Page 14 of Make Me Crazy (Loco, Texas 2)

He downed the rest of his beer and said, “Hell yeah. Let’s forget about it, and get obnoxiously drunk.”

Good to know I’m so forgettable. “In that case, I better get another round.”

This was a bad idea.

Jake had been thinking that for the last half hour, having never seen Rand this drunk before. Normally, they’d hang out at her house, have a couple beers and then he’d go home. Rand didn’t really do the drunk thing, hating when people acted like morons in public. He’d been this drunk. Red had been this drunk. But Rand?

She took another shot and yelled, “Yeah!” A group of men were crowded around her, watching her with mixed variations of awe and fascination. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who had never seen Rand act so out of character.

Someone put on Jason Aldean’s “Take a Little Ride”, and she yelled, “I love this song.” She reached up and took out her pony tail, letting the long brown waves fan out over her shoulders. She grabbed the first man next to her as she jumped off the bar and yanked him behind her. “Come on, let’s dance!”

Bubba Phillip’s eyes were big as saucers, but he let her lead him out to the honkey tonk’s wooden dance floor. Jake should have been amused at seeing Rand letting loose, but he was distracted by the way the men’s eyes were following her and Bubba on the floor.

Her hands went to the zipper of her sweatshirt and she threw the black hoodie into the crowd. Clad in a t-shirt and jeans, she started to shake her ass and hold her hair up off her neck.

Holy hell! Every move she made was sexier than the next and his dick hardened painfully as he watched her.

Bubba reached out and pulled her against him, probably assuming she wouldn’t punch his lights out for touching her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and moved suggestively and Jake’s hands clenched into fists. He didn’t like the way Bubba’s hands started to travel.

He should get her out of there and let her sleep it off.

Fred Meyer stepped out and spun Rand out of Bubba’s arms and started two stepping with her across the floor. Several men drifted off to dance with other women, but several remained, taking turns spinning Rand around, and her bright laughter traveled over the music. It was carefree, charming, and so not like her. Even the look she shot her dance partner was flirtatious and welcoming.

Wait, when had that happened? Rand didn’t have a flirtatious bone in her body.

“Oh how the mighty have fallen,” a mocking voice said next to Jake.

Jake looked over at Branson’s smirking face and scowled. “I thought you left.”

“I got a text that Princess Miranda was making an ass of herself and decided to come watch.”

Jake had never liked the guy and, right now, he was tempted to take one of his tight fists and wipe that smirk off the asshole’s face. “You do realize that she’s a friend of mine.”

Branson didn’t respond but kept watching Rand in a way Jake didn’t like. He wanted to walk out onto the dance floor and block Rand from Branson’s leering. Before he could say more though, Branson moved away from him and cut in for a dance with Rand, who made a face at him. When he said something to her, she laughed and let him put his hands on her waist.

Jake’s jaw clenched as he watched her sway along with Branson. Whatever the arrogant son of a bitch had said to her must have been damn charming with the way she was smiling. Jake’s expression darkened when Branson dropped his head like he was going to kiss her.

Rand turned her face away and pushed against Branson’s chest. Jake could hear her angry, ?

?Let go of me” as she struggled against the bigger man.

Several men in front of Jake stepped forward, but Jake was already across the floor. “Let her go.”

Branson dropped his hands in disgust. “She’s a tease anyway.”

Rand tried to lunge past Jake and hit Branson, but Jake wrapped his arms around her slim waist, holding her back. “I wouldn’t kiss you to save my life, you no good son of a bitch!”

Jake held on to Rand as she struggled to get to Branson and finally said, “Damn it, Rand, I’m taking you home!”

She opened her mouth to say something but he caught the greenish pallor to her skin seconds before she jerked away from him. With a gag, she pushed past the crowd of people at a run, fleeing toward the door.

Jake turned to a smirking Branson and said, “I don’t want to see you bothering her again.”

Branson held up his hand in surrender. Satisfied, Jake grabbed Rand’s jacket from Bubba, and chased after her.

He found her puking on the driver’s side of his truck, one hand on her hair, the other on the truck for support. Jake reached out and took her hair in his hands. “I got it.”

He slid the long tresses into one hand and rubbed her back with his other, while she cried and wretched. “It’s okay, Rand, we’ve all been there.”

---