“What?” I laugh, and she picks up her own beer, finishing it in one shot too.
Ethan sings the last lines, the crowd going wild. Women are cheering on the dance floor, his brothers are calling him names and making ridiculous gestures, and I can’t stop smiling. After a lifetime of fake smiles and being told how to behave, these are the people I want around my daughter, people unafraid to let go, to laugh, to sing, and to live. Ethan finishes, sets the mic down, and winks at me. The slight buzz from the beer only makes it easier to relax.
“My turn!” Grace announces, striding over to the karaoke host. She picks up the mic, squares her shoulders, and faces the crowd, and I catch her glancing at Leona.
“This is for all the city girls out there,” she says, tipping her white Stetson with a wink.“Yeehaw!”
The opening notes ofRedneck Womanby Gretchen Wilson blast through the speakers, and I laugh out loud. Grace owns it immediately. After a few lines, the entire bar is on their feet, singing along. By the first chorus, people are dancing, some even climbing onto tables.
I glance at the bar: Jace grins, Cas, Ethan, Dex, and Jude switch between watching the men hoot and whistle, then cheering on their baby sister. Penny, Cassie, and I shout,“Hell yeah!” with Grace as she points her mic toward the crowd.
Grace can singanddance. I glance over at Asher, who’s glued to her, a small smile on his face, while Leona drapes herself around him, looking furious.
I can’t help it, I’m having the best time. I grab Penny and Cassie by the hands and pull us onto the dance floor, aware of Ethan’s green eyes on me. The slight buzz dulls my fear, and I wink back at him as we move. He smirks, and warmth spreads through me.
I scream over the music,“We should do this every week!”
Penny laughs and hoots, Grace rocks the stage, and we’re all dancing, cheering, and letting go. When Grace finishes, we all scream,“Hell yeah!” and clap.
This is the best night ever!
Ethan
The bar hums with noise and neon light, country twang and laughter spilling into the night air. It smells like beer, whiskey, and barbecue smoke, the kind of small-town Thursday night that feels like home.
Grace and Penny are already up on stage when I realize what’s about to happen. Grace leans down, whispers something to Cassie and Summer, and all three of them laugh before Penny waves them over with that mischievous sparkle in her eyes.
“Oh, this’ll be good,” Dex mutters next to me, leaning back on his stool.
Summer is laughing, really laughing, as she climbs onto the stage. Her cheeks are flushed, eyes shining under the warm glow of the string lights. Then the first notes ofSomething Badby Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood fill the bar, and all hell breaks loose.
Grace starts the first verse, Penny jumps in, and then Summer takes the mic.
And my world narrows to her.
She’s not the careful, guarded woman I see most days. She’s loose, free, moving with the rhythm like she finally let something go. Her hips sway with the music, her hair falling in soft waves that catch the light every time she spins. Her voice isn’t perfect, but it’s full, alive, fierce.
Cas is already posted near the stage, grinning like a fool while Penny sings her heart out. The crowd claps along, stompingboots, waving hats, everyone joining in. Summer passes the mic to Cassie, who surprises the whole place by belting her verse like she’s been waiting years for this.
By the time the chorus hits, all three of them are singing together, Summer in the middle, wild and unfiltered. She throws her head back and laughs, and I swear something cracks open inside me.
I take a slow sip of my beer, unable to look away.
She catches me staring and, God help me, leans into it.
Her hips move with the beat, teasing, playful, daring me to keep watching. The room feels smaller, louder, brighter. I can’t hear a damn thing except her laughter and the thump of the bass.
When the song ends, the bar explodes into cheers. Dex whistles behind me, and I can’t even stop smiling.
The girls climb down from the stage, flushed and laughing, and Penny shouts something about“one more round.” But before I can blink, Jace hops up on stage with that devilish grin of his, then gestures to us. Cas, Dex, and I make our way on stage.
The opening beats ofSexyBackblare through the speakers.
The women lose their minds.
“Dear Lord,” I mutter, but it’s too late. Jace is already shaking his hips, Dex pretending to ride an invisible horse, and Cas… well, Cas is just doing whatever makes Penny laugh loudest.
The whole bar is crying from laughter. Then Dex, the idiot, starts stripping. The whoops are deafening. Cas follows. I shoot a look at Jace; he shrugs and tosses his shirt into the crowd like a rock star.
