Page 18 of Forever Wild
As Coach comes around the bar to help me, I rest a hand on my dad’s shoulder. It’s hard to believe this frail man in front of me was once the most promising and talented hockey player in the state. I used to dream of having his height, his broad shoulders, and his slapshot. If I’d known then what I know now, I might have dreamed of more practical things, like a father that doesn’t drink himself into a stupor regularly.
7
JACKIE BOY
EVERLY
In all the wildest places I could have imagined Jack asking me to drive him, this shitty bar in some rundown town wouldn’t have even been in my top one thousand.
An old, faded sign hangs above the front door.Perry’scould be any dive bar in any small town, but the fact Jack is in there makes it feel even more rundown. Even with the beard that makes him look like a reclusive, wilderness man named Barnaby, there’s no way he doesn’t stick out.
I tap my thumb against the smooth leather steering wheel of his very expensive SUV. No one is around so it isn’t like I think I’m going to get jumped, but I do feel incredibly out of place.
What could he possibly be doing in there?
No matter how hard I stare at the door, he doesn’t appear. My patience and curiosity eventually get the best of me.
I get out of the vehicle, lock it behind me, and head inside. Once Istep into the small bar, I have to stop and let my eyes adjust to the dark lighting. Every head in the place turns in my direction, but it’s Jack’s gaze that makes the hair on the back of my neck rise.
He does not look happy to see me. I smile at the bartender and other patrons, then walk to the far side of the bar to him.
Jack steps toward me. His eyes are dark and his jaw is set tight. He’s always a little bit of an asshole, but right now he looks like a lethal and brutal star hockey player about to smash someone into the boards. That someone being me. My skin tingles, oblivious to the danger he radiates.
“I told you to stay in the car.” His voice is low, but the words are still harsh. “God, do you ever just listen?”
I suck in a sharp breath. The question stings more than I’d care to admit. It isn’t the first time I’ve been called insubordinate. Or stupid.
“Do you ever stop being an asshole?” I fire back. You know what? He can do whatever he wants in here. I’m going back outside, waiting five more minutes, and then calling an Uber. I don’t care if he has to drive himself home with one arm and one leg. That’s his problem.
I turn to go, but Jack’s hand reaches out, circling my wrist and keeping me from fleeing. His eyes close and when he opens them, the intensity there swirls with some other emotion, desperation, I think. “Will you help me get him out to the car?”
“Who?” I ask. I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t notice the two men standing behind him.
Both are older, in their fifties or sixties maybe. One of them is looking at me. A surprised smile plays over his face, making his mustache pull up over thin lips. The grin he aims at me has me wondering if he just heard me call Jack an asshole.
I’d like to be sorry, but he was acting like an asshole.
The other man’s head hangs down. He’s on his feet, but not of his own accord. Drunk in the afternoon. I have been there.
Jack moves to the drunk guy’s other side.
“Let me,” I say when I realize what’s happening. Does he really think he’s in any shape to help anyone else walk? He couldn’t even drive here.
A waft of alcohol and body odor take my breath away as I wrap the drunk man’s limp, left arm around my shoulders. He lifts his head to look at me, and the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. Those dark eyes are so familiar. Not as harsh as the ones I know, but the same.
I smile wobbly at him.
“Who are you?” he asks.
“Everly. Who are you?”
“Nice to meet you, pretty girl.” His eyes close and the words are slightly slurred. I don’t get his name, but then again, he might not know it right now.
Jack walks ahead of us through the bar, then holds the door open for us. I squint at the bright sun, reacclimating the way I had to do when I came in.
It’s only when I’m helping get this very drunk man into the back of Jack’s SUV that the full weight of the situation hits me.
We just picked up who I am quite confident is Jack’s dad from some random bar and are taking him…well, that part I don’t know.
