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But this - fundraising for a local halfway house for veterans - this was something she’d done for him. The thought settled on his heart like a ton of bricks. Here he was, avoiding her, ready to throw her in the slammer, investigating her bar, accusing her of unspeakable things, and Skyla had done what she did best.
Laid her heart out on her sleeve and practically handed it to him.
Yeah, she’d kicked him out of Madigan’s. Told him to stay away. To never come back. But after the dumb shit he’d hurled at her, how could he expect anything less? That place meant the world to her. He was just lucky she hadn’t kicked him in the balls to boot.
The thought had him smiling to himself, knowing she was exactly the kind of woman that would do just that, if driven to it. But that kiss, he dreamt of it almost every night. Beat off to the memory of it every morning in the shower. Tasted the memory of it on his lips every day. He wanted more, and it frustrated the hell out of him that he couldn’t have it. Her. Fuck. He needed to get these crazy thoughts out of his head. He couldn’t have any kind of relationship with Skyla outside of a passing friendship, no matter how much his dick argued otherwise.
“Blake?” Vivian asked. He’d completely zoned out for the entire six block walk. “Do you have your receipt?” She asked, stepping into the line that wrapped around the corner to get inside Madigan’s.
He sighed. In all the excitement, he’d forgotten to buy something at The Mystic Cow. “No, but it’s okay. I’ll just pay the cover. It’s for a good cause.” Blake gave her a weak smile. He could argue with his dick all day long, but he was constantly being rendered speechless by Skyla’s heart.
It took almost an hour to get inside, but since Skyla had reserved a table for their friends, he had no trouble finding a place to sit. Garrett and Tanner were already there. “Martin is on his way, but he said to go ahead and order without him,” Tanner explained.
“Sounds good,” Blake said, taking a seat. When Vivian sat beside him, he groaned inwardly, but didn’t outwardly show his dismay.
“Hey guys,” Luke said, Orly at his side. She was holding some fruity drink, while Luke held a beer. “We just went ahead and got our drinks. This place is going to be packed tonight.”
That was the understatement of the century. The crowd was already to the point where there were more people standing than sitting. Music blared through the speakers, and the televisions were showing two sports channels, a music video channel, and a news channel that everyone seemed to be ignoring.
“Hey everyone.” Skyla’s voice came out loud and chipper. She wore her usual Madigan’s black tank top and skinny jeans attire he always saw her in here. Her hair was pulled back in a sleek ponytail and she’d applied a heavy dose of eye shadow that brought out her already expressive whiskey-colored eyes that Blake found himself not being able to look away from tonight. She looked happy, like she was totally in her element, but as soon as her gaze landed on his, her features turned cold, and she quickly turned her attention to the others.
She took their orders, her eyes going everywhere except him, and it irritated Blake more than he thought it would. She was about to walk away without taking Blake’s order when he gently placed his hand on her arm. She jerked it out of his reach as if he’d scalded her, and pinned him with a glare.
This woman had the ability to turn his stomach into knots and feed it to him as a side dish. Fuck. That was sexy. “You forgot my order,” he accused.
Skyla’s gaze slammed into him, nearly leaving him breathless. “I didn’t forget your order,” she practically spat out through gritted teeth. “You always order the same thing.” She snapped her gaze away and left Blake more turned on than he’d been since that damn kiss.
He swallowed, willing his dick to cooperate. This wasn’t the time for that kind of show. He looked back at his friends and didn’t miss how they were staring at him. “What?” He demanded.
“You tell us,” Garrett said, cheekily. “What’s going on here?”
Blake raised a brow. He was never one to play coy, but he just couldn’t answer that question at the moment. Mostly because he had no fucking clue. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, come on, man,” Tanner chided. “We couldn’t have cut through that tension with a knife, it was so thick. Are you and Skyla -”
“No,” he barked, before Tanner could give voice to that thought. Then he instantly wished he’d used a different tone. “Why on earth would you even imply that? You saw her. She ignored me and then practically bit my head off.”
Luke cleared his throat and Orly smiled. His other friends wore similar expressions that made Blake want to crawl out of his own skin. Even if they were on to something, there was no way he was going to start up anything with Skyla Madigan. She was nowhere near his type, no matter how explosive their chemistry might be.
Skyla returned with their drinks a little while later, then Caden and Hallie arrived. Tanner gave his seat to Hallie, while Caden stood behind her talking to Garrett. Tanner stood nearby and struck up a conversation with Martin who’d also just arrived.
A guy in a cowboy hat and a black leather jacket caught Vivian’s attention and she was engrossed in what looked like a fascinating conversation about husbandry and the psychology of raising horses versus human babies. Blake smirked at the topic and turned his attention to Hallie. He leaned into her a little, raising his beer to cover a part of his face in case Vivian suddenly turned in his direction and could read lips. “Are you okay?” He asked Hallie, needing to focus on something other than Skyla, and because he genuinely cared.
She nodded. “I’m good. Thanks for…” She gestured to Vivian.
“Anytime. I hate to ask, but you know I have to. Anything I can do?”
She shook her head and took a sip of her drink. “It was really stupid actually.”.
Caden moved to stand between him and Vivian, creating more of a barrier between them so Hallie would be completely out of her sight and earshot thanks to all the commotion and loud music blaring over the speakers.
“Tell me,” Blake said, hoping whatever she shared would prove to be useful, only because he hated the idea of her going through so many glimpses and not being able to doanything about them.
“It was a slamming door,” she shrugged. “I know. Dumb. But it’s so loud in my head, and done with so much hate. I know it doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t to me either. But that’s what it is every time, for weeks now. All I get is the slamming door. A big, heavy metal door with a small window in it. Hopefully it stops soon,” she added with another shrug as if it was no big deal.
Blake knew otherwise. These things took a toll on her, and the more intense they were, the harder it was for her to deal with them. “It nearly knocked you off your feet,” he pressed, not sure what he was trying to get at, except that he hated the effect these glimpses had on her, especially with Vivian being so close at the time.
Hallie shifted in her seat. “I know. I’m just glad it wasn’t something worse. Last month, I kept seeing this kid getting shot. It was truly awful. I never saw his face though or got a name. Then it stopped, and I saw something on the news that night about a twelve-year-old boy being killed by his older brother.” She sighed heavily, and Blake covered her hand with his.
