Anna stood up, banishing her bad memories and refusing to think of Santiago for one more second. Maybe a walk would help her clear her head so she could get a good night’s sleep. She was still feeling tired but her mind was in chaos, overwhelmed with so many memories and worries.
The town was quiet and dark. After living in a noisy city all her life, it felt a little strange to her. A few cars passed by here and there but nothing like the nightlife in Reno where everything stayed open late and people were out and about at all hours. There, when you got hungry at three a.m., you could find an open place to eat.
She walked a few blocks and saw a little bar. She could hear loud music playing and the familiar neon lights in the window made her smile. The sign said Randall’s Bar. She opened the heavy wooden door and the music got louder. She entered the dim bar. She hadn’t been in a bar for over three years now. Santiago had taken her to fancy clubs but she had never enjoyed herself. Instead she had always been too self-conscious of doing something wrong. They had always been surrounded by his guards and people who wanted things from him.
She gave a sigh of relief when she saw it was a full house. It would have been awkward if there had been only a few men inside. She took a quick look around and noticed again everyone was dressed casually. She looked down at her black dress and shrugged. She knew she’d never blend in but she was tired of her own company.
She walked up to the counter and took a seat in the corner and ordered a beer from the cute bartender behind the counter. She wasn’t getting involved with another man but that didn’t mean she couldn’t look. She thanked him and drank the cold liquid with a smile.
* * * *
Blake sat in a back booth sipping on a beer when he noticed Anna walking in. She was not the type of woman you could not notice. Her long dark hair was pulled back in a fancy braid, almost reaching her butt. Her short black dress showed off her tanned, long legs and hugged her body, showing off her sexy, curves. She looked classy and out of place in a small country bar like this.
His ex-girlfriend, Jenna, had come and sat next to him uninvited. He did his best to give her the cold shoulder but she ignored all his hints. He figured he was going to have to get rude to get rid of her. He had nothing to say to her and hadn’t even spoken to her in six weeks.
“Let’s dance, just one dance, Blake.” She ran her hand up to his shoulder, massaging him.
He turned to look at her and frowned. What had he seen in this gold digging witch? Oh yeah, good sex. Her blonde hair was cut short, barely touching her shoulders. She had make-up on and looked perfect on the outside but inside she was ugly. Too bad he had discovered that too late. “Where is your new boyfriend, the banker?”
Jenna had dumped him six weeks ago when she had finally snared Robert Montgomery, the manager of the town bank. She had at least been honest when she bruised his ego, and that is all she had done. Blake didn’t do love. He didn’t think he was capable of love.
“I don’t plan on settling down with a mechanic, Blake. You’re fun and good at sex but a girl has to look at the big picture. No hard feelings okay, babe,” she had told him with a simple phone call, ending their three-month relationship.
“He is on a business meeting in Phoenix for a few days,” she answered, giving him her sexy smile. “Can’t we have a little fun still?”
Blake looked at her and gave her his meanest look. She immediately took her hand off his shoulder and scooted back in the seat. He could have told her he had more money than her banker, but he didn’t flaunt it the way her new boyfriend did. He enjoyed working with his hands which was why he chose mechanics.
“Get lost, Jenna, and stay away from me. I’m not interested in Robert’s leftovers,” he said bluntly in a cold, hard voice.
“Fine,” she stated angrily, her lips tightening in frustration. She picked her purse up and slid out of the booth. She stood by the table and gave him a dirty look. “I can pick anybody I want out of this bar and they will take me home. It’s your loss, Blake.”
He shrugged carelessly and went back to drinking his beer.
She stalked off and Victor came and sat with him. “Finally got rid of the lying bitch?”
Blake nodded looking back to where Anna sat in the corner drinking alone.
“I miss the good ole’ days when Sam hung out with us, too,” Victor commented grumpily. “But he says he’d rather be with Melody now than in this crowded bar.”
“He did always hate crowds,” Blake agreed. “Melody is sweet and it looks like he is serious about her. He says he wants to introduce her to Mom. I’m all for it. Maybe Mom will stop nagging me to get married and produce kids.”
Victor’s eyes widened with surprise and he chuckled at Blake’s grumpy complaint. “I like Melody, too. I just miss us all being together. You and Sam were gone for so long and it was nice to have us all together again.
”
Blake agreed with his brother. He knew Victor had felt left out when he and Sam joined the military, but Victor was a homebody and hadn’t wanted to leave Shady Grove. Blake had secretly been glad. He had always worried for Sam when he was away on missions and out of contact.
“At least we all three work together,” he reminded his brother. He kept drinking his beer and telling himself he didn’t care about Anna but his eyes kept wandering over to where she sat alone drinking. She probably thought no one noticed her. He could see her reflection in the mirror and she looked so sad and alone. He was tempted to go over there and just put his arms around her. That was an alien feeling, one he didn’t like. He liked sex but he didn’t do all that lovey-dovey affection women liked. He never even spent the night with a woman, one of the many complaints Jenna had always had. He was better off alone with the occasional one-night stand. Relationships were hard and messy. He would leave that to Sam and Victor.
He noticed a few men eyeing her and that made him feel jealous and then angry. He didn’t need the headache of another female in his life. If he kept telling himself that over and over he might actually begin to believe it. He had tried his hardest being a good boyfriend to Jenna even though he had no intention of settling down with her forever and that hadn’t turned out so well. It made absolutely no sense. Anna was bad for his peace of mind yet he was drawn to her and couldn’t help it.
Victor turned behind him when he noticed Blake kept looking toward the bar. “Isn’t that your newest customer, Anna?”
Blake shrugged carelessly and moved his eyes away from Anna and onto the crowded dance floor. “So?”
Victor smiled knowingly. “It would be polite to go and say hello. She doesn’t know anyone in this town beside us.”
“I’m not polite,” Blake replied seriously. “Everyone knows that.”