A squeal had me jumping out of my skin and snapping my attention from my internal thoughts.

“Gahh, that was cold.” Amelia laughed and splashed a cup of water back at a laughing Austin. I glared daggers at Austin messing around with her like they were great friends.

“Take it down a notch, D.” Braxton’s low whisper had my head whipping to the side. I grunted in response. He continued, “This girl’s gotten under your skin, huh?”

“No,” I sighed. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and in disbelief. “Maybe a little. She’s not what I expected,” I admitted. Braxton and I had a different relationship to what I had with Austin. While Austin and I were like fuel and fire, Brax and I had a more gentle relationship; he saw through my bullshit.

“Figures.” He smiled, looking down at the dirt he was kicking with the toe of his boot.

“Out with it then,” I sighed, knowing there was no use ignoring him; he’d bug me until he put his two cents worth in.

“I’m just saying it figures the chick who turns you inside out, lands right in your lap.” Brax nodded his head to Amelia, who was sitting cross-legged in the shade eating an apple. Her blonde hair that had been tied up at the base of her head was now blowing out in the light breeze. “I think you need to stop thinking things are so cut and dry, D. Just because it walks like a duck and looks like a duck doesn’t mean it’s just a duck.”

I barked out a laugh at his bad analogy. “Ducks? Really?” I shook my head and cracked the bottle of water he handed me, gulping it down. The cool water that ran down my chin and onto my chest was welcomed in the heat of the day. “She’s only passing through. Don’t go getting ideas in your head,” I reminded him. I wasn’t sure if the two weeks were going to be the slowest, most painful of my life or if they’d fly right by.

“Hmm, maybe she could be convinced to stay,” he mused, with an innocent expression on his face. One I knew better than to buy into.

“I’m warning you, Brax. Leave the girl be; she doesn’t belong in these parts.”

“Ducks, D. Not just ducks.” He looked over at her again. Then I did something I’d never done in my life. I snapped at him.

“You don't have a fucking clue what you are talking about. Finish up here. I'm done.” I jumped on my quad and sped off toward the house. Not only had I just taken Braxton’s head off, but I’d skipped out on my responsibilities too.

Once home, I traded my quad for my truck, stopping just long enough to grab a clean shirt, and flew out of the driveway heading toward the local bar. Once there, I pulled in and crushed the brake pedal to the floor, slamming my door as I jumped out. I stomped inside and threw myself into a bar stool slapping my hand down twice to get Rach, the bartender’s, attention. She took one look at me and slid a beer down the worn wooden counter top. I downed it in a few long pulls and nodded at her as she finished up with her customer and wandered down to me with another two bottles in her hand.

“Rough day, D?” she asked uncapping both bottles and sliding one to me before tipping her own back.

“Rough goddamn week,” I grumbled and chugged down my second drink.

“Out with it then.” Rach nodded putting her drink down and leaned forward onto her elbows. I’d known Rach practically my whole life. She’d grown up round here and went to the same school as us, kicked around the same circles and generally been a good friend.

“Damn city girls coming in and screwing shit up.” I hadn’t intended to say much of anything, but the thing with Rach was once she got you to talk, the flood gates seemed to open and there was no stopping it.

“Oh, shit.” Rach rubbed a hand over her face and grimaced “Is she back? “

I cringed and shook my head knowing exactly who she was. She had a name I’d never mention again in my God given natural born life. She had been a city girl too. I slipped back into the memory of my seventeen-year-old self.

“You sure about this, buddy?” Darren, my best friend all through school, had asked quietly while we sat on the grandstands watching all the students walk past.

“Never been more sure of anything in my life.” I shook my head and smiled. “She’s it, bud. She’s the one. I’m gonna marry that girl.” I looked down at the huddle of people on the field and spotted my girl. Long brunette hair, long legs and a magnetic personality. She threw her head back and laughed loudly, everyone around her joining in. Nobody could be near her and not be happy. She was just that kind of person. “Yeah, I’m gonna marry her.”

I snapped out of my memory when I heard glass smashing. I looked further down the bar to see Rach with a guy almost twice her size in her face. I didn’t even think of moving seeing as I knew exactly what would happen next. I watched from out the corner of my eye as Rach grabbed a handful of his shirt when the guy pulled his hand back, and without a second thought, she reared her fist back and planted it square on his face causing blood to flow from the obviously broken nose she’d just served him. She let go of his shirt, pushing him back and he tumbled over his bar stool, cussing her out the whole time. “You bitch!” he yelled at her.

She reached behind the bar, pulled out her baseball bat, and then told him, “Get your stupid ass out of my bar. Don’t let me catch you here again, needledick.” With that, the dumbass got up and scurried to the door just about pissin’ his pants on the way. Rach was a tough one and everyone in town knew not to fuck with her or her bar.