Whisky State of Mind (15 page)

It was everything she’d ever imagined it would be. He was an attentive lover, slow and sure, doing everything to that high standard of professionalism that she’d grown to
realize he applied to everything in his life; be it his career or driving a car. He was dependable, sexy, a talented lover, and sure to go far in his chosen career. He was everything she knew she wanted in a man. So why did she feel as though
something
was missing?

Calling herself an ungrateful brat, she shook off the feeling and decided to see where this thing went. She needed to stop letting her past get in the way of her future. Before her father and Sawyer
Goddamn
Riley had come into her life, everything had been perfect. They were messing with her head and confusing her. She needed to remind herself about all the things she’d decided were important to her, and stick with it.

She had a plan damn it—she needed to forget about all the stupid what if’s that had suddenly beg
un popping up and get her mind back in the game. This was her future. It was important. If she made the wrong choices now, she may never get another chance to make it right.

It kind of fell into a habit after that night. Caleb picked her up and dropped her home. Sometimes he stayed, other times he didn’t. She liked that about him, he wasn’t pushy or insistent and he was happy to allow her time alone if she needed it.

Work was going well, too. She’d gotten used to the pace and actually enjoyed it most of the time. Yvette was never going to be her number one fan, but even she’d chilled out a little and didn’t hassle her as much. Cindy was the best thing about the place, though. She was always so damn cheerful—it was contagious. She could be having the worst day and she’d watch Cindy smile and laugh with the patrons and feel better. She just had that natural ability to spread kindness and cheer to everyone she met. Poor kid, Sky thought. She was going to go through all kinds of assholes taking advantage of that gentle unassuming nature of hers. It was inevitable…those kind of people were always drawn to an easy mark.

Then one night halfway through a shift, Sky was sitting with Cindy out the back. A few of the other staff were also scattered around, some smoking, others catching up on their
Facebook statuses or texting, when Sky saw Cindy watching a man with a look so wistful she could most feel it.
Man, did she know that look!

The guy looked to be
in his early twenties and usually worked behind the bar. He was part of the club—they mostly all were; that was one of Johnny’s initiatives—everyone had gainful employment.  

“He’s pretty cute,” Sky said quietly.

Cindy’s gaze dropped from the bartender guiltily. “Who?”

“The guy you’ve been mentally undressing for the last five minutes,” Sky grinned, rolling her eyes at Cindy’s pathetic attempt to sound clueless.

“Oh…Jackson? Yeah, he’s kinda’ cute I guess,” she mumbled, taking a sip of her drink.

“Why don’t you go over and talk to him?”

The contents of Cindy’s cup sloshed over the sides as she jerked around quickly. “Are you serious? No way. He doesn’t even know I exist.”

“He seems like a nice guy.”

“He’s totally awesome,” Cindy sighed dreamily. “But he’s into pretty girls. Outgoing, ones with big boobs,” she added dismally.

Sky eyed Cindy critically. “You’re pretty, and you’ve got a nice set of boobs. He would totally be into you.”

Cindy stared at her as though she’d suddenly sprouted a second head.

“You are. You just need to show yourself off a bit more.”

“I’m not going to dress like a skank just to get a guy’s attention,” she said with a haughty tone and Sky smothered a grin. 

“I wasn’t going to suggest you did. You don’t need to dress like that to get a guy’s attention. You just need to
, I don’t know…show off your features a bit more. I’m no expert in this department either, but I have a friend who would love to get her hands on you,” Sky grinned at the thought of Bella sinking her teeth into a new project.

“You know, all we need to do is get you a new hair style, add a few highlights or something…and I don’t know…maybe add some makeup to accent your eyes. I know,” Sky put her hand up to ward off the protest she saw forming on the other girl
’s lips. Hell, she’d been in this exact conversation with Bella not that long ago…she knew
exactly
how terrifying it was when someone decided to step into your well-structured world and begin changing things. The fact that Sky was now that person was kinda’ mind boggling, but she didn’t stop to think about it. Cindy was a sweet girl and she needed the confidence boost of a makeover. Of all the times Bella had to be gone.
Well,
she thought taking a deep breath,
looks like you’re  gonna’ have to step in and do your best.
“I promise, nothing too over the top, just a little bit of makeup and a new hair style.”

Cindy seemed to consider it for a moment, her gaze falling on the bartender across from them. When she looked up at Sky, there was a determined light in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

Sky’s grin spread across her face and she felt a surge of excitement over the prospect. “Cool. Tomorrow we’ll get started.”

For the rest of the night, Sky caught Cindy often glancing across at Jackson as he worked
, completely oblivious to her attention. There was a steely determination to her focus after that and Sky hoped that this little confidence booster would work.

****

The next night, Sky couldn’t wait to get to work to see how Cindy’s new look went over. Feeling pretty chuffed at the end result, Sky had actually rang Bella to boast, sending a before and after photo.

“You’re coming to the dark side,” Bella had teased, after giving a long whistle at the new and improved after shot.

“Hardly. I just took her to your hair guy and told him to do whatever he did to me, to Cindy.”

“Poor Harry. I’ll have to call him and see if he’s recovered. I can only imagine your grasp of fashion and style would have been a little daunting for Harry to interpret without me there to translate.”

“He did fine. You should give him more credit. He knew exactly what I was talking about. I told him to put in some of those streaky bits and a color, and to do something with her hair that would make her look hot.”

Bella murmured something to the effect of a soft prayer of forgiveness but then cheerfully congratulated her on doing a good deed for her fellow human being.

Sky glanced up from the counter where she’d been looking at the dinner reservations at the sound of a long, low cat whistle.

Cindy, to her credit, walked across the room with her head held high and didn’t miss a step. Sky sent a quick peep across at the bar and saw Jackson do a double take. She bit back a smug grin, feeling just a touch like a proud momma at her
baby’s first big step. 

“What the hell happened to you?” Yvette drawled, when Cindy came over to start her shift.

“I got a haircut,” Cindy said, dropping her gaze uncertainly. Yvette had that way of shaking a person’s confidence with just a word.

“What’s all that crap on ya’ face?”

“It’s makeup,” Cindy said, moving her hand toward her face and glancing over at Sky uncertainly. “Did I put it on too heavy?”

“No, you did a great job,” Sky stepped in smoothly. “You look great.” And she did. The browns and neutral
colors the woman in the makeup department had helped them pick out were perfect. Her big blue eyes popped, framed by her new eyelash tint, and her hair shone a healthy, honey-gold, amber beneath the lights of the bar.

She saw the other woman summon a brave smile and drop her hand from her face.

“Go get ‘em tiger,” Sky whispered as Cindy went to take drink orders from her first table of customers.

Sky glanced across the room and felt her breath hitch a little as she caught sight of a tall figure in denim saunter into the building. His gaze settled on hers as he lifted a hand in greeting. She cursed her silly reaction, frustrated by
her constant mixed signals. How could she be attracted in such different ways to two vastly different men? It was beyond madness.

Caleb was who her head was telling her was her perfect guy…and yet whenever Sawyer was around something else overrode her good sense. There was nothing about him that could be logically argued as
“good for her.” She cringed slightly as she realized she sounded a little too much like her grandmother just then. It was hard to shake that upbringing of guilt…that constant need to reassure her grandparents that she was nothing like her mother.
But you had to get away from them,
a small voice reminded her.
They were overbearing and controlling…remember? 
Sky turned away from Sawyer with a soft growl beneath her breath. She was slowly, but surely, losing her mind!

Throughout the evening, she saw Cindy swapping small conversation with Jackson and move about the room with a renewed confidence. She was happy for her new friend, but today had made her miss Bella even more.

After work, Sky saw Cindy walking toward her and did a double take at the guy she was with. It wasn’t Jackson. Catching Cindy’s bashful smile, she raised an eyebrow at her friend as she drew closer.

“Ted, I’ll be out in a minute,” she said, smiling at the tall, somewhat gangly man at her side.

Sky waited until the door shut before turning around slowly to face Cindy expectantly. “Ah
, that’s
not Jackson the Sex God,” she pointed out dryly.

“I know,” Cindy said with a small giggle. “That’s Ted.”

“I thought the whole point of getting a makeover was to make Jackson notice you?”

“It was,” Cindy nodded. “But then I
realized Jackson’s a shallow-minded pig. I don’t want to be just another notch on his bedpost. Ted used to talk to me before this little transformation, but I was so fixated on Jackson that I didn’t give Ted the time of day…I was just as shallow as Jackson. I don’t want to be that kind of person.”

“Well, good for you,” Sky smiled.

“I know I said I could take you home tonight, but…umm….” Cindy sent a nervous glance toward the doorway.

“No, it’s fine. I can find my own way home.”

Cindy broke out in a dazzling smile and threw her arms around Sky, catching her off guard. “Thank you for today.”

Sky quickly hugged her friend and stepped away. “You’re welcome, now get going before that poor guy out there thinks you ditched him.”

She gave a small chuckle as she pushed the door open and walked outside, watching Cindy smile up at the guy who held her car door open for her
. Good for you, Cindy,
she thought with a smile. At least someone she knew had her head screwed on right…maybe she should ask Cindy’s advice on trying to unravel the screwed up mess her life had become lately.

Chapter
13

“So all that was your doing?” A deep voice came from close behind her.

She turned to find Sawyer standing behind her, watching the two new lovebirds drive off. “I didn’t do much.”

“She seems happy.”

“Yeah,” Sky agreed softly. “She does.”

“Come on, I’ll give you a ride home.”

“I can take the bus,” she protested lightly, even though she knew there was no winning…she wasn’t even sure why she bothered. Maybe it just made her feel slightly better if she at least tried to put up some kind of fight.

“Here,” he said passing her a helmet from the back of his bike.

Sky eyed the motorcycle warily. All previous rides home had been in his car. It had been awhile since she’d been on the back of a bike.

“Not scared are ya’?” he taunted lightly, eyeing her while doing up the strap of his helmet.

“No.” She smothered her sigh and pulled the helmet down on her head, allowing him to brush her fingers aside when she fumbled with the clasp. The
featherlight touch of his fingers against her throat sent goose bumps along her arms, refusing to meet his probing gaze. She just needed to keep her distance. She would
not
let her body betray her tonight.

Gingerly she climbed on to the bike, making sure she kept a respectable distance between their bodies. Sawyer though, had other ideas and she muttered a soft curse as he reached back and slid her down the seat until she rested against him. Satisfied she was where he wanted her, he gave her thigh a pat and started the engine, kicking the stand up and pulling out of the car park.

She’d forgotten how good it felt…the wind on your skin, the sound of an engine purring beneath you. After a few moments, her death grip loosened slightly and she felt her body remembering how to lean into corners and move with the rider.

As they pulled up at a set of traffic lights, Sawyer turned his head and yelled, “You okay back there?”

She held up a thumb and grinned. She was more than okay; she was having the time of her life. God, she missed this.

Sawyer pulled up outside her apartment and turned off the engine, kicking his stand down and pulling off his helmet. He held out his arm to help her to swing off the bike from behind him, taking the helmet she handed back.