All Wrapped Up by Allyson Charles

Author:Allyson Charles
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: all platforms
Publisher: Alice Weiss
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Raucous music pounded into Luke from the dance floor. He grabbed four beers by their necks from the bar and climbed down half a flight of steps to the bowling lanes. It was Tuesday night, and the Pins ’N’ Pints was rocking. When Colt had asked him if he wanted to join a group at Pineville’s combination bowling alley, bar, and nightclub, Luke hadn’t known what to expect. What he got was a rollicking good time.

The past couple of days had been uncomfortable as hell. After he’d picked his bike up from the shop, Allison had informed him he was welcome to stay at her house until he left Pineville, that she didn’t want what had happened between them to cost her a fry cook.

So he’d stayed, but their relationship hadn’t gone back to normal. He and Allison danced around each other at work and at her home. Not knowing what to say, he was silent. She was polite. If that was how the universe rewarded his good deed, then acting noble was for suckers. Not taking Allison on her living room floor had been the hardest thing he’d ever done. The woman he’d been lusting after had finally been willing and in his arms.

And she’d been lonely and depressed. So, he’d manned up and done the right thing.

Did he get a thank-you from Allison? An acknowledgment that he had the self-control of a goddamn saint? No, he did not. He got stiff smiles and banal pleasantries. By the time Tuesday night had rolled around, he’d been ready to blow.

“You’re up, Luke.” Sprawled on the plastic seat, Colt pointed to the ball return.

Luke looked for his ball, the one that had a small chip at the hole where his thumb went. Not that it mattered. He’d tried three different balls, and his game hadn’t improved. The ball flew down the lane, a midnight-blue blur, and knocked over six pins. It rolled down the gutter his next throw.

“You really suck at this,” Colt said, reaching for his beer.

“Maybe.” Luke leaned back, crossed an ankle over his knee, resting his arms on the backs of the seats beside him. “But I look a lot better doing it than any of you yokels.”

Jerome Davis snorted. “I’ve never been called that before.” For the first time since Luke had met him, Jerome was out of uniform. The lawman draped an arm over the empty plastic seat next to him. “I was a city boy, just like you, until I wised up. But even in St. Louis, we knew how to bowl better than you.”

Pete laughed while drinking his beer, and ending up choking. He coughed up beer on Colt’s khakis. Colt flinched away. He took the napkin Jerome handed him and swiped at his pants.

“Jesus, Pete. We help you escape from your madhouse, and that’s the thanks I get?”

Jerome tipped his bottle in the direction of the bar. “Colt, I thought this was supposed to be a guys’ night. You invited your woman?”

All their heads swiveled.

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