Page 11 of Other Side Of Never
Thiswasastrokeof genius on my part.
I drummed my fingers on the worn surface of the dark oak table as I looked around The Beaver Dam.
Or it might crash and burn down the whole town.
Encapsulating the entirety of Sage Ridge’s party scene, The Beaver Dam wasn’t what anyone would call fancy.Or even cohesive.But it had atmosphere.
A heavily tarnished dark oak bar stretched along one wall.Matching, high-backed booths lined the perimeter of the restaurant, the lighting becoming dimmer and more intimate the further back they sat.A smattering of tables dotted the area in front of the bar, and beyond those lay the smallest stage in the western hemisphere.
For once, it was in use.
It wasn’t often The Beaver Dam managed to snag a band.Apparently, the bassist of this one grew up in Moose Lake and had invited his former band, Drivetrain, up for his bachelor party.What better way to celebrate than jumping at the chance to play together?
They were incredible.
The lead singer, a sexy Viking, belted out song after song in a deep raspy voice that fairly demanded your panties.Thank God there was no one there I was willing to give them to.In combination with the spiked Kool-Aid, it was heating up to be a thigh-spreader of a night.
Noelle and Harley, both pregnant, had bowed out of the night’s festivities to stay home with their respective husbands, Hawkley and Daire.
This left Max and Wren, Gabe and Shae, Max and Gabe’s friend Julian, Kian, and me.We gathered around one of the small tables.Except for Kian.He pulled up a stool at the bar just behind us.
Shae practically sat in Gabe’s lap.My girl was getting her happy ending in more ways than one going by the way Gabe’s eyes ate her up.
Now, that man, with his full sleeves of tattoos and devil-may-care attitude, was a treat.And he had made it clear, the only one eating his dessert, was Shae.
Fuck, I think I’m hungry.
I half stood and poked through the basket of fries on the table and grabbed the last few stragglers as I watched Shae flush at something Gabe said.After everything she’d been through, she was due a good man.
Maybe he was a little bossy, but by the looks of her pink cheeks, it worked for her.
I wasn’t much into that myself.
I snorted.
Not unless I was the one doing the bossing.
“You talking to yourself, Bridge?”Wren teased.
I laughed and sat back down in my seat.
As soon as the band took a break, Julian, Max, and Gabe settled into their usual banter, teasing Wren and making Shae blush.Despite Gabe repeatedly attempting to draw Kian into conversation, he orbited the perimeter of our group like a solitary electron, belonging, but set apart.
I understood how that felt.
It had been two weeks since I hi-jacked their celebration at Susie Q’s, and I’d run into him and Isaiah countless times since.They still came into Mary Lou’s nearly every day, though they now took their treats to go.
If he was sending a message, I got it loud and clear.
I even agreed it was better not to get involved.
Most of the time.
Still, when Shae called saying there was going to be a band playing at The Beaver Dam, Kian was the first person that came to mind.
Half of me wanted to invite him, draw him into the fold.
A small town held many charms, but it was not always easy to infiltrate social groups that had been in place for decades.Me, Kian, and Isaiah moving in had created a veritable explosion in the population.
