Ivy is shaking a drink and smiling. There’s nobody on the tiki bar aside from me. Properly, me and Ivy. Her gaze is unfocused, however she appears completely satisfied, and I’m drawn to that smile. It’s acquainted and so fucking welcome. It’s like a hug and a punch on the identical time. She’s my finest good friend, at all times has been, solely now she’s grown the fuck up and extra beautiful than I ever anticipated. “Ivy.”
“Stone.” Her smile is bland at first, however it will get greater the longer she watches me. “What’ll it’s?”
“What’s within the shaker?”
“Simply somethin’ new I’m engaged on. You courageous sufficient to be my guinea pig?”
“Certain. I belief you, Ivy.”
She arches her forehead. “You belief me. You’ve been gone a very long time, Stone.”
“Yeah, so inform me what I’ve missed.”
She laughs, and the sound is acquainted however barely totally different, a little bit huskier and possibly barely rougher. “So, what,” she asks as she ideas the cocktail shaker into a brief glass with ice. “You need me to catch you up on the final 5 years in three minutes?”
“Nope. I’ve received all evening, and I wish to know every little thing.”
She slides the glass throughout the bar with a smile. “Let’s begin easy. I’m a bartender now at The Barn Door.”
“That’s cool. Been there lengthy?” I eye the glass warily. “Why is it inexperienced?”
Full lips half right into a lightning-bright smile. “Absinthe.”
“Shit,” I whisper to myself and take a sip. “Robust as fuck.”
She laughs once more. “It’s referred to as Lights Out.”
I take one other sip, my gaze lingering on her expression. It’s hopeful and keen. “It’s bizarre. Advanced. Robust as fuck,” I supply with fun. “You bought any tequila again there?”
“What? You need a margarita?” She pulls out a bottle of Patron. “This’ll mild you proper up.”
“No, only a shot. A double.”
Ivy chills the tequila with ice within the shaker and pours me a double shot. “The way you been?” I ask and shoot the tequila down with a shudder.
“Good. You?”
“Glad to be—” simply then, Grey walks as much as the bar, wraps an arm round her waist, and kisses the facet of her neck.
“Hey, babe. How’s it going?”
“Good.” Ivy’s eyes slide shut, and an affectionate smile tilts the corners of her lips. “Simply catching up with Stone.”
Grey pulls again from Ivy, turning to me with a rising smile. “Stone. Man, it’s good to see you.”
Grey is my oldest good friend on this planet. He and I ran round this ranch as boys, studying each inch of the place. We’re extra like brothers than associates. “It’s good to see you too, man. Congrats on the patch.”
“Thanks.” His face stretches right into a proud smile, and we bro-hug like no time has handed, gripping one another’s forearms, then coming in for a half-hug. “Fuck, it’s good to have you ever again.”
“Good to be again. And peculiar, however this occasion is an efficient option to soar proper again in.” Everybody I do know and love within the state of Texas is right here. That is my dwelling, and whereas Grey turns his consideration again to Ivy, I flip towards the occasion and watch everybody.
This scene tonight is sort of a dream come true. From the second I realized concerning the household enterprise, the MC, my dream was to have a kutte of my very own. I wished to patch into the MC and sooner or later run it, and till that day arrived, I wished to belong, identical to this. To occasion with my brothers and our households identical to this.
It is occurring.
A smile spreads throughout my face. I’m dwelling, again on the ranch the place I used to be born and raised. The humid Texas air on my pores and skin. I fish a beer from the cooler beside the bar and let this sense sink in as soon as once more.
This place has been in my blood from the second I used to be born, and now I’m again.
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