Spirited Ride Read online

  “As good as you are at packing up and taking off… I’ve got this,” she replied dryly, hefting the box up into her arms and walking toward where he stood in the doorway. There she was… the Sherri he knew so well... so intimately.

  Stepping aside so she could pass by he said, “If you insist… unlike a lot of people these days, I’m all about helping or at least encouraging other people. Being self-centered and only looking out for your own interests isn’t very becoming… at least that’s what I’ve found. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  “In most cases that’s true. However, don’t worry about me… I’ve got someone waiting on me at the banquet hall. He’s always there for me when I need him. You might remember him… Chris Anderson?” she replied. “Anyway… I’ll see you and your date… or significant other… whomever… at the reception.”

  With that she started down the hallway, not even bothering to look back or wait for him to respond. She knew damn well he wasn’t gay and unfortunately he didn’t have a steady girlfriend at the moment.

  At least no one that compared to Sherri that he could flaunt in front of her in an effort to get a reaction. She on the other hand, had replaced him with an ex-convict… or so the rumors had claimed back then.

  Against his better instincts he felt jealousy rise up in him… and concern. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been with a few women over the past decade and he wasn’t stupid enough to think she hadn’t been with other men.

  Somehow seeing her again and being smacked across the face with the idea of another man in her bed threatened to make him lose the control he’d worked ten years for and chase after her just like he would have in his twenties.

  Demanding answers from her… verbal or carnal answers… either one. Things hadn’t changed much between them… she could still make him crazy in an instant.

  Had she kept her smart mouth shut, he might have been able to talk himself into just going back home and skipping the reception invitation. Whatever weird competition or need to one up each other that still existed between them had reared its ugly head.

  That feeling in his gut was all it took and he knew damn well he’d go home just long enough to grab a quick shower and change and then he’d be right there… letting her rub his nose in the fact that she was sleeping with another man.

  Sleeping with some faceless, nameless man hundreds of miles away… in another state… was one thing. Doing so in the same town he resided in… with someone he actually knew… was another. Damn her! Age had brought a calm, melancholy acceptance of his lot in life so he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so wound up. Not since Sherri.

  He recognized that he was hurrying through cleaning and locking up the auditorium because his mind was now full of images of his… of Sherri… with Chris Anderson of all people.

  What the hell was Sherri doing with a known dealer? Was she just saying that shit to get under his skin or was she seriously putting the bar… and even worse… his childhood home… his grandmother’s house at risk?

  Entering the boarding room he rented just a few blocks away from the auditorium and locking the door behind him, he quickly found a change of clothes and shed the ones he wore on his way to the shower. Twenty minutes later he sat in his piece of shit car that refused to start and cussed out loud.

  This was some higher power trying to tell him to just let this go… let her have the last word this time. He’d chosen this life and she’d chosen hers. It was what it was… and chasing phantom feelings wouldn’t change that.

  As broke as he was right now, he wouldn’t change his situation. Especially not now. Not after having seen Tommy, his wife Dana and their little family today.

  Tommy’s middle daughter, Melody, had stared up at where TJ watched in the balcony as she’d sang with her sisters… as though she’d known somehow. Her angelic gaze seemed to indicate that someone had told her why he was reduced to working as a janitor.

  That was impossible though because no one knew that he had given Tommy all the royalty money from their last hit song, instead of splitting the profits like they normally did for songs they collaborated on. The little girl’s medical bills meant Tommy needed the money even worse than TJ did.

  Without the money to pay off the medical bills, the adoption process for Tommy’s youngest daughter would never have gone through. The attorney that Tommy had recommended to TJ had told him as much.

  While Tommy had thought TJ’s search for a local Florida attorney was to finally start divorce proceedings with Sherri, he’d instead postponed the inevitable yet again. TJ had merely taken advantage of yet another excuse not to end things between himself and his wife. That had been nearly five years ago now.

  So yeah, he might appear to be a loser to some… and maybe he was… but that was his business.

  Unfortunately, being broke meant nursing along a broken down car that should have seen a junkyard years ago. Sighing, he took out his cell phone. Dialing Tommy’s phone he was surprised when Sherri’s younger sister, Lilly, answered.

  Lilly was Tommy and Bobby’s age… a couple years older than him but she’d always been nice to him… at least she had been before he’d left her sister to chase a dream.

  “Tommy’s phone… he’s busy dancing with his beautiful wife… can I take a message?” Lilly answered on the third ring.

  “Hey, Lilly, this is… TJ…” he replied. “Listen. I ran into Tommy after the wedding ceremony and he invited me to the reception. Unfortunately, I’m having car problems so I’m not going to make it after all. Could you let him know and also congratulate him and his wife for me?”

  He heard some rustling and whispering and then Lilly said, “Hang on for a second.”

  Some more shuffling noises filtered through the connection before a man’s voice said, “Hey, man, this is Chuck… a friend of Tommy’s. He was pretty stoked about you being here tonight. Where’re you at? I can come pick you up if you don’t mind riding bitch… The cars are all blocked in at the moment so I can only get to my bike.”

  “I’m not far from the auditorium and can just walk back up there, if you’re sure you don’t mind coming all the way back here,” he replied.

  Why the hell was he so desperate to allow Sherri to kick the shit out of him emotionally? He wasn’t just looking forward to it… he was actually excited by the idea. Apparently he had bigger personal issues than just his finances that he needed to face.

  “No problem, be there in a few. We all rented rooms in the hotel across the street and they have vacancies, if you’re interested. Otherwise, someone can give you a lift home later,” Chuck said.

  “Thanks, man, I’ll see you shortly,” he replied and disconnected the call.

  The walk back to the auditorium was full of memories of Sherri. She was an entrepreneur if there ever was one. He felt himself smile as he recalled the hoops he’d had to jump through to get her to allow his band to practice in her bar past the first initial time he’d met her.

  She hadn’t been so opposed to him being a janitor back then. In fact, she’d made him work for the right to work for her some more… and he’d loved every minute of it. When he’d started bringing the bar additional business, in the form of a younger crowd of patrons, he’d tried to renegotiate with her.

  “You don’t like my terms? Practice on the sidewalk out front then… it’s public property. That means anyone can use it… even you,” she’d smirked, as she wiped down counters in the kitchen.

  “What is your problem with me? Haven’t I kept my end of the bargain so far… and then some?” he’d asked with a smile, knowing full well that the conversation wasn’t about what he was or wasn’t doing for the bar. It was flirting… looking back it had been more than flirting really… it was foreplay.

  “You have… but you can’t just up and decide that you’ve done enough and change the deal… especially when I’m basically your employer,” she’d replied. “Most employees try to please their boss… not argue with them.”

 
In the next second he’d backed her up against the long counter. Her breathing had changed and even in his youth he’d understood that his attraction to her was a far cry different than with other girls he’d been with.

  A need to get the last word in… to dominate her… had nearly consumed him as he’d towered over her by nearly a foot. In true Sherri fashion, she’d stood there staring right back at him… daring him.

  “Last I checked this bar doesn’t provide me with a paycheck. So if you’re looking to be pleased… I can do that... but not by carrying in cases of beer and liquor, sweeping up and all this other bullshit you’ve got me doing,”

  “I’m a woman… not one of you and Tommy’s little groupies. Besides, what can you possibly know about pleasing a woman? Especially at your age? I doubt they taught that class at your high school,” she’d said.

  The next thing he knew his hands had been in her hair pulling her head back so he could get at her mouth better. She’d given back as good as she got too. Kissing him in a way that created a ball of excitement in his stomach he’d never experienced before that day… or since… with anyone else.

  That one kiss had nearly consumed them both. When he’d finally gathered all the will power he possessed and released her, she’d stared at him for a minute before asking, “Why did you stop?” in that sexy rasp of a voice.

  “You ready to listen to my terms now?” he’d asked, trying to catch his breath and keep his hands off of her.

  “Hell no! It’s my bar… so it’s my way. You can’t use sex… or whatever that was… to get what you want from me. I told you… I’m no groupie,” she’d replied, her bottom lip trembling as she’d met his gaze.

  Leaning in, he watched her lips part in expectation of more hot kisses. Instead he’d simply said, “That’s too bad. I am willing to please you… boss lady… but not by becoming your little bitch. You can’t control me like you do everyone else around here… I am the only one in charge of me. If you don’t like that then you can go home alone tonight and please your damn self.”

  Watching her pupils dilate with arousal had nearly made him give in to his own desires and do things that they both craved. He’d wanted to give her what she needed right then and not let up until she not only agreed to his new terms but agreed to a few other things that had nothing to do with the bar or his band. Instead he’d forced himself to walk away from her.

  He often wondered what would have happened between them if Sherri had kept her damn mouth shut and not, in the next breath, said, “I’m pretty good at pleasing myself… finish taking out the trash… and maybe I’ll let you watch and learn how it’s done.”

  They’d nearly killed each other that night and trashed the kitchen in the process. By four AM the next morning they had effectively destroyed the ability to be satisfied by anyone else besides each other. At least that had been the case for him… no woman since her could take what he doled out… in or outside of the bedroom.

  The past decade had found him making attempt after attempt to forget Sherri and find some form of mild fulfillment with another woman to no avail. Perhaps he’d been wrong and he’d been more obsessed with her than she’d been with him. Chris Anderson though? TJ just couldn’t see it.

  Upon hearing a motorcycle pull up along the curb out in front of the auditorium he shook off his thoughts and walked around to the main entrance of the building. A blonde guy who looked to be in his mid to late twenties killed the engine to one of the sweetest bikes TJ had ever seen.

  The man was covered in tattoos on every square inch of visible skin, including the name Gretchen across the backs of his fingers. This must be Chuck. Tommy had mentioned him a few times over the years during some of their rare phone conversations.

  Approaching the younger man, TJ said, “Is that one of Bobby’s designs?”

  “His design… my art. Like it?” Chuck asked him, with a knowing grin.

  “Shit yeah, that is one sweet ride. He must be making a mint at the shop if this sample is anything to go by,” he replied. “I used to do body repair and paint jobs on cars back in the day but this… wow, man, this awesome,” he replied.

  “My wife, Meredith…” Chuck said, pointing at the gas tank which depicted the face of a pretty blonde woman wearing a seductive smile. The name Edith was sketched in shadowed calligraphy at an angle next to the woman’s head.

  Chuck offered no further explanation so TJ didn’t ask and instead loaded up on the back putting as much space between them as possible. Whatever the story… Chuck was an extremely talented artist and Bobby was lucky to have him.

  A short while later they pulled into an attended parking garage attached to a hotel. After getting off the bike, Chuck said, “No sense in getting boxed in over there in that little parking lot again… plus less chance of this baby getting lifted from in here. This is where we’re all staying… this whole wedding thing is on me so if you decide to crash here too just put your room under the name Chuck Reynolds.”

  He simply nodded and then followed Chuck across the street to the banquet hall. As they neared the building TJ’s heart rate picked up.

  It suddenly occurred to him that he may not just be facing Sherri’s wrath but that of any of her friends… maybe even Bobby and Tommy’s anger to some degree.

  TJ shrugged the thought off knowing that once they understood that Sherri was supposed to follow him to Nashville after she figured out how serious he was, whatever story she’d told them or whatever they thought about him leaving might be clarified.

  The whole thing still made him a little hot under the collar. There was no reason they couldn’t have hired someone to run the bar for them for a while. Just long enough to give him a chance at his own dream.

  Even now knowing that making it big in the music business hadn’t been anything more than a young man’s fantasy wasn’t the point… the point was that her goals in life had been the only ones that mattered in their relationship.

  She hadn’t even had the dignity to call and tell him she wasn’t coming… but instead had sent Gina… the last person he wanted telling him that his wife didn’t give a shit about his aspirations.

  Yeah, if any of them even cared anymore… he’d be happy to explain what really happened back then… he somehow doubted Gina had set the record straight.

  Upon entering the building he realized that he’d missed the traditional bride and groom dance, cake and speeches part of the wedding reception but had made it just in time for the party phase.

  He spotted Sherri immediately. She was sitting next to an older, fatter version of Chris Anderson and her sister, Lilly, who was holding a dark haired little boy on her lap.

  “Might as well go on over and break the ice now. Just suck it up and let her brow beat you for a minute and then she’ll let it go… at least that’s how it works with most women,” Chuck offered his encouragement. Not with Sherri… grudge holder extraordinaire.

  Tommy, who sat at the same table as Sherri, waived him over. TJ gave Chuck a nod of thanks and headed over to the group. Richard Long was sitting on the other side of Tommy. TJ remembered ‘Dickie’ from his high school days. Somehow the older man was just as intimidating now as he had been to a skinny sixteen year old.

  “Grab a drink and a chair and join us,” Tommy invited after he made it over to where they all sat around talking.

  He followed Tommy’s advice and after settling down in a chair with a beer in his hand, he was introduced to Tommy’s wife Dana who he’d actually spoken to on the phone once, and Chuck’s wife, Meredith who was gently rubbing her obviously pregnant belly.

  He already knew Bobby, Lilly and Dickie. Then Tommy caught a husky looking kid by his arm and said, “Ben, can you go find Gretchen, Melody and Ginny and send them over here?”

  The boy nodded and took off on his errand. Tommy turned back to the table and said, “That one there is Bobby Jackson the Third… better known as Little Three. As soon as Ben comes back I’ll introduce you to my girls.”

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nbsp; It was hard to believe Bobby was married now… let alone a father… especially to Lilly. He’d only met Lilly once… at her wedding to her first husband… an affluent prick who TJ hadn’t liked from the get go.

  He’d went up north to her big fancy wedding with Sherri… and couldn’t remember ever feeling as out of place as he had that day. Seeing the child on Lilly’s lap he could see the strong resemblance to Bobby in the little boy’s features.

  “Come on, let’s go dance,” Sherri said to her date before pushing back her chair and standing up.

  After Chris and Sherri headed to the dance floor he was introduced to Tommy’s daughters.

  Gretchen waved and said, “Hi,” while Melody twisted from side to side making her dress flare out while humming to herself. Ginny had her back to the entire group the whole time watching as a couple of guys dragged in stage equipment, instruments and set up a drum kit.

  “Can we stay and watch the band for a little while and go back to the hotel with Uncle Chuck and Aunt Meredith later… please, Daddy?” Gretchen begged.

  “Is it a girl singer, Daddy?” Melody asked, finally looking up from her swirling dress upon hearing Gretchen’s question.

  “Can we sing with them too, Daddy?” Ginny chimed in upon feeling the excitement building in her sisters.

  “Harass the crap out of those guys and rock out right along with them. Go on… give em’ hell, girls,” Chuck answered all three children at once as he made his way over to the table and pulled up a chair next to his wife.

  Before Tommy could stop them the three girls took off at a run to do as Chuck had suggested. Having met everyone but Dickie’s wife, who was across the room with another couple, TJ decided it was now or never.

  “Excuse me for a few minutes,” he said. Then he stood up and made his way over to where Sherri was slow dancing with a man who hadn’t aged well at all.

  “Can I cut in for a second?” he asked Chris.

  The man gave him a dirty look but then released Sherri and stepped back before walking away. Unwilling to make a scene, Sherri allowed him to pull her into his arms.