Page 25 of Happy Hour

Jameson wasn’t any doing any better with Tommy holding him up as he explained how he thought today’s youth, present company excluded, had no work ethic.

Alley and Spencer had left to go get Lane since Spencer had to drive the motor coach to Pocono tomorrow.

Emma complained she was tired so Aidenconvenientlybecame tired at the same time and they left together, thankfully, Jameson was too drunk to notice.

This left Jameson, Kyle, and Tommy with me at the bar when Jameson decided to duel some guy on the piano. No one knew he had the piano chops too and left the entire bar, still bursting with people, in complete frenzy, me included.

Eventually I was alone with Jameson and he was pulling me towards the dance floor to dance toPurple Rainsince we were in fact drinking a Purple Rain drink.

This was his reasoning at least.

Drawing me against his chest tightly, he whispered the lyrics ofPurple Rainto me with a low gravelly voice that left me trembling in his arms. What sent me over the edge was when he threw his head back and belted out an utterly raw verse.

It seemed the more I drank, the more my plan was set in stone.

My biggest problem when drinking is that I had all the bad ideas floating around in my head. When alcohol got involved, they turned into bad decisions. Over the years I’d become accustomed to this but don’t think I didn’t want to sue the makers of Tequila a time or two for their persuasive influence.

These bad ideas turned into me thinking I would make him see me for me, perfect for him. The drunker I got, the easier it got to forget that he was a superstar now and just my best friend. He was the boy I grew to love. After a while, I just went with it.

All night it seemed he was giving peculiar looks, his eyes cutting and smiling. It warmed me, he looked as though he was seeing me, the girl that was always there for him, not some pit lizard, and he looked at me as though I was the only woman in the room that mattered to him.

I must have been staring at him because when he snuck a glance at me, he smirked. “What?”

I bit down on my bottom lip then slowly pulled my straw in my mouth and took a drink before saying, “Nothing.” then winked at him.

Slowly and I do mean slowly, he sucked his bottom lip in, bit down and then gradually let it drag against his teeth.

“You are the mostbeautifulwoman I’ve ever met.” He crooned pressing a tender kiss right below my ear.

I was drunk, plain and simple.

Tanked, toasted, spent, hammered, smashed, intoxicated, plastered, sloshed...whatever you wanna call it. Jameson and I could barely put one foot in front of the other when the limo driver dropped us at the hotel around four in the morning.

Somewhere between the dancing and serenading, I decided I was going to do whatever my engine and crankcase wanted—as noted, alcohol played a strong role in this. Sincethey, my crankcase and engine, were in charge,theydecided I’d stood by just watching for far too long now.

I watched as he won the Coca-Cola 600 tonight. I watched as he whispered an entire song in my ear, and let’s face it, he could have been whispering how to change a tire and I would have melted.

And then to top it off, he told me I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met. Okay well yes, he was drunk when he said it but still, he said it,to me.

My attention turned back to Jameson fumbling with his room key. He seemed resolutely focused on getting the door open.

Leaning against the wall, I searched for mine in my bag. Reaching down, I slipped my heels off. My feet now resembled hamburger from all the blisters.

Jameson, with some determination and focus, managed to get the key in the door but fell through the door when it opened landing on his ass in the entryway.

We both started laughing as he lied down on the floor. “I think I broke my ass.”

“I’ll let you get some sleep, Jameson. See you in the morning.” I started to walk away but stopped when I felt his hand grasp my ankle.

“Where you going, honey?” I looked down and I was met with the most intense burning stare. Where his eyes were once restless at the bar earlier, they were now focused and alive.

The green, though bloodshot, seemed brighter but in the same sense, they seemed darker with a carnal desire. I knew the look well as I had it plastered upon my face throughout the entire evening.

That burning stare traveled up my body focusing on mine as he waited for me to answer.

“To my room,” I choked out eventually, though I’m not sure he heard me or maybe it was that I couldn’t hear myself over the loud thudding of my heart in my ears.

I should have been concerned with how fast my heart was beating but all I could focus on was the green in his eyes contrasting against the black in his shirt and the way he was looking at me.

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