Chapter 25
Destiny
“Alcohol takes the finish off of furniture and people.”
~ Grandma Dixie
“Fuck cancer!” Harmony called out as she stood on the barstool and lifted a shot in the air.
Cara beamed and repeated Harmony’s cheer. I clinked my small glass filled with tequila, or maybe vodka—I wasn’t sure at this point—to theirs before bringing it to my mouth and tipping my head back. The liquid stung as it slid down my throat. Squinting, I pursed my lips as I set it back down on our table.
Blinking several times, I tried to focus my eyesight, but everything was fuzzy. Really fuzzy.
“And to Destiny and Sugar Rush. We knew you could do it!” Harmony picked up another shot glass. Cara and I did the same.
“To Sugar Rush!” I called out as the three of us clinked our glasses.
Then we downed our shots. This one went down a little smoother than the last.
“Another round!” Harmony called out to Bryson, who was bartending that night at the Tipsy Cow.
I wasn’t sure how many more shots I could do. My vision was blurry and the room felt like it had morphed into a tilt-a-whirl ride. We were a few shots in, and at dinner, we’d also finished off not one, but two pitchers of margaritas. I had passed buzzed a few drinks ago and was now officially drunk.
“Alright, Angels. How about some water?” Bryson suggested as he stepped up to the high top table and set three mugs of ice water down.
“Angels!” Cara yelled, a smile lighting her face up. “Charlie’s Angels! You remembered!”
Bryson was a few years ahead of us in school. If my crush-fate hadn’t been sealed at age four, I would’ve probably had a pretty bad thing for him. He had jet black hair and piercing, bright-blue eyes. His father and mother were first-generation immigrants from Ireland, and even though he’d been born and bred in Texas, a little Irish accent sometimes seeped through when he spoke, which only added to his sex appeal.
“Thanks for the H2O, Bry, but we’re gonna need another round a drinks,” Harmony insisted, slurring her words.
Or maybe I am slurring my hearing… Is that a thing? Can you get so drunk you have slurred hearing?
“No. You can’t.” A deep voice rumbled behind me.
A voice that had my toes curling and my heart pitter-pattering.
“Can’t what?” I asked in a whisper, not sure if anyone else had heard JJ’s voice.
“You can’t have slurred hearing.”
Oops. I must have used my outside voice. Or JJ really could read my mind. At this point, either was possible. When I turned around, the room tipped to one side but then righted itself again as strong fingers wrapped around my upper arm. My head felt heavy, like I was a bobble head. When I was finally able to firm my neck and hold steady, JJ’s face was in front of me and he did not look happy. He did look sexy though. I was immediately drawn to the days’ worth of stubble on his chin. Unable to help myself, I reached up to pet his cheek.
Before I made contact, he grabbed my hand and lowered it away from his face.
“What’s your problem?” I asked with equal parts irritation and arousal.
Instead of answering me, he tugged at my wrist. “Time to go, Destiny.”
“No!” I pulled my hand away. “We’re celebrating!”
“Celebration’s over.” He motioned with his head.
Trace, or at least a fuzzy person who looked like Trace, was helping Cara off her stool. She was giggling and telling him about how she’d worn her lucky underwear to her doctor’s appointment. The ones she’d never actually gotten lucky in.
Cara was a virgin. She wasn’t saving herself for any religious reason. But, when battling cancer in your teens and then going in for checkups every three months in college, having sex doesn’t register high on the to-do (pun intended) list.
“I’d love to see you try!” I heard Harmony yell, I turned my head just in time to see her pulling her arm away from Hudson, Sheriff Reed’s oldest son and one of JJ’s best friends.
He also happened to be the deputy sheriff, and was in uniform. He was speaking quietly and with more authority than I’d ever seen him exude. Even leaning forward I couldn’t quite make out what he was telling her, but I did hear the words public and intoxication.
Oh boy. I did not like getting in trouble. Maybe it was time to go.
“Harmony, let’s go.” I tried to reach across the table, but Harmony was already being led out of the bar by Hudson.
The next thing I knew, my feet had left the floor and I was floating. No, wait. I wasn’t floating—I was being carried. By JJ.
My mind flashed back to one of my favorite movies, An Officer and a Gentleman. Sure, this wasn’t a factory and JJ wasn’t a naval officer, but hey, that didn’t stop me from grabbing his baseball cap off his head and putting it on.
You’re hotter than Richard Gere, I thought as I wrapped my arms around his neck. My head fell against his shoulder like it was meant to be there, and I took in a deep breath. He smelled good.
Closing my eyes, I lost myself in his scent. It was just so…deliciously manly. It made me want to take off all of his clothes and just sniff him.
“If you take off my clothes and just want to sniff me, then I’m doing something wrong.” His chest vibrated through me as he spoke.
“Did I say that out loud?” I was sure I’d just thought that.
“Yes. Right after you told me that I was hotter than Richard Gere.”
“Well, you are,” I shot back. Even in my drunken state, I could hear the defensiveness in my voice.
I was going to apologize for snapping at JJ, but that got put on the backburner when the entire world started spinning like I was on the Tea Cups in Disneyland. When it finally stopped, I opened my eyes and realized I was sitting in JJ’s truck, alarm raced through me.
“Wait! Where’s Cara and Harmony?”
“They’re fine. Trace is taking Cara home, and Hudson is dealing with Harmony.” JJ was leaning over me, and I felt his hand on my waist.
Is he hugging me? Ahh, that’s nice.
Just as I started melting into the embrace, a loud click sounded and I realized he was buckling me in.
Grabbing his arm, I tried not to get distracted by his body covering mine. I needed to concentrate on my friends.
“Wait. Hudson is with Harmony? She’s your sister! Why aren’t you taking care of her?”
Even in my inebriated state, I knew that Hudson and Harmony together was like throwing a lit cigarette into a dried-out bush doused with gasoline. Those two fought like cats and dogs on steroids.
“Hudson has the law on his side. I think he can handle Harmony.” JJ’s clipped tone reminded me that he seemed mad, and if I wasn’t mistaken, his anger was directed at me.
What the heck did I do?
Before I had a chance to address it, the door slammed and JJ was in front of the truck. I tracked him as he walked. My eyes widened as his face illuminated under a light post from the street. Good lord almighty, that man was gorgeous.
His strong jaw sprinkled with bristly hair. His large eyes, which were lined with lashes so dark and thick that it was a shame they weren’t on a girl. Actually, Harmony had the same lashes, so I guessed the Briggs family gene hadn’t gone completely to waste.
When the driver’s side door opened and JJ joined me in the small cab my attention was pulled back to the scowl on his chiseled face. He checked over his shoulder as he backed the truck out of the parking space, and it was all I could do not to lean over and kiss his extremely kissable lips.
My upper body bent forward of its own accord, but just as my lips were about to hit their mark, JJ turned so he was facing the front windshield. His hand pressed just below my collarbone, and I found myself in the upright position once again.
“Destiny, sit back.”
Dang it.
“Yes, sir.” I saluted him.
The corners of his lips turned up, and seeing him grin made all kinds of ooey-gooey feelings spread through me.
“Stay,” he commanded as he released his hand and placed it on the steering wheel.
“What’s got your panties in a bunch?” The question flew out of my mouth. Then the vision of JJ wearing panties flew into my head and I couldn’t help but laugh.
JJ must not have found the visual as humorous as me, because his tone was flat as he said, “I’ve been looking for you all day.”
“Me? Why?”
“I needed to talk to you.”
“’Bout what?” I asked, my interest sufficiently piqued.
Instead of answering me, like a normal person, he just shook his head.
Whatever. I was in too good of a mood to let Mr. Grumpy Pants bring me down. So, if he didn’t want to talk, I would sing. I flipped the radio on and oldies started playing. I sang along to a little Sam Cooke’s “What a Wonderful World.” But, just as it got to the chorus, JJ turned the radio down.
“Hey!” I protested.
“Do you do this a lot?” He was staring straight ahead, and his jaw ticked.
Someone was a nosy parker.
“Sing to the radio? I guess.”
“No, get wasted,” he corrected.
“Oh, that.” I waved my hand in dismissal of his claim. “I’m not wast-ed.” I’d ended the last word on a hiccup. Maybe I was wasted. Another hiccup rang out loudly.
Oops. I was wasted.
“Right,” he replied in a flat tone.
“You don’t get to judge me.” My voice boomed, coming out a lot louder than I’d meant for it to come out. “I’ve seen what you do on the road. The drinking. The girls. You’re no angel.”
His voice and body language were filled with tension as he quietly remarked, “Don’t believe everything you read.”
Speaking of believing everything… “Wait, are you really retiring? That’s what all the people are saying.”
“Yes.”
“What? That’s crazy! Why? You love baseball.” I might be tipsy, but even in my impaired state I knew that JJ retiring was insane.
“I do love baseball,” JJ agreed as the truck came to a stop outside my apartment.
I sat motionless staring at his profile. Even though it was a little fuzzy, I could see the lines in his eyes and the strain in his jaw. He appeared to be…tortured. My heart ached at that. I was trying to figure out what to say to ease the conflict he was obviously in when he turned towards me. The penetrating look in his eyes caught me off guard and stole my breath.
“But that’s not the only thing I love.” His deep voice washed over me like a warm fire on a snowy day.
There was meaning behind his words, but for the life of me, I couldn’t puzzle out what else he loved. It hurt to even try.
“What else do you love?” My heart pounded loudly in my chest.
He didn’t answer right away. As I waited, every cell in my body was aware of the very confined space we were sitting in. Like a moth drawn to a flame, my body began shifting closer to him. I needed to touch him, to feel him.
“Wait here!” JJ’s barked order served as a bucket of cold water being dumped on my head. I blinked several times as he disappeared out of the truck.
Wait here? But…we were at my house. That didn’t make sense.
I should get out.
As I reached for the door, it flew open and JJ was at my side, helping me out of the truck. In one fell swoop, he had me cradled in his arms and was marching towards my front door.
I had never been a girl who’d thought getting swept off her feet would really be a turn-on. I was more of a stand-on-my-own-two-feet gal, but after having experienced it for the second time in one night, I had to admit that it did have its merits.
“I could get used to this,” I murmured as I nuzzled into JJ’s warm neck.
“That’s the plan,” he said as he effortlessly unlocked and opened my door.
“What’s the plan?” I lifted my head off my new favorite pillow so I could look him in the eye.
“Sobering you up.” He lowered me onto the couch, and then he was gone again.
Poof. Just like that. He really was good at disappearing. If he’s gonna give up baseball, maybe he should think about becoming a magician.
I had a brief inclination to get up and try to find him, but when I lifted my arms to push myself off the comfy cushions, they felt like bags of sand were weighing them down. So, instead, I flopped back and dropped my burdensome limbs onto my lap. Something warm and furry brushed against my arm. I looked down and saw Captain Pickles turning in circles beside me.
Just watching him made me feel like I’d gotten back on the ride, the whole room was going in circles, so I decided to close my eyes.
Ahh, that’s better.
“Nope. Wake up.” JJ’s loud command sliced through my relaxed state.
I tried to ignore it. But that became impossible when he began shaking me. Then I felt myself being lifted up and then settling onto JJ’s lap.
“Come on, Destiny. Open your eyes. I have something for you.”
That promise was enough for me to pry my heavy lids open. When I did, JJ’s face came into focus. And he was holding a mug.
Oh. That was the something. How disappointing.
“Good. Keep those beautiful eyes open and drink up,” he sweetly encouraged me.
When the scent of roasted coffee beans drifted through my nostrils, I parted my lips and sipped. I wasn’t sure why JJ wanted me to drink coffee when all I wanted to do was sleep, but if it meant I got to sit on JJ’s lap, snuggled into his arms…then just call me Juan Valdez.