Sidecar Crush

“Sure.”

I followed her inside and nodded to her dad. He was sitting in his recliner and gave me a nod in return.

“Jameson Bodine,” he said. “How are you, son?”

“Can’t complain, sir. I thought I might see if Leah Mae here wanted to join me down at my sister Scarlett’s place. She’s having a bonfire by the lake.” I turned to Leah Mae. “What do you think?”

Leah Mae twisted her hands together and drew her eyebrows in. “I’m not sure.”

“Be good for you to get out,” Mr. Larkin said.

I met her eyes. “It’ll be good. Trust me.”

She favored me with a little smile and nibbled on her bottom lip. Good lord, I wanted to nibble that lip myself. I cleared my throat and resisted the urge to rub my neck again.

“All right, but just for a little while,” she said. “Are you okay for tonight, Dad?”

“Course I am,” he said. “You have a nice night, sweetheart. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She kissed her dad on the cheek and went to get her coat. I gave Mr. Larkin another nod and left out the front door with his daughter.

We got in my truck and started toward Scarlett and Devlin’s place. I could tell Leah Mae was nervous. She held her hands in her lap and watched out the window as I drove. I would have loved to touch her—hold her hand or rub her thigh—but I kept my hands on the steering wheel where they belonged.

“I know you’re worried,” I said. “But I’m telling you, it’s okay. You don’t have to be nervous about going out.”

“Everyone saw,” she said, her voice quiet. “And the things people are saying…”

“You should quit reading what those idiots on the internet are saying about you.”

She cast me a sidelong glance. “Yeah, but half the town has been watching the show. They all saw that episode.”

“I reckon it’s more than half,” I said. “But trust me on this, darlin’, Bootleg ain’t that gullible.”

I pulled up to Scarlett’s house and parked among the rest of the cars and trucks. Music played, and someone had built a mighty impressive bonfire. Dev stood next to it with Scarlett in his arms, her head resting against his chest. All the regulars were here. My brothers, including Jonah. Cassidy and June. There was Nash, and Buck, and Opal Bodine, and a dozen or more other Bootleggers, clutching beers or plastic cups. Talking, dancing, laughing. Just another Bootleg summer night.

Scarlett spotted us as we approached the crowd, her face lighting up. I winked, and she grinned back at me.

“Hey, y’all,” she said, her voice carrying above the music, “look who’s here.”

Leah Mae froze in her tracks.

I put my hand on the small of her back and leaned close to speak quietly in her ear. “It’s all right, darlin’.”

“Hey, there!” came the shouts from the crowd. People raised their cups and bottles to us.

“I got something for all y’all,” Scarlett said. “Just hang tight.”

Scarlett went inside while I nudged Leah Mae toward the fire. She kept close to me and it was all I could do to keep from putting my arm around her shoulders.

“Cut the music for a minute,” Scarlett said, emerging from her door with Devlin just behind. The music quieted. She and Dev had trays with shot glasses lined up in neat rows, each topped with a dollop of whipped cream. “We all know what that piece of crap show did to Leah Mae here. So, to show that we stand in solidarity with our Bootleg sister, we’ve got blow jobs for everyone. Shots, that is!”

The crowd cheered, the noise erupting into the night. Leah Mae laughed and the sound of it was like music.

Scarlett brought the tray to her with a smile. “You first, Miss Larkin.”

Leah Mae took one of the shots and held it up, casting a quick glance at me. Her green eyes shone in the firelight.

“Bottoms up,” she said, and brought the shot glass to her lips. Tilting her head back, she swallowed the shot, then raised the empty glass above her head.

Everyone cheered again, whooping and hollering. Leah Mae laughed as she put the glass back on the tray. She had some whipped cream on her lip and god, how I wished I could lick it off.