The Broken Falls Series

Chapter 2

Boone

When I enter Monroe's, my son and his friends are sitting at one table, and Alexis is behind the bar. She's moving from one end to the other, keeping track of the orders from the patrons sitting along the line of stools. Although it's a Wednesday night, the place is still crowded.

I'm torn about who I want to go to first. My decision is made for me when my son, Abel, waves me over. He is both the greatest gift and the biggest mistake of my life. If it were up to me now, I would have been older than fifteen when I had him. He wasn't planned, but that's the funny thing about life—it happens, no matter what our plans are.

“Dad." He slaps me on the back. “How ya doin', old man?"

I pull out a chair and give him a grin. “Still making it. Don't know how I'm managing to walk with my old-man body, but here we are."

He grins back at me. My God, he looks like I did at his age—although at his age, I had a ten-year-old.

“Are you working with us tomorrow?" he asks, taking a swallow from the amber bottle of beer.

Barrett hands me my a beer, and I take a swig. “Maybe. It depends on what the other crew has gotten done. I might have to make some heads roll or kick some ass on the third crew. Y'all work well by yourselves and don't need a lot of supervision. Thank you for that, by the way."

Abel tilts his beer bottle down to mine. “I kinda know what's going to happen if I don't make you proud. You'll kick my ass from here to the Atlantic. I make it a point to never piss you off."

“Thank God for that." I glance back at the bar. Whoever she was waiting on previously is now gone. “I'm gonna go get a shot. Anybody want a round?"

“If you're buying," Barrett and Jasper say at the same time. I often joke that they share a brain.

“You know I'm buying," I grumble as I slide out of the chair and amble up to the bar.

The fact is, I see these twentysomethings as my surrogate kids. They've all been around since Abel was five years old, and they've stayed friends since. Tonight, there are three of them here, so they should be easy to control. Totally different from when all of them are together.

When I get up to the bar, I wait patiently for Alexis to notice me. Taking a seat on one of the stools, I admire the craftsmanship of the bar top. There's no telling how old this thing is. I know for sure the bar has been here for at least thirty years. It's been stripped and refinished a few times, even once by me. There are dents and scratches, but no one has damaged it enough to take a hunk out of it.

“Can I get you something?" Her voice is husky and full of innuendo as she leans her elbows against the scarred wood, giving me an unobstructed view of her t**s. I appreciate that more than I can say.

“Hey." I smile. “Busy night?" I look around. The bar is about halfway to capacity, but given the number of bodies that have come in since I got here, it's bound to fill up quickly.

“Nothing I can't handle so far, but Justin is supposed to come help me close. I'm not holding my breath."

Running a hand along my chin, I give her a look of annoyance. “Sounds like your dad needs to have a talk with him."

She throws her head back, laughing. The way her throat moves up and down gives me thoughts of how she would look if she was swallowing my c**k. “He's talked to Justin. Right now, he's more interested in what kind of women he can date and how much ass he can get than helping to improve the family business." She sighs. “But that's neither here nor there. What can I get for you?"

“If you're not on the menu…"

Lex leans in closer, crooking her finger at me. I do as she asks, hunching forward so I can hear her through the loud noise of the bar. “I could be on the menu but only for you. Stick around after closing?"

I have to work in the morning, and it's on the tip of my tongue to ask for a rain check, but then I realize how f*****g old that makes me sound. If I have to be tired on the job site tomorrow, then so be it. I'll do whatever it takes to spend the evening with her.

“Whatever you want. Totally your decision, and know if it doesn't feel right later, you can tell me to leave."

Her face brightens, and a smile spreads across her lips. “Look at you being progressive."

“Always have been, lollipop. Can I get four shots of tequila?"

“Trying to get the broken boys drunk?"

This time, I throw my head back, laughing. The guys have been called that since their days on the football team. They definitely leaned into it as they grew in popularity and even when they came back from college and went to work here, in town.

“I think it's gonna take more than one shot for those boys to get drunk, but I offered to buy, and they took me up on it."

“Of course they did," she says.

I watch as she grabs four shot glasses, lines them up on the bar top, and then picks up a bottle of tequila. I've never seen her be super flashy, but she throws it up in the air and catches it with the flick of a wrist before pouring all four shots in a row.

“Twenty even." She puts the bottle back down.

I take thirty dollars out of my wallet and slide it across to her. “Keep the change. See ya later."

Carrying the shots back to the table, I can feel her gaze burning a hole in my T-shirt. After setting the shots down, I pull the chair out, making sure to flex my muscles a little more than needed. When I glance up at her, she's watching, and if I'm not mistaken, she's very appreciative.

* * *

The bar scene has never really been where I excel, but I'm making do. Over the last hour, my son and his friends have left, causing me to move from the more comfortable chairs at the tables to the harder ones up at the bar. The label on my bottle is soaked with condensation, making part of it start to peel. I've been nursing it for well over an hour. Judging by the weight as I tip it back, this is my last drink. There's still a lot left, and if I'm not actively drinking, there's no reason to purchase another.

“You need another one?" Lex asks.

“Not if I wanna be able to drive home later." I tilt the side of my mouth up.

She glances around, lifting her eyes up to the clock over the bathrooms in the back. “There's only five people here besides you. I'm closing an hour early, and I've texted Justin that I don't need his help." She winks.

That wink goes straight through my body to a place I shouldn't entertain yet. “I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Be right back."

I tap my knuckles and then get up, allowing my legs to stretch some of the stiffness out. She nods and walks away to take care of another customer.

When I come out, I'm surprised to see her already stacking chairs for the night and the last straggler leaving. She's following him, and after he goes through the exit, she shuts the door and locks it. When she turns back around, her eyes meet mine, full of heat and a vulnerability that I know she doesn't share with others. My c**k tightens. There's a promise layered in those depths.

“What do you need me to help you with?" I run my hands along the thighs of my jeans.

She turns, her brown eyes sparkling in the muted light. “Nothing down here. Justin can clean the rest of it up when he opens tomorrow. Payback's a bitch." She walks toward me, her hips swinging. “Our business is upstairs."

“Still want to spend time with me?" I ask, holding out my hand to her, palm up.

She accepts it and nods. “Been looking forward to it all night."