Turning back to the bar, I pick up my beer and take a sip when someone gropes me on the ass, giving it a squeeze and a pinch. Looking over my shoulder, I’m shocked when I see the pinch came from Reese.
Her eyes lock with mine and when it registers she just squeezed my ass, she groans, “Fuck,” and her face drops.
“Come again?” I say, as I turn around. Standing up to my full height, I stare down at the pixie before me.
“I’m going to kill her,” Reese mumbles to herself.
“Kill who?” I question.
“My ex-best friend.”
“Why?” I ask, confused as to why she wants to kill Drew when she just groped my ass.
“She dared me.”
“Dared you to what?”
“Pinch the sexy ass of the guy leaning against the bar.”
“You think my ass is sexy, Short Stack?” I tease.
“Of course that’s the part that you’d pick up on AND stop with the Short Stack.”
“It takes a sexy ass to know a sexy ass.”
“What does that even mean?”
Shrugging my shoulders, I take a sip of my beer and stare down at her. “Did you get shorter?”
“Fuck you, jackass. I don’t tease you for being a giant.”
“I’m not a giant, Seven Feet Pete is a giant. I’m six foot two, which is a normal height if you look around.”
“Whatever,” she huffs. “It’s not nice to tease people about their height, or lack there of, in my case.”
“It’s not teasing, even Pete refers to himself as Seven Feet Pete.”
“Not the point,” she snarls. She picks up my beer and takes a drink, and I watch her lips wrap around the rim of the bottle. She stares at me as she chugs back my beer. Slamming the empty on the bar top, she licks her lips. My eyes follow her tongue as it sweeps across her plump bottom lip. I want to trace her lips with my tongue.
We silently stare at one another—the atmosphere around us pinging—not with hatred but something else. Without thinking, I reach out and brush a blonde lock of hair behind her ear; a spark jolts through me when I touch her. She smacks my hand away. “Rude much?”
“Huh?”
“Touching me without my permission.”
“This coming from the woman who just groped my ass.”
“Whatever,” she snaps. “Just keep your hands to yourself.” She turns around and storms away from me. Her sexy ass swaying from side to side with each step she takes. She grabs her bag, hugs Drew, and leaves.
Turning back to the bar, I pay for the drink Reese drank and decide to call it a night myself.
Climbing into my Jeep, the engine turns over and “She Hates Me” by Puddle of Mudd blasts through the speakers. It’s kind of appropriate after the run-in I just had with Reese. Shaking my head, I grin when I think about the feisty little spitfire. She fucking hates me, but I’m going to change her mind. There’s something about that woman, which has piqued my interest since high school, but in the last few weeks that interest has sparked to life.
As I make the short drive home, I can’t stop thinking about Reese and what happened when I brushed the hair off her face. Something sparked inside of me, and I’m going to make her fall to her knees before me.
3
Reese
…Three weeks later
“Are you kidding me?” I growl, stepping out of my car, I slam the door and turn around. Coming face-to-face with him, Jesse Thornton. My arch nemesis. At every turn he’s pissing me off and now, his big ass Jeep ran into the back of my Beetle.
“Yo, jackass, where did you get your license,” I shout at him, “from the Wheaties box?”
“Calm your farm, Short Stack,” he says, his voice deep, rough, and calm.
“Do not tell me to calm my farm when you just crashed into Betty.”
“Who the fuck is Betty?”
“My car, Betty Beetle.”
“You name your car?” he questions me.
“Don’t you?” I sass back at him.
“Ummm, no,” he snaps, “and normal people don’t either.”
“I do,” Drew says from next to me. “Mine is Molly Mini and Rusty’s is Rodney Ram.”
“You are all certifiably insane.”
“At least we can drive,” I scoff. “You better have insurance.”
He grips the back of his neck and I immediately begin to fear he doesn’t. “Of course I do, what kind of idiot do you think I am?”
“A big one.”
He rolls his eyes at me. “So mature, Reese,” he snaps, just as Sheriff Andy Isack rolls up.
“Fuck,” I mumble. Jesse turns around to face the sheriff, a smirk on his gorgeous face.
“Reese Turner,” Sheriff Isack says, “what have you done now?”
“What makes you think it was my fault?” Jesse snickers and I glare at him.
“It generally always is,” he says, grinning at me.
“Touché,” I say, shrugging my shoulders. I’m not the best driver and over the last few months, Betty has been in the repair shop more than she’s been at home with me. “But this time, it was him.” I point to Jesse. “He ran into Betty.”
“And to think, you just had her bumper repaired.”
“Again,” Jesse says, smirking like the jackass he is. “You should be due for a freebie by now.”
“Guess I will be, since YOU will be paying this time,” I sass back. His face drops at my words. Suck on that, Jerkface, I think to myself as I watch him walk over to Andy and the tow truck driver who has just pulled up. The three of them chatting and laughing. My eyes are locked on Jesse as he throws his head back and laughs. It's such a shame that such a good-looking man is a mega asshole.
Rusty arrives just as my and Jesse’s cars are towed away. Turns out Jesse’s brakes failed, causing him to run into Betty and me.
“What’d you do this time?” Rusty asks me, after kissing Drew hello.
“For once it wasn’t my fault.”
“First time ever,” he teases.
Sticking my tongue out at him, I laugh. Everyone knows I’m not the best driver and thankfully, I finally have an accident I didn’t cause. “Jesse ran into me and busted Betty’s ass.”
“Whose ass did I tap?” Jesse asks, joining Rusty, Drew and me.
“You didn’t tap my ass, you busted my ass.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I realize what I just said.
“Holy shit, Reese,” Drew says, with a laugh, “that is the funniest thing you’ve ever said.” She’s now doubled over, holding her stomach with tears pouring down her face.
Flipping Drew the bird, I shake my head but my mouth lifts in a grin because that really was funny.
Looking back at Jesse, I scowl. “I can’t believe you hit Betty,” I say, my voice laced with venom.
“Can’t believe you named your car, that’s just stupid,” Jesse snaps back at me.
“Now, now, Jesse,” Rusty says, “no need to be harsh.”
“Ohh, that’s right, you all name your cars.”