Page 10 of The Pieces We've Lost

I looked up at him and saw that his eyes were glassy and he couldn’t seem to focus on my face.

Oh wonderful. He’s plastered too,I thought to myself. I resorted to ignoring him, his advances, and his desperate attempts to take me home. He wasn’t doing a very good job.

He set his hat brim down on the table.Rookie mistake. You never set your hat down on the brim otherwise it would start to lose its shape. It was a well-known fact, just like putting your hat on a bed was an invitation for bad luck. Anyrealcowboy would have known that. I rolled my eyes as he invited himself to a seat at my table.

“Aren’t you gonna answer me, buttercup?” He raised his eyebrows at me.

“Hello,” I muttered before I took a long swig of my drink. Damn, it was almost gone and I knew he was about to ask to buy me a new one.

“Your drink looks a little low. Let me buy you a new one.”

Called it. There was no way I was letting him bring me a drink without me seeing the bartender pour it, though. I did not trust him to not slip me something.

“That’s all right, thank you,” I politely declined.

“Name’s Tyler. What’s yours, darlin’?” he slurred, not bothering to offer to shake my hand. He knew what he was trying to do and there was no room for formalities in hiseyes. But I wasn’t susceptible to his “charm” and corny fake accent.

“Emerson.” I gave him a fake name because it wasn’t too far off and my parents almost named me that so it wasn’t like I completely made something up. I wasn’t going to waste that much effort on him.

“Pretty name for a pretty girl. You know, I think you’d look damn good in my hat there. Why don’t you put it on for me?” He gestured to his poorly placed Resistol.

I was past the point of annoyance at his idiotic attempt to pick me up. Rolling my eyes, and narrowing them, I answered him slowly. “I’m not touching your damn hat. I know the rules.” Wanting to really drive the knife in, I added, “I am not stepping within a mile of your bed. And whileI’mnot against fighting you, I know damn well you wouldn’t hit a woman. And if you would, well, you aren’t a real cowboy then are you,darlin’?” I challenged him with an icy glare, putting an emphasis on darlin’ to mock him a little.

“Bitch.” He gave me a look of disgust, grabbed his hat, and wandered off to his next victim. Probably a poor, unknowing buckle bunny.

I needed a shot of something strong after that exchange. Then I needed to find Isa so we could get out of here. I wasn’t sure why I had agreed to this. Okay, I mean, of course I knew why I agreed; roping the wind was easier than saying no to Isabelle Bennett. But looking back, I definitely should have known something like this was going to happen.

I pushed through the crowds of people, not making eye contact with any of the men who were undoubtedly staring at me as I walked past them, and made my way to the bar.

“What can I get you?” the bartender asked as he walked up to me.

“Just a tequila shot.” I handed him my card and told him to close the tab.

He came back a moment later with my favorite man, Jose, and I welcomed the burning sensation of the liquor as I knocked back the straight shot and tossed away the lime. I already felt warmer, lighter, but I also knew I had even more bite when I was buzzed. I was like a wasp, and anyone who messed with me was going to get stung.

I scanned the room for Isabelle. It was a little bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack with the amount of short blonde girls here, but I eventually found her. I started walking toward her with a purpose. My eyes were locked on her location, and I was stopping for no one.

That was evident when, in my determination to get to Isa and get out of here, a decently tall cowboy—he had to be about six-foot-one—stepped directly in my way. I was too distracted to see him and it was way too late to do anything about it.

He turned his head in my direction, looking like a deer in the headlights, right before I crashed into him.

CHAPTER SIX

colter

The girl who bumped into me backed away, a little bit flustered. She looked up at me and the first thing I noticed was her eyes.

Baby blue. Huh, kinda like the George Strait song.

“Excuse me?” She raised an eyebrow, panic flashing in her eyes for a split second.

Fuck, did I say that out loud?

Judging by the way she narrowed her eyes at me, waiting for a response, I apparently did.

I racked my brain, trying to figure out what to say to her. What do you even do to recover from voicing an internal thought like that? I came up short, settling for an introduction because it was polite and how could I fuck that up?

“My name’s Colt. Er… Colter.” I stumbled over my words trying not to look like an absolute creep. Did I stare at her too long?

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