Forgiving Reed (Southern Boys #1) (3 page)

Chapter Four

I stood in front of the full length mirror, spinning from side to side. I thought I had changed my top at least ten times, and I still wasn’t satisfied this was the right one. I flopped down on the bed and threw myself backward with a loud groan.

A snicker from the doorway had me laughing in return. I looked up to find Maria standing there, holding Rhett. “Your momma’s having a little breakdown, buddy. This is called a clothing crisis, and when your girlfriend has one later in life, you just need to remember one thing.” She paused and looked at me, smiling. “She is beautiful, and no matter what she wears that will never change.” Maria winked before turning with my boy to walk back toward the living room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

“Baby what’s taking so long? We’re gonna be late.”

I stepped from the bedroom and looked up to meet Blake’s gorgeous green eyes staring at me. That damn smile made my knees weak. He took a step toward me and placed his hands on my hips. “Why the long face, beautiful girl?”

“Nothing fits me anymore. I feel like a beached whale, and my ass is huge.”

I felt his hands slip around my hips as he cupped my butt. He leaned in and placed a sweet kiss against my lips. “You’re gorgeous, Kori. There isn’t a thing about you that could be considered huge. Your body is amazing, and every day you only get more beautiful.”

“You’re just biased.”

He let his head fall back and chuckled deeply. “Oh, baby, I may be biased, but it’s true. I love you so much, sweet girl. You look perfect, baby…you always do.”

I sat up from the bed with a newfound confidence. It was funny how my memories of Blake still had the ability to make me feel beautiful. I pulled myself together and finished getting ready.

When I emerged from the bedroom I had to laugh. I found my best friend crawling around on the kitchen floor, barking like a dog, as Rhett watched her from his bouncer. She would randomly stop and bark these yappy little barks. The moment she began to shake her ass, appearing to wag her imaginary tail, I lost it. I was hunched over in the hallway, holding my ribs, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Shut up…I’d do anything for this little guy. If it means crawling around on the floor looking like an escaped patient from the nearest mental facility, so be it. It’s worth every second if I get to see him smile and hear that sweet little giggle.”

I wiped the tears from my cheeks, clearing my throat. “Tell me about it, his smile looks more and more like his daddy’s every day. That smile right there, it keeps me going.” I kissed his slobbery cheek, and he grabbed a fist full of my hair in return.

“Let’s get you to Granny’s house, she’s already called twice. I think she’s going through Rhett withdrawal.”

***

We pulled up to the old bar at the edge of town, and the familiarity of the place flowed over me. I remembered my daddy playing poker here on Saturday nights when I was young. The nights he would call Momma to come and pick him up, after he had one too many with the boys. I also remembered skinning my knee on the parking lot after my daddy told me to wait in the truck. All he had to do was run in to grab his poker chips. Of course I didn’t listen, but I blamed it on the cute little kitten. I chased him under the shed on the side of the building. The moment I heard my daddy’s voice, I ran for the truck, only to fall to my knees as I tripped over my own feet. When my knees hit the ground, my left one connected with a piece of glass. I still had the nasty scar to remind me I should have just listened.

“Are you ready?”

I watched as Maria opened the door of her Jeep and climbed out. I took one last deep breath and let it out slowly. “Let’s do this,” I whispered to myself before stepping out of the Jeep to follow her inside.

I smiled at the country music filling the bar, thinking about how Blake would be scrunching up his nose. He always said every damn country song was the same…someone broke your heart, now drink another beer. Our taste in music was one of the only things we used against each other. He preferred the loud screeching music that sounded like someone was strangling a cat.

I followed Maria to the bar and sat down on the stool next to her. Across the bar a familiar voice said, “This night just got a whole lot better.” I didn’t even look up, but the voice struck me deep in my stomach, and I squeezed my eyes firmly, counting to ten. When I looked up into a set of familiar deep brown eyes, my heart raced.

“Hi, Kori.”

My gaze shot to Maria and I glared. The sneaky bitch just made her way on to my shit list. She knew exactly what she was doing. The funny thing was she refused to meet my gaze. No, she sure as hell wasn’t being obvious or anything.

“What can I get ya to drink?” I turned back to face Reed, refusing to react.

“Well, looks like this just became a vodka kind of night.” I caught Maria’s movement from my right side. I swung my head quickly, looking in her direction. “You’re in trouble.” Her only response was to shrug. “Uh uh, no way. Your ass knows exactly what I’m talking about.” I stood up from the bar and walked away, hollering over my shoulder. “You can buy my drinks and bring ’em to me. I’m going to find a table away from him.”

I heard Reed’s deep chuckle behind me. Damn if it didn’t still give me the chills. I despised its effect, and the fact he looked even better than I remembered only made me angrier.

This night went south real fast. Maria and I were gonna be having a little catfight in the middle of the bar. I was sure she planned this.

Chapter Five

“What the hell is this, Mar…seriously?” I grabbed one shot glass and downed it quickly, squeezing my eyes to fight the burn. “You knew he’d be here.” I turned up the second shot glass, and it went down a little smoother. “I can’t believe you didn’t warn me.” Last shot was downed quickly, followed by a loud smack, as I flipped it upside down on the table in front of me. “It’s fucking bullshit…and you know it.”

I didn’t give her a chance before I stood and walked toward the dance floor. I lost myself within the group and joined in like I belonged. I needed something else to focus on. I had to get away from her and just take a breather. I had to reel in this anger, because it sure as shit wasn’t doing me any good. What the hell would it solve? The damage was already done.

I knew I would eventually run into Reed somewhere in town, but damn it, I was blindsided tonight, and it pissed me off. I couldn’t stand the fact he still made my heart race and my stomach flutter. After I met Blake, he became my one and only. Reed was an afterthought, and now he was here in plain sight, bringing up old feelings, and I hated it. He had no right to have this effect on me.

After a few songs I made my way back to the table. Maria hadn’t moved. She looked up at me with glossy eyes. “I’m sorry, but I honestly didn’t know he’d be here.” I started to argue, but she cut me off. “Let me finish.” After a pause she continued. “He never works behind the bar. Normally he just stops in early to square things away, and then he is outta here. He has people who run the place for him.”

“Wait a minute…run the place?”

She nodded. “Yeah. He owns Lucky’s. He bought it last year after the…” she stopped midsentence.

“After what?”

“After the fire.”

I looked at her, waiting for her to continue. When she didn’t, I asked, “What fire, Maria? What happened?”

She looked over her shoulder and I followed her stare. My eyes met his and he winked, before going back to serving the group of guys at the end of the bar. Maria’s voice tugged me from my trance of watching his muscles flex with each movement.

“His momma’s house burned down last year,” she said, then paused. “He was here, he had come back home after a long visit, and um...” I knew what she was going to say, and I had to stop her. I knew he left town shortly after I did to go live with his momma in Tennessee, but I didn’t know much about her. He never talked about her, just that she came from money, and his parents divorced when he was young. He chose to move here with his daddy when they split.

“He bought the land next to his daddy’s place and built a house. He moved back right before the fire happened.” She took a drink of her beer and mindlessly played with the label on the bottle. “He blames himself…says if he would have stayed with her, he would have been able to get her out.”

I shook my head. “Wow.”

“Yeah, wow is right.”

“This night just suddenly became a huge buzz kill.”

Maria stood from her chair quickly. “No fucking way, I got my new red boots, and damn it, I ain’t stopping till these bitches are broke in.”

I shook my head and laughed. “No more talking about depressing topics then. You aren’t supposed to make it difficult for me to hate the man.”

She nodded once. “You got it. That asshole got head from Kim while dating you. He’s a cheating son of a bitch who needs to be nut punched.” I couldn’t help but laugh at Mrs. Violent Mable here.

“Okay, that helps, the vision is definitely back. But the whole nut punching thing, we can skip.” She shrugged and drug me toward the dance floor for another round of dancing. We wiggled our asses, song after song, until our feet hurt.

***

I was dying for a beer, but I refused to go to the bar. My buzz was flowing, but not enough to give me the liquid courage needed to face him once again.

“Hey, I need to pee, bitch. Get us a beer.” I walked away before Maria could argue. Two birds with one stone. I needed to go, and it meant if she got the beers, I didn’t have to talk to him.

When I made it back to the table she had two shots for each of us and a beer. “Uh, real nice, hooker, but um…who’s gonna drive if we’re both shit faced?”

She flipped back the first shot. “One word…” Second shot slammed back just as quick as the first. “Cab.” Followed by a long pull from her beer before she sat it back down. “Catch up, twatwaffle, it’s time to shake your skinny little ass.” She walked past and swatted my bottom. “Move it, or lose it, sister.”

Shaking my head, laughing, I followed by tipping back both shots and a quick drink of my beer before chasing after her. A few guys tried dancing with us, but we just created our own little dance circle, until they got the hint and walked away. Which was always followed by us giggling.

The night was turning out to be something I thought I really needed. It felt good to let loose and feel anything other than the pain and depression that had consumed me for the last eight months.

Maria and I were both feeling really good. We carefully made our way back to our table. I knew we had to look ridiculous, leaning on one another, taking slow steps. The tingling feeling dominated me, and the laughter set in. We were both giddy, and it didn’t take much for the two of us to break out into a fit of giggles.

I heard a clicking against the floor and looked up just in time to see long, flowing, black hair swinging back and forth. A woman in a skin tight dress with the tallest damn hooker heels I had ever seen just walked in. She made a beeline straight to Reed, and I felt my stomach tighten with an unwanted jealousy. Who gave a hell if that woman was his girlfriend, wife, whatever? So why couldn’t I stop staring? She looked more like a street walker than a lady.

Once she turned to the side, my heart raced—it was Kim.

Maria caught me staring and turned around to see what I was looking at. “Oh great, who invited the town hussy?”

Before I could stop myself, I asked the one thing I wanted to pretend I didn’t give two shits about. “Are they together?”

“Hell no, she’s tried. I don’t think she has ever gotten the hint, but she still tries, almost daily. She’s like a god damn fly on shit. She pushes, and he draws back. He tries to be polite, but in all honesty he really just needs to tell her to back off.”

Maria and her filter…wait, what filter?  I pulled my eyes away just a second too late. I knew Kim had spotted us. I could feel her beady little eyes narrowing in. The clicking got closer and closer until it stopped right next to our table. I did everything I could to keep from looking at her. She and I had some unfinished business to settle. The problem was I refused to stoop to her level. She was not worth the stress.

“Well, look what the cat drug in. Aren’t we all so blessed to have Kori Foster come back to town?” She laughed like she thought she was the queen shit. “I hoped when you left it would’ve been the last time any of us ever saw ya.” She leaned in just a little closer. “Didn’t the vision of your boyfriend’s dick in my mouth give you the hint that there isn’t anything here for you?”

Maria jumped up quickly from the bar stool and put herself between Kim and me. “Listen real close, Kim. I love my red boots. I mean I really love my red boots, but I sure as hell would risk them by sticking one clean up your ass. If you don’t step away right now, bitch, you’re gonna be walking real funny for weeks. And it won’t be for the reasons that usually have your whorish ass walking that way.”

Maria laughed and looked over her shoulder, winking at me. I had really missed her fiery spunkiness. I could always count on her having my back.

“Humph.” Kim rolled her eyes, and the noise she made caused Maria to turn back and face her.

“Try me, bitch.” Maria rolled up her sleeves slowly and took another step toward Kim. I stifled a laugh at her expression. All at once Kim threw her hands up in the air, spinning around and walking away. The moment Maria took a seat back on the bar stool next to me we both let the laughter flow freely. We ordered another round of drinks in celebration of pissing off Kim, the town hooker.

Maria wasn’t more than five and a half feet tall, weighing less than one hundred and fifteen pounds. She never let that stop her from making her presence well known. She was a tiny thing, but they always said dynamite came in small packages. I thought they created that saying with her in mind. When she was mad, it got a little wild.

***

The sound of last round told us it was time to call a cab. We both held on to each other and made our way toward the exit. Sticking my hand out before me to push against the door, it connected with a strong, firm chest instead.

I looked up, and it was a little too quickly because the room began to spin, and I felt myself falling. Two strong hands gripped my waist and held me upright. “Steady, Kori. You two ladies ain’t driving nowhere.”

For a moment I kept my hands on his chest, making sure I once again had my bearings. I slowly pushed back and looked up at him. His eyes raked over me and he grinned. “Hey, pretty girl, let me take you two home.” I instantly felt the burn; it was as if my chest were on fire. His big, warm chocolate eyes drank me in, and heat flooded through me. Only then leading toward anger. I wouldn’t feel anything toward Reed. I couldn’t. I refused to feel anything but hate. My love died with Blake. No man would take his place.

I pushed back hard. “Don’t touch me. You lost the right to touch me or worry about me long ago. Go fuck yourself, Reed, or wait…just drop your pants around your ankles and tell Kim to suck.” I pushed past him and stormed off toward the exit.

I stumbled out the door and found a post to steady myself against. “Damn, bitch, that was a vicious side of you I don’t see often.”

“There isn’t a spot in my life for Reed Jackson. I closed that door a long time ago.”

The cab pulled into the parking lot and honked. Maria and I held on to each other as we made our way to the car. After we were safely inside, just before it pulled away, I looked back toward the bar. Reed was leaning against the big black truck beside the front entrance.

I swallowed hard and pushed past the feelings of guilt. I couldn’t feel guilty. He hurt me, and he wasn’t anything to me, not anymore.

The problem was it was taking too much effort to convince myself of that.