Page 7 of More Than a Fling
“Spoil sport,” she said sticking out her tongue.
“Yes, I have the limo rented and it’s picking us up at seven. It’s all planned out, attendance is mandatory,” Annie said. “I have reservations for dinner, then we’ll hit several bars, the last one has live music, a country band, and they are supposed to be really good,” Annie shared.
“I can’t wait,” Madison exclaimed.
They all took their drinks to the deck and scattered around eager and ready to get the party started.
***
The bouncer checked all their IDs before allowing them to enter into the noisy fray with the opening band in full swing. The six women made quite an entrance when they walked into their last stop of the evening, a huge honkytonk bar and music venue. They practically represented the whole color spectrum of hair and skin, from Annie’s fair complexion and red mane to Ava’s pretty pecan skin tones and dark brunette hair. This, along with their varying heights, Abigail the tallest at 5’9, to Zoey’s petite 5’3, caused everyone’s heads to turn as they entered.
Annie, already tipsy, pulled Ava along with her onto the dance floor. She immediately began whooping it up to the band’s cover of “Boot Scootin’ Boogie.”
Annie’s white sleeveless crop top exposed more than a little of her toned torso, and she had paired it with a mid-thigh black tube skirt which fit her like a glove. Completing the sexy ensemble were her silver-studded black leather cowboy boots. In honor of country music, she had brought along her cowboy hat for fun.
It didn’t take long before a couple of men, emboldened by alcohol, decided sidle up as close as they could to Annie and Ava on the dance floor. The women did their best to ignore them and concentrate on each other, but one of the men was particularly persistent which led them to give up on the dancing to find the rest of the girls. They decided to wait until the main act to try again.
“Come on, one shot,” Zoey insisted.
“No. You will have to carry me out,” Annie protested.
Abbey insisted, “Come on! This is my bachelorette party. How about a shot of peach schnapps?”
Everyone agreed to that and they toasted the bride-to-be before downing the fiery liquid. By this time the main act was taking the stage, so they all decided to claim their spot on the dance floor so as not to get crowded out. The bar was packed, and the crowd was pumped, noisy, and full of life. There was a healthy representation of all ages from twenty-somethings to sixty-somethings.
Laughing together over the noise and chaos, they huddled expectantly as the band took their places on stage and introduced themselves.
“Hey ya’ll we want to thank you for coming out to hear us, we call ourselves The Lonesome Cowpokes, and we are excited to play for you tonight,” the lead singer said.
Annie’s mouth fell open as she suddenly realized that the man behind the microphone was none other than Gabe Hunter. She felt dizzy for a moment and her heart started racing as she gazed at the gorgeous man who had begun to sing the iconic bar-tune favorite, “Friends in Low Places” to rousing cheers from the audience.
“Are you alright Annie?” Abbey said noticing that her friend suddenly looked like she had seen a ghost.
“Yes, I think I am. Remember that guy I told you about last year, the one who was on that trail ride?”
“Yeah, so?”
“That’s him…the one singing,” she said.
“Whoa mama. You weren’t kidding when you said he was gorgeous.” she said admiringly. “Let’s see, he’s a cowboy, handsome, and now we know that he’s also a musician…every girl’s fantasy.”
“Way out of my league,” Annie said.
“Are you kidding me? You’re out of his league. You are a freak you’re so perfect,” she said. “If you weren’t such a great person, I would hate you,” Abbey joked, yelling over the music. By this time the whole crowd was singing along to the fun tune and Annie and Ava joined in, belting it out with the best of them. “Chases my blues away…” they sang.
The band easily segued from the bar favorite into a classic Allman Brothers tune, “Sweet Melissa.” Annie closed her eyes to filter out the distraction of Gabe, enabling her to get into the song. Her body swayed sensually to the rhythm, as she let the music carry her away. She loved this song and he displayed incredible vocals and his guitar picking wasn’t too shabby either. They were good.
She opened her eyes for a quick peek at the stage and was startled to find Gabe staring at her with a burning intensity. As they locked gazes, he missed a beat, quickly recovering, he smiled at her with a thousand-watt grin and a wink that zapped her like a taser. As she smiled back, she was jostled by the same guy that had been hitting on her before.Here we go again, and now he appeared to be even more inebriated.
With slurred speech, he demanded, “Hey beautiful, dance with me.” He grabbed at her waist trying to pull her into his arms.
Annie, not too stable herself, lost her balance as she tried to pull away from him. “Um, no, I’m here with my friends, thanks anyway,” she said trying to let him down nicely.
“I’m not taking no for an answer,” he said. He obviously had a high opinion of himself and his ability to convince her to succumb to his dubious charms.
“Please, I said no,” she repeated.
“What, you think you are too good for me?” he snarled as he thrust his pelvis crudely against her.