Page 131 of Whiskey Wednesdays

I stared at Rudy, open-mouthed. He didn’t flinch when Wyatt tightened his fists and glared at him.

“Did you really just call me chickenshit?”

Rudy nodded. “Absolutely. And I don’t think you have the balls to get up there.”

Wyatt rolled his shoulders. “I’d wipe the fucking floor with you.”

Rudy set down his beer and threw the shot of whiskey back. “Let’s make a bet, Wyatt. Whoever gives the best performance tonight wins. I’ll bet a hundred bucks.”

Martina held up her hand. “I want in on this. I may be the DJ, but I also sing occasionally.” She cocked her eyebrow. “Unless you guys are afraid of a little competition.”

Wyatt smirked. “The more the merrier.”

Rudy slowly grinned. “You’re on. Let’s round up the boys and spread the word. Isa will keep track. The only rule is the crowd decides the winner. Agreed?”

Wyatt smirked. “Agreed.”

Connor heard about the bet, and he bought a round of whiskey shots for all the players to get them lubed up. Martina announced the competition to the crowd, and they were more than happy to judge the performances. A few patrons even got in on the action.

The first player started off with a drunken rendition of Willie Nelson’s “Blue Eyes,” followed by another player who sang a credible version of “Rapper’s Delight” while holding two shots.

One of the younger players sang “I Feel Like a Woman,” and another butchered an Elton John song. His teammates started singing along just to help him out. Wyatt surprised us all by singing a decent rendition of “Thunderstruck.”

But the clear winner–or winners–and the most controversial entry of the night, was a duet rendition of “Whiskey River” by Martina and Rudy. When they started singing, we figuredout pretty quickly they’d sung together before. And they were fucking phenomenal.

I remembered Chris Stapleton and Justin Timberlake sang the song together at a music award show back when I was in high school, and it blew me away. Martina and Rudy were almost as good.

They were the last entry, and by the time they finished, the crowd was going nuts. Rudy had a deep, well-trained baritone voice, and he slid through the notes like a professional. And Martina had a voice that should have been on the Billboard charts. Wyatt watched them sing together, and I could tell he knew he’d been played.

When they finished and jumped off the stage, Wyatt went over with the rest of the crowd to congratulate them. He slapped Rudy on the back, then he hugged Martina, squeezing her a little too tight. I noticed Iz straighten off the wall where he’d been watching and make his way over.

“Holy shit,” Titus muttered. “That was fucking phenomenal.”

I agreed. It had been another interesting evening.

Connor wrapped his arm around my neck and pulled me to him. “I think that was the most successful Whiskey Wednesday you’ve had so far. And Rudy being able to sing like that? I had no idea.” He turned to Titus. “We need to have him sing the National Anthem at the games sometime.”

“Hell yes. It’d be great publicity,” Titus agreed.

“You ready to go?” Connor asked me a little while later.

I smiled as I watched the team talking and laughing together. “Yeah, I think I am.”

On Thursday night, Connor picked me up at my apartment for a date. We’d had mind-blowing sex and even lived together, but we’d only been on a couple of dates. I wore my black spandex pants with black sandals and a red gauzy blouse I’d bought at the second-hand store a couple of years ago. I’d even styled my hair and spent extra time on my makeup.

Connor looked me up and down and grinned. “I’ve never seen you in red before. You look extra fuckable.”

I smiled and blushed. “Thank you. I think. We’ve only been on two dates, so that’s not surprising.”

“Two dates? Are you sure?”

“Yep.”

He thought for a minute. “Huh. I’ll have to rectify that. I guess I’ve enjoyed staying home with you and Elodie so much, I don’t go out like I used to.”

I took his hand. “Staying home with you guys is one of my favorite things too. You don’t need to rectify anything.”

Connor brought my hand up to his mouth and kissed it, then he leaned in and sniffed my neck. “Mmm. You smell good.” He held up his other hand with a small gift bag in it. “And I brought you something.”

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