It was my turn to make a face. “Going out where?”
“The Last Round Up,” Harlow said with a glint in her eyes.
“I’d love to, but I have-”
“Nothing,” Harlow said, putting her hands on her hips. “You have nothing to do. You don’t get to skip out on ladies’ night because you want to read a book.”
I opened my mouth to argue, but she was right. I’d planned to listen to my latest audiobook and crochet a new pattern I’d found on Pinterest. That was my speed. Not a country western bar.
“It’ll be fun,” Harlow said in a tone that verged on pleading.
It’ll be fun.Those words were always the worst promise. It either led to six hours of shopping with Mom, or a horrible hangover. One time it led to both.
Ainsley rolled her eyes. “It’ll be something anyway.”
“You have a boyfriend,” I replied. “How did you get roped into this?”
“No pun intended,” Ains said with a grin because The Last Round Up was as much of a cowboy bar as you could get. “Eh, you know Harlow. The more, the better.”
“And Warrant doesn’t mind?” I asked.
She snorted in derision. “Like he’d have a say. But no, he doesn’t mind. We’ll be lucky though if he doesn’t drag his brothers there tonight. Then we’ll have to deal with cowboysandbikers.”
Warrant was the Sergeant At Arms for the local motorcycle club, The Berserker’s Rage. He’d pursued Ainsley with an intensity that made my heart swoon in my chest. Their relationship started much like those in the books I loved to read. The possessive though happy-go-lucky golden retriever woos the black cat female main character and they fall in love…eventually. Although in Warrant’s case wooing had been a combination of theft, stalking, and breaking and entering, according to Ainsley.
I bit back a yearning sigh. That wasn’t going to ever happen for me. I’d all but given up on it. Especially now that I lived in this smaller town that new people rarely moved to. Plus, Iwasn’t the outgoing confident type like Ainsley and Harlow. Like the rest of our friends. I was…me. Quiet and unassuming. And that was okay. I really liked me. Changing to try to get myself a man wasn’t in the plans. Not anymore. I’d tried that when I was younger, but once my fiancé figured out who I really was he’d left. I suppose it hadn’t been fair to hide who I was from him, but it hurt none the less.
Men had been interested enough over the years, but people who were…typical…found me off-putting. Which was why I’d been shocked when I’d managed to find, and keep, seven women who would be what the cheerleaders in my high school would have deemed normal. I never fit their description and they made sure I knew it. My friends were lively and vivacious and gorgeous and I doubted they had trouble making friends. Yet, they’d welcomed me.
“Do I have a choice?” I asked, hesitantly.
“Absolutely-” Ainsley started to say.
“Not,” Harlow finished for Ainsley, nudging her in the side with her elbow. “Come on, Raeleen, we haven’t been out in forever. It’ll be fun,” she echoed that sentiment again.
I sighed because I knew I was beat for two reasons. One, whenever Harlow used my full name she was going to win no matter what. It was a given. Thankfully she didn’t use that power very often. Not that she really needed to. She got her way most of the time withmostpeople. And secondly, she used the dreaded phrase a second time. Whenever people had to say, it’ll be fun, to convince you? It was never fun. But how did you decline that? There was no way without looking like a complete stick in the mud.
“Okay,” I acquiesced.
Harlow squealed and grabbed Ainsley’s arm. “This is going to be great!” She hurried out of the room before either of us could say another word or change our minds.
“Yeah,great,” Ainsley said with a sarcastic smile. Her eyes narrowed. “If you really don’t want to go, I can talk to her.”
I sighed again. “It’s okay. I probably should get out and see people.”
“You see people.”
I looked down at the cover. “People who are alive.”
She barked out a laugh. “I meant you see their relatives, but yes.” She cocked her head. “Harlow can be…”
“Pushy?” I suggested with a grin.
Ainsley nodded, returning the smile. “I was going to say bossy, but that works too.”
“She means well.”
“She does,” she agreed. “But you get to have a say in things, too.”
