Free Reese by Terri Anne Browning

body. Her makeup was done and her hair was styled, both things that I had only seen her do a handful of times she had gone on a date. “Wow. Hot!” I gave her a small smile that felt tight and unnatural.
                  “Thanks.” Mel was giving me an intense appraisal. “Something’s wrong. Are you alright?”
                  I shrugged. “I just realized that everything that I had already known still st ands . I can’t trust anyone but you.” To my surprise and horror my bottom lip trembled and I turned away to straighten a few liquor bottles that were already in perfect order.
                  A warm hand grasped my wrist and tugged me around. Mel pulled me into a comforting hug and I nearly lost what little hold I had on my emotions. “What happened?” She murmured.
                  “Nothing.” I pulled back and forced a smile for her. “I just found out that Stone was like every other man in the world. I’m just his Phoenix groupie. When his fight is over I will be yesterday’s news and he will move on to the next city; the next groupie.”
                  Mel’s concerned expression turned dark. “I’m sorry, Reese. I should never have encouraged him. He seemed different. I thought he was a good guy.”
                  “Yeah, well I guess he is a good guy.” I found myself defending him, because if anything Stone had been a nice guy. “He is just a player. But I’m not about to be played.” Even if I had already been half way there.
                  “Do you have a date?” I asked after a minute, changing the subject. Anything to get my mind off of Kieran Stone.
                  Mel actually blushed. “Maybe. I wanted to talk to you about it first.”
                  I frowned. “Why would you need to talk to me first?” Since when did she need my permission?
                  “Okay, here it is…I called Greg Daventry to tell him that I was going to bring you with me to the MMA fight. W e got to talking. Before I knew it he was asking me out to dinner…” She trailed off when she noticed my wide eyed expression. “What do you think?”
                  I blinked, trying to get my head around everything that she had just said in just a few sentences. She had spoken to my grandfather, apparently he was in Phoenix, and now she was going out on a date with him…If I said it was alright? I sucked in a few quick breaths. “Is he coming here?” I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to see him now. Greg Daventry on top of everything else that was going on inside of me at the moment…Yeah, I would be close to a melt down and it would not be pretty!
                  She shook her head. “No. I told him I would meet him there …I figured that you weren’t ready to see him yet.”
                  “You figured right.” I sighed. “Go Mel. Have a good time…If that is possible.” The thought of Mel and Greg together disturbed me more than a little. But only in that Mel was a great person. Greg…Well I didn’t really know him well enough to judge what he was like. But I had this fear , a premonition perhaps, that he was going to hurt her. “Just don’t take him at face value, Mel.”
                  She rolled her pale green eyes at that. “Sweetheart, I have seen it all in my life. Your grandfather isn’t going to be able to feed me a bunch of bull easily.” She gave me a gentle squeeze. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
                  After she left the bar got busy. Wednesdays were hit or miss on the degree of how busy things got. Tonight was a big hit and I was kept pretty busy starting at eight thirty. Bubba came in and took up his usual place at the end of the bar. College kids came and went, Emo and a few Goths came in to drink and play pool. Biker One sat down beside of Bubba and ordered a beer, but I