Brandon said, finishing his beer and standing up. “Don’t play into any of it, Reagan.” I nodded like I knew what the hell he was talking about, then shuffled my way over to the group of girls.
“So you’re that new girl we’ve heard about.” The short one said. “I’m Tammy. This is Christi.” She pointed to the one on the end with long, platinum blonde hair and big lips. “Shalla.” The one next to her with brown hair with chunky blonde streaks. “And Hanna.” The one on her other side with black hair cut in a short bob.
To be honest, I was only half-listening. I’d known girls like them. They weren’t here to make friends with me. I could have choked on the haughtiness that filled the air when they walked in. For whatever reason they were there, the last thing I wanted to do was give them more fuel for the fire. So I did the best I could and tried to seem interested.
“Reagan.” I nodded with nothing more to say.
“Yeah, we know.” Tammy’s bitchiness wasn’t lost on me.
“Well, as I’m sure you well know, we’ve got beer or anything straight up.” I hitched my thumb over my shoulder at the bottles on the wall behind me. I wasn’t about to play their games and I didn’t bother trying.
“Beer is fine.” Tammy seemed to be the leader of them and I wondered if any of the others actually had voices. Or brains. I snorted to myself at the thought as I turned to get the bottles. As I popped the tops they started a conversation behind me, but by the obnoxious volume, I knew they wanted me to hear.
“I hate it when the guys leave. It’s always so boring,” Tammy whined.
“Yeah, but you know it’s always better when they get back. Especially, Diesel. It’s like he goes away, gets the change of scenery he needs, then comes back even harder.” Not sure which one was talking now. Nor did I really care.
“What’s up with Loch? He hasn’t even looked at me lately.”
Hearing his name I stiffened and abandoned what I was doing. I stood there, stuck in a frozen state.
“You know how he gets. He prefers Tammy and Jessica. And well, since Jessica and Axe are together again…”
