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Keith, Nash, Taylor, Ronnie Sunderland and his wife Vanessa, and two women he didn’t know were just being served their drinks.
“Shane,” Abigail called out. “Come and join us.”
Bitch.
She knew he hated eating dinner with a bunch of people he didn’t know or like. Keith didn’t seem too happy with the idea, but Nash and Taylor turned in their seats with welcoming smiles.
“Yeah, there’s always room for one more,” Ronnie said, hopping up to grab a chair from a nearby table. “Scoot down.”
Shane was about to turn them down and just go grab a burger somewhere when the smell of fried onions, garlic, and fresh-baked bread hit him in the gut.
“It’s all you can eat,” Taylor said, grinning.
Shane reluctantly sat at the open space at the end of their table. Unfortunately, he was at the exact opposite side from where Abigail was. She looked like the Queen of Hearts, lording it over the entire group. She was still pretty, although Shane could see the years of living on the road in her face. All the makeup in the world couldn’t hide the cynicism in her eyes and the twist of her ruby red lips. She still had a rockin’ body, but Shane wasn’t even the least bit interested. Even if her fiancé wasn’t still glaring daggers at him, Shane had zero desire to see if Abigail was still an animal in bed.
He was currently distracted by Reba Keller’s soft mouth and generous curves, not to mention the fierce intelligence in her eyes and the way she could make him smile with a tart comment. Shane wished he was the type of man who would have invited himself along on Reba’s family night. At the very least, he could have pushed to take her out for drinks afterward.
But he figured that she’d be the dessert, and he didn’t want to offend her by just offering up sex. That was the old Shane. Or rather, that was the younger Shane. He was now older and hopefully wiser. Yeah, he wanted to dance in the sheets with Reba Keller. But he also wanted to talk to her, too.
He didn’t want to talk to his ex or these youngsters, who even though they were less than ten years younger than him, made him feel like he was their father’s age. After Taylor and Nash introduced their dates, Wendy and Becky, Shane placed his order with the waitress for a caipirinha.
“What’s in that?” Becky asked.
Shane pointed to the menu. It said cachaça, lime, and sugar.
“What’s cachaça?”
“I guess I’ll find out.”
“That’s what I love about you bull riders. You’re always willing to take chances on everything,” she gushed.
“It’s not that daring,” Abigail droned. “It’s basically Brazilian rum.” She waved her phone at Becky. “Google, darling. It’s your friend.”
“And Shane’s not a bull rider,” Keith said.
“Not anymore,” Taylor added. “He used to be a champion.”
Shane hid a wince. Was anything worse than being called used to be? Where was his drink? He looked around, but the waitress hadn’t even made it to the bar yet. It was going to be a long night.
“What happened?” Wendy asked.
“He wrecked,” Abigail said.
“Badly,” Shane added.
“I’m so sorry,” Becky said. “That must have been awful.”
“What do you do now?” Wendy asked, with a slight frown.
“Believe it or not, there is life after bull riding,” he said.
Sometimes, Shane even managed to convince himself of that. Unfortunately, today was not one of those days. He wished his brother Rick was here on behalf of the bulls and Shane was with these idiots drinking and thinking about victory tomorrow.
“The hell you say,” Taylor said, taking a swig of his beer.
“What do you know about it?” Keith said. “You’re just a clown.”
“A clown who saved my bacon,” Ronnie pointed out.
