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It didn’t take Buzz long to make his move.
Nat saw him as the applause was dying down, and she was turning to draw the first ticket for a punch card worth ten free drinks.
Her stomach sank as he strutted through the tables to stand in the open space near the raffle table, then turned to give a superior smile to the customers at their tables. Cassidy was no doubt right behind him, although it was weird that Jessica was here without her.
Buzz threw some remarks at some of the tables near him, and Nat’s shoulders tightened as smiles slid, gazes darted to her and then fell away. Here they went again, swirling around and around before it all went down the drain.
Buzz neared Natalie. She took a step back and then stiffened, standing her ground. Wait just a damn minute. What was she doing, getting ready to retreat? He was nothing but a small town bully. And she was not letting him do this to her, not again.
“Folks,” she said into the mike, “Can we get a big round of applause for a representative of the River Ridge Chamber of Commerce? So nice of you to come out tonight and help us with our grand opening, Buzz.”
Something ugly slid through his gaze as a spattering of applause sounded, then died, voices hushing. He smiled at her in a parody of good will.
“Afraid I’m not here to welcome you, Natalie,” he said. His voice echoed tinnily as the mike caught it, then cast it back hollowly.
“Really, Buzz?” she asked, widening her eyes. “Did you have some other kind of announcement to make? Like a storm warning on the river? ‘Cause I’m sure all the Rambles’ friends here tonight would love to hear what you have to say.” She gestured at the tables of people staring at him, stony faced.
She flicked the switch on the mike, and turned it off. “Things are a little different tonight, Buzz,” she said softly to him. “Look around you. You see a lot of friendly faces, hanging on your words? I don’t. I see my friends. Mase’s friends. I see business people and Ridgers who want to kick back, have a beer in a nice bar, play a little pool and have a few laughs. I don’t see anyone who’s interested in helping you bring me down because you can’t grow up and move on.”
His eyes flared, and he opened his mouth to retort. Then he stopped, his gaze darting to her left, then her right.. Nat glanced around, and her heart leapt as Dack, Jake, Trace and Kai all moved smoothly to flank her. Four fit men in Rambles’ tee shirts, their gazes fixed on Buzz.
She looked around for Mase and found him, oddly, at the rear of the bar, engaged in urgent conversation with an older man. The silver-haired man had one hand on Mase’s shoulder. His face was drawn as he shook his head.
Mase said something, patted the man’s shoulder, and then stepped back, smiling.
The man began to make his way forward through the tables.
“Speak up, man,” Dack said amiably to Buzz. “Can’t wait to hear from the chamber. We all know it’s gonna be smooth paddling ahead for Rambles Bar, right?”
On her other side, Jake raised his huge hands and cracked his knuckles. Buzz stared at him as if hypnotized.
The older man pushed his way through the tables. He stopped at Buzz’s side, and reached out to take his arm. His face was flushed with suppressed emotion, his gaze stark.
“Son,” he said. “Come sit down and have a drink with me, won’t you? Have some father-son time.”
Buzz’s mouth worked like a fish out of water, and he frowned at the man as if bewildered. But as Nat watched, holding her breath, he allowed himself to be led away.
Nat’s gaze flew to Mase. He winked at her and she smiled at him, relief swamping her. She didn’t know what he’d done, exactly, but something. Something powerful and good. And all without using force. Not that she would’ve minded watching him punch Buzz in the face, but this was better for Rambles.
“Hey, let’s have the raffle,” called a man in the front.
“Raffle. Raffle. Raffle.” The chant swelled through the bar, led in large part, Natalie noted, by Daisy and her crew at a large table by the pool tables.
Nat turned to Trace. He motioned to the mike, and she flicked it on. Right, she had a job to do, a bar to open. “Tickets, please.”
The crowd cheered.
Trace winked at her and held up the bin. “All right,” Nat said. “We’ll start with the free drink tickets.”
She quickly handed out tickets for drinks and then some tee shirts. Then it was time for the grand prize. Nat drew the ticket and looked down at it.
“And the winner is ... Nedra Farr!”
“Oh, my goodness,” cried a slim, chic woman with silver hair. She threw up her hands as the people at her table broke into loud laughter.
Rising to her feet, the woman bowed to the crowd. Then she turned to Nat and shrugged. “I just love raffles, didn’t expect to actually win. I’m not really the water-sports type.”
One of her colleagues hooted loudly. “Unless it’s the fountain at a Vegas resort.”
More laughter.
The woman shushed them, and smiled at Nat. “Draw again,” she called to Nat. “All I want is a free drink next time I come in, because this is a great bar and I will be back. We all will, right?”
The crowd applauded this, long and loud.
And that was when Nat knew that Rambles was going to be a success. Of course it was early days, and anything could happen, but the sense of foreboding that had hung over her all night had lifted at last.
* * *
THE CLUB 3 FRIENDS were the last to leave Rambles. They stayed until the last chair had been set up, the floor was mopped and every glass had been washed. Natalie tried several times to send them home, but she received only smiles and assurances that they were still having fun, and not leaving until everything was done.
Thus, she hurried her small staff through the cleanup, and by three o’clock had hustled everyone outside, locking the doors behind her. It was a warm night, with a nearly full moon chasing in and out of puffy clouds.
Everyone stood on the front steps. Carlie leaned against Jake, yawning. Kai stood behind Sara, his cheek on her hair. Daisy moved to Dack’s side.
Mase stood beside Nat, his hand on the small of her back.
“Well, you did it,” Dack said with a grin. “Congratulations, Natalie.”
She looked around at all of them, gratitude swelling inside her until tears filled her eyes. “I couldn’t have done with without all of you,” she said, her voice cracking. “I’ll never be able to thank you enough.”
“Just make sure the beer’s cold when we come up,” he said easily. “That’s all any of us need.”
She nodded. “I can do that. And none of you will be paying for drinks any time soon, either.”
Mase rubbed his hand up her back. “Now don’t take this too far, baby. You wanna make a profit.”
The others laughed.
“Hey,” Trace said, snapping his fingers. “Just remembered. I came out to my car earlier, and I could’ve sworn I saw Xander.”
“Yeah, he was here last weekend,” Mase confirmed. “Loves the place. Free pizza.
Trace shrugged. “Well, tonight I saw him leaving with a woman.”
“What’d she look like?” Mase asked, an odd note in his voice.
“Tall blonde, braid down her back.”
To Nat’s astonishment, Mase hooted with laughter. “No fuckin’ way.”
“Do you—you don’t think it was Cassidy?” Natalie whispered. What would she be doing with a drag queen Dom?
Mase shook his head and grinned at her, sliding his arm around her shoulders. “Baby, I think it may’ve been. I’ll be damned. He said he’d deflect her and it sounds like he did.”
“Oh my God,” she muttered. “Now there’s a combo I don’t want to think about. He won’t do anything to her ... will he?”
“Nah,” he said, “Made him promise he’d go easy on her. Under all that makeup, Xander’s a good guy. And if anyone could use a friend, it’s her.”
“She needs a keeper, from the sounds of her,” Daisy said.
“Xander might be into that,” Dack said. The men all laughed, but when Nat asked why, no one would explain.
“Well, we’ve gotta get goin’,” Jake said, stretching massively. “My baby mama here needs sleep.”
“I do,” Carlie admitted. “Night, everyone. Natalie, it was fun. See you again soon.”
Natalie went to give her a hug. “Thank you so much.”
“Our pleasure,” Jake said, and she hugged him too.
The others followed, and Nat stood beside Mase on the front step of the bar and watched as their tail lights disappeared over the small hill at the top of the rise. The night breeze blew cool off of the river, bringing with it the smell of water, damp earth and cottonwood trees.
Nat pushed her hair back from her neck. She was tired, but still jittery. And there was something she needed to say, now, before she lost all her courage. She took a deep breath, and turned to Mase.
“Thank you so much,” she said, “For everything you’ve done for me—for the bar. This wouldn’t have happened without you and all the Club 3 folks.”
He looked at her, his face shadowed as he turned his back to the yard lights. “It was my pleasure, baby.
“I just want you to know,” she said. “That when you’re—when this is over, I won’t try to hold on to you.” She already owed him so much. She had to be careful not to use him up.
He stared at her as if she’d spoken in tongues. His brows drew together and he cocked his head. “’Scuse me?” he said, his voice raspy thread. “When this is over?”
“Well, yeah,” she said, clenching her hands together at her waist. “Us. I ... you know I really lo-enjoy what we do together. But when you’re ... ready to move on, I won’t hang on.”
“Move on?” His voice was still that strange, thin tone.
“Move on,” she snapped, at the end of her rope. “Find that younger woman and get going on those kids. Fill that house of yours?” There, that would make it clear she was setting him free to do carry on with his life.
He stared. He wasn’t getting it, and she was done trying to let him off easily. “Never mind,” she said, flapping her hand in dismissal. “Just ... never mind.”
“Never mind?” Mase leaned in, his eyes boring into hers. “What. The. Fuck? You blow me off, tonight of all nights, and then you tell me to never mind?”
He stretched out his arms and indicated the bar, and the night. “Just what the fuck do you think this is, woman? You think this was all me just passin’ time till something better comes along?”
“Well, I don’t know,” she retorted, her voice rising along with his. “I’m just trying to ... ”
“I know what you’re trying to do,” he growled. “And from here, it doesn’t feel too good, Nat. Feels like a fuckin’ kiss-off.”
“It’s not,” she gasped, horrified that he was twisting her words. “Mase, I ... I—”
The words choked in her throat, and he nodded, his mouth twisting in a bitter curve. “Right,” he said. “You can’t even say it.”
Of course she wasn’t going to say it. If she admitted what she’d known almost since that first night, and what had become more certain every day since then, that she loved him, it would make it even harder when he left.
And it wasn’t like he’d said it either. Hadn’t said anything beyond that what she felt was safe with him, and that he was here for her. Right, he was here for now. She was just trying to let him know that was fine with her.
He watched her put one hand to her mouth to hide its trembling. His gaze darkened.
“I see what you’re doing. You’re trying to tell yourself you’re doing this for me, leaving the door open for me. But the truth?”
He moved close, so close she felt his heat, breathed his breath and swayed toward all that was Mase. Then he spoke, his voice lashed her in place like a rope.
“Natalie, don’t lie to yourself or me. This isn’t for me. You’re protecting yourself. I’m not your daddy and I’m not your first husband. I’m me. Think I’ve done a pretty fuckin’ good job of showin’ you these last weeks, how far I am into you. How much I’m willing to give to make us work, make your dreams all that you want them to be. To stay.”
He stepped back, slowly but with finality. “You don’t wanna see that, that’s on you, Nat. Don’t try to pretend it’s me.”
He turned away, and then stopped and turned back to her, a new scowl on his face.
“And as far as that shit about fillin’ up my house? Where the fuck did that come from? Jake’s havin’ a kid, I’m happy for him and Carlie. I love my nephews, enjoy spending time with them. Never said anything about wanting one myself, now did I? And you never asked.”
“And further-fuckin’-more,” he added, his shoulders rigid with some emotion, “Got a few problems of my own I would’ve shared, if you’d wanted me to stick around. But hey, tonight it’s all about you.”
He waved a hand at Rambles. “Well, here it is, all yours. Enjoy.”
He stalked to his pickup truck.
“Wait,” she croaked around the huge lump in her throat. “Mase ... I’m sorry.”
As he drove away, Natalie stood there, swaying. Only when his tail lights disappeared around the bend did she stumble to the front step and sink down. Bending her head to her knees, she had herself what her mama would call a good, old-fashioned cry.
It didn’t make her feel one bit better.