“Come on. Just one fucking drink, man.”

I stood next to my truck and wiped my brow. “No.”

“Why the fuck are you like this?” Bo asked.

He was as tall as me, only slightly wider because he had more fat than muscle.

Behind him stood Jay and Tommy.

Then Jerry entered the fray. “First round’s on me.”

“The boss man wants a drink?” Jay asked.

“The wife is out of town,” Jerry said. “Visiting her sister down on Wherling. I need to eat. And I need a drink. It’s been a long fucking week.”

“Hell yeah,” Tommy said.

“Bossman is buying,” Bo said.

“You fools go drink,” I said.

“Team meeting,” Jerry said.

“What?” I asked.

“Team meeting. Thirty minutes. At Rickety’s. We need to talk about ideas for new equipment and come up with a plan for the Johnson job. We’re starting to fall behind.”

“That’s because these assholes go out drinking every night,” I said.

“That’s a good point,” Jay said. “We may have a problem here.”

“Good,” Jerry said. “We’re going to solve all our problems. Thirty minutes. Or you’re fucking fired. All of you.” Jerry looked right at me. “All of you.”

Just like that, I was forced into a night out at a bar.

* * *

The biggest gamble I ever took was when I asked her if I could buy her a drink. A few of the guys said I should have just done it without asking, but I didn’t want to be some cliche asshole. So I walked up to her like a man and asked if I could buy her a drink.

Plenty other people would say that was not the biggest gamble of my life, but fuck them. They didn’t know a fucking thing about me and my heart.

Point being, I didn’t know the fucking odds of walking into a little shit bar and turning my head to see Lara standing there, staring down at her feet, like she was about to throw up.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

I recognized the people she was with. The morons from the campsite. The ones that didn’t bring firewood or food.

I shook my head and started to walk again.

It took all of two seconds until I felt Lara staring at me. I looked back and grinned, seeing the look of shock spread across her pretty face.

Jay and Tommy were at the corner of the bar. Bo was behind the bar, getting us drinks. Jerry was in the corner on his cell phone, a hand against his ear.

I leaned against the bar and stared right down at Lara.

I was considering my options. The last thing I needed was to get involved in a bar scene with her. Yeah, that kiss we shared was lingering somewhere on me, but it couldn’t be anything but that. A stupid fucking kiss. All because she got her ass stuck in the mud trying to get away from me. After she came to me to thank me for helping her. Yet she had no idea that I wasn’t out to help her, save her, anything for her.

My own path was one of obsessive destruction.

“Here,” Bo said. He pushed a mug at me. “Stop fucking thinking and start drinking.”

“So much for that meeting, huh?” I asked.

Bo laughed and slapped my back.

Jerry came over and reached between us and grabbed his beer mug. He slammed it back, chugging the entire thing in one gulp.

“Holy shit,” Jay said.

“Cheers,” Jerry said as he put the mug down.

“Aren’t you supposed to do that before you drink?” Tommy asked.

“Nope,” Jerry said. “Now everyone drink.”

We did.

The second round was a little slower than the first.

I wasn’t going to get plastered. I had to drive back up the mountain later and wasn’t going to do it like some dumb drunk asshole and end up hurting myself or someone else.

From the corner of my eye I saw Lara still looking at me.

I gritted my teeth.

“So, are we going to talk anything business here?” I asked.

“Nope,” Jerry said with a grin.

I shook my head.

“Hey,” Bo said. He slapped Jay on the arm. “Syi. Tell Jay about the time you saved that guy. Remember Ricky?”

“Oh, Ricky,” Tommy said. “He was a fucking idiot.”

“I should have never hired him,” Jerry said. “I don’t know how any of us didn’t die.”

“You fired him, though,” Bo said. “Before Syi pulled that log off him.”

“Wait, what?” Jay asked.

I sighed. I pushed away from the bar.

“Come on, Syi,” Jerry said. “Tell the fucking story.”

“We were out in the woods. We had a section to clear out. Things were going smoothly. Dropping trees. Cleaning them up. Getting ready to haul them back. Ricky decided to climb up on the stack for whatever fucking reason. He was always an asshole like that. Problem was, nothing was secured all the way yet. He slipped and got his ankle stuck. He freaked out like a bear in a trap and next thing I knew he was rolling down to the ground as the logs went with him. I fucking ran to him and had to get the logs off him.”

“You pulled trees off a man?” Jay asked.

“Have you seen this guy?” Tommy asked. “He’s a fucking beast. A monster. Biggest arms I’ve ever seen.”

Then I had a bunch of guys looking at my arms in my shirt.

“I heard the commotion,” Jerry said. “I drove down and there was Ricky under two logs. And there was Syi lifting the logs off. There was one left on Ricky so I made Syi back away. I stood over that son of a bitch and fired him.”

“While he was being crushed,” Bo said. “Jerry’s fucking crazy when he’s pissed.”

“Then what happened?” Jay asked.

“After he was fired,” I said, shrugging my shoulders, “I pulled the other log off him. He went to the ER and had a broken rib and wrist. Never saw him again.”

“Fuck that guy,” Bo said.

“So I know now if I ever get stuck, you’ll get me out?” Jay asked me.

“Nah,” I said. “I’m not as strong as I once was.”

Jerry laughed. “Young fucking pricks. That’s what you all are. Young fucking-”

I heard glass shatter.

I turned my head and raised an eyebrow as I saw Lara grabbing at the edge of the bar.

“Drunk chick warning,” Bo said.

“Easiest ones to get,” Jay said.

“I’m licking my chops right now,” Tommy said.

Tommy moved and I threw a fist at him. I hit him so hard in the shoulder he flew back into one of the bikers that were sitting at the bar.

“Nobody fucking move,” I said.

I watched Lara reach for one of her friends. Her friends grabbed for her arms.

Looked like shit was hitting the fan.

I gritted my teeth and sighed.

“Syi?” Jerry asked.

I looked at the guys. “She’s all mine.”