almost guaranteed to catch the attention of every man in the room.
It was my “look at me” dress, my seductive dress, my “fuck me” dress. With a wild grin, I pulled it down off the hanger.
Chapter 2
A dirty rock and roll song blasted through the speakers in the dusty little bar on the wrong side of the tracks. Living in Las Vegas, I could have gone to a million different places to drink, but I didn’t feel like glitz and glamour tonight.
I’d chosen this place because I was tired of playing it safe. I was tired of eating and drinking at the same five restaurants near the house. I was tired of super sweet cocktails that were basically milk shakes with a little bit of alcohol.
I wanted dirty. I wanted dangerous. I wanted to feel like I was alive again.
As I had hoped, my sexy little dress still fit me, although it felt unfamiliar clinging to my body. That was okay. Unfamiliar was good. Different was good.
My comfortable clothes from my comfortable life had been replaced by this dress that clung to my curves in all the right ways. My boring underwear had been left crumpled in my closet. I was wearing a slinky little thong instead.
I felt sexy, and the patrons of this dusty little place seemed to agree with me.
All eyes were on me as I walked into the bar. A group of bikers sitting around the pool table watched me walk by like lions watching a gazelle. I could almost see the drool on their lips.
A few blue collar types that were slouched around a table nudged each other and sat up straighter when they saw me. Even the drunkest of the drunks stared at me with bleary eyes. They might be seeing two of me but I think they liked both of us.
I sidled up to the bar and ordered a bourbon from the muscular bartender with a gleaming shaved head. He grunted in assent and poured me a double.
I slammed the drink back, trying to still the anger twisting in my guts. The sharp sting of alcohol burned down my throat and warmed my stomach. I felt an almost instant rush to my head. My hand reached out to clutch the bar to keep the world from falling out from under me.
A firm hand gripped my shoulder and steadied me.
“Easy there,” a gruff voice said.
I shook the hand off my shoulder. “I’m fine, thank you very much.”
I turned to look at the annoying asshole beside me and saw a hulking beast of a man. A sexy smile beamed at me between sharp, stubbled cheeks, and burning blue eyes stared at me and into my soul. He wore a battered looking leather vest with all kinds of patches on it.
“You’re definitely fine,” he said, looking up and down my body.
The line was cheesy and I wanted to roll my eyes, but after everything that had happened that night, it felt good to get a compliment from a sexy man like this, even if it wasn’t a very clever compliment.
“You’re not so bad yourself,” I responded.
He nodded his head. “You want another drink?”
“I would love one. Today has not been my favorite day.”
He leaned in to me. I breathed in the manly scent of him. Like clean sweat, leather, and oil.
“The day’s not over yet,” he said. “Maybe I can help you turn things around.”
He gestured to the bartender. “Two more,” he said.
The bartender nodded and poured a couple more bourbons. My new friend grabbed his glass and raised it in my direction. “To a better day.”
The toast struck a deep chord inside me. “To a better day,” I said, a little choked up.
This time it went down easier. Instead of making me feel dizzy, the liquor smoothed out the jagged edges of my psyche. My anger towards Terry and my marriage and my life transformed into something else. I didn’t want to wallow in self-pity for the rest of the night. I wanted to do something wild. Something fun. Something just for me.
I turned back to my new friend. “So, stranger, what’s your name?”
“My friends call
Jessica Conant-Park, Susan Conant