Taste of Commitment (Whisky and Risky #2)

10. Knox

Knox

Liam

Come to the bar tonight.

Knox

I’m still on prison duty.

Typo. Nightwatch.

Liam

That wasn’t a typo. Where are you now?

Knox

About to walk into Dax’s

Liam

I’ll be there in 15

“What’s up? None of you bastards wanted to keep your names as the headliners of your business?”

“I got the discount when Liam was riding the office supply girl.” Dax shrugs his shoulder before pulling me in for a hug.

“How are you, KB?”

“I still have a few more days until my first physical therapy session, but I can’t sit around anymore. I’m ready to get back in the gym and do something. Anything .” Desperation bleeds from my tongue.

“That’s all well and good, mucker, but how are you ?”

It’s not that I believe people around here don’t care about me. They absolutely do. But whenever I think about sticking around this town and these people, my chest fills with concrete. There’s an immense amount of guilt that I carry for being a disappointment to them. They’ve always had my back. As I’ve wallowed in my self-pity over the last few weeks, I’d be lying if I said that some of that guilt wasn’t over letting them down.

“I’ll get there,” I reply.

Dax pats my good shoulder. “Yeah, ya will.”

We share an understanding nod before I break turn to finally take a look at his gym. “The place looks great.”

“If only I could keep eejits like this one out.” He nods toward the front just as Liam enters, holding the door open for two women who eye him up and down. He returns their flirtatious grins before doing his typical peacock strut over.

“Boys!” he yells, arms outstretched. “Do we need security with someone of your caliber in here, KB?”

“Feck off.”

“I’m just asking.” He puts his hands up in mock defense. “Want to make sure we don’t run into any problems.”

“No, Liam. Unfortunately, you are our biggest problem,” Dax answers.

I move over to the dumbbell rack and pick up an eighteen-kilogram weight. I need to ease back into a routine that I can safely manage without the use of one of my arms, but I also need to go slow, considering my sleep schedule has been completely fucked. After about five hours of sleep yesterday, I heard a rustling outside of my house, and when I peeked out the window, I found Taylor crouched down on all fours, calling to some stray.

“You coming tonight, mate?”

“I’ll be there,” Dax replies. “I’ve got a date first, so depending on when that ends, I might be a little late.”

“A date, huh? Who’s the unlucky lady?” Liam jabs and Dax whips a towel at him.

Liam jumps back, laughing.

“Don’t worry about it. Worry about your own dry spell.”

“Hey! It’s not a dry spell. I could get it wet if I wanted. I’ve just been busy.”

“Busy with your right hand.”

Liam responds with his two middle fingers. We all break into laughter, and I breathe a little easier, falling back in with my mates so easily after so much time away.

An hour later, my breath is heavy, short, and choppy. My hair is damp, and sweat is pooling at my lower back as I make my way to the gym door.

“You done, mate?” Dax’s voice echoes through the front entrance.

“I have to get back in time to shower and eat before I resume my post for the night.”

“Damn, I still can’t believe AB’s got you on a night shift. I didn’t even know you guys had someone on night duty.” You and me both.

“I’ll be back tomorrow. What’s the membership routine around here now?”

“Family always gets in free.” He waves me off .

The inn is lively when I show up for dinner. An upbeat folk song plays softly in the background while the nearly full table of guests share drinks and stories. I wave hello as I make my way around the table to my usual chair next to Liv.

“No!” She throws her arm out, barricading the chair, and I pause at her strange behavior. “I’m saving that seat.”

“Your imaginary friend joining us for dinner?” I nudge her chin, taking the seat next to the empty one.

“No.” Her eyes fall into little slits, and I know she’s fighting the urge to stick her tongue out at me.

I lift the pitcher of water, offering some to the guests around me. Mid-pouring my own cup, Liv pipes up next to me.

“Hey!” She waves her arm excitedly above her head. “I saved you a seat.”

I look up to find Taylor combing her fingers through her tousled blonde locks.

“Oh, that’s okay. I was just?—.”

“Oh yes, Taylor. Please join us.” My mum perks up, and it would appear that just like me, Taylor can’t say no to my mum either. A gentle grin spreads across her face. She nods and eyes the chair Liv saved her. Right next to me. Thank you, Liv .

“How’d that walk turn out for you the other day, Taylor?” my dad asks as she scoots between an armoire and the back of my chair. She pauses to look at him, her breasts nearly grazing the back of my head. The nape of my neck heats at the near contact.

“It was great. I saw a little sneak peek of the town and got an Irish meat pie. In my book, it doesn’t get much better than that.” She says, sitting down next to me.

“No, it sure doesn’t,” he responds with a chuckle.

I lean back in my chair, my legs spread wide under the table, and Taylor’s knee grazes my thigh before she quickly pulls it back. I could easily bring my legs together to give her more space, but I’m starting to realize that I rather enjoy teasing her a little bit.

“Morning, love,” I whisper, low enough for only her to hear.

She pauses, adjusting the napkin in her lap. “I’ve been up.”

“Over or under five hours?”

She grabs my wrist where it’s propped on the table and leans in, taking a look at my watch. The sight of her delicate fingers wrapped tightly around my warm wrist has me fighting back some very strange primal urges. Her ring finger taps along my throbbing pulse point once, twice, and then a third time before she lets go.

“Over,” she says, sitting back with a proud smile. A smile made with far too much ease, considering the way the feeling of her fingers makes me have to fight for my life to not get a boner at a full dinner table.

“Have you gotten a chance to see any sights yet?” the Italian woman across from me asks Taylor.

“Unfortunately, I’ve had a little bit of a jet lag issue.” She sucks her teeth. “But tomorrow is my day. I’m going to see The Cliffs of Moher.” She adamantly dips her chin.

“Oh, we went there on our first day here. It was stunning. We met some people who said it was their third attempt. The first two times they went, it was too windy, so hopefully, you don’t have that issue.”

“The wind up there can be brutal,” Ryder agrees.

“Honestly, that would be my luck. I would be the person to get taken down by a gust of wind.”

“Just make sure you make it back to tell us about it.” My dad says, and everyone around the table shares a laugh .

“Oh, Olivia, I meant to tell you that Maeve hasn’t been feeling well, and she won’t be able to help us this week, so it looks like it’s just you and me, my girl.” My mum reaches over, rubbing Liv’s hand with an apologetic smile.

“What kind of help did you need?” Taylor asks.

“One of our local girls is having her wedding here next weekend.” My mum gestures to the family across from us, and they smile. “We prep, cook all the food, and bake the cake ourselves, but if we have a bigger event like this one, my friend Maeve usually helps out.”

Taylor and I both look to my sister, who absently pushes her potatoes around on her plate. Liv has been the designated ‘pick-up person’ for as long as I can remember. She helps wherever she’s needed, which is nice for the person who needs the help, but I can’t imagine that running around and picking up after everyone else is her life goal.

“I could help,” Taylor speaks up and every head at the table snaps to hers. My mum holds her wine glass with both hands, and I notice her swollen fingers when her drink halts halfway to her mouth.

“Oh no, darling, that’s not necessary. It’s very kind of you to offer, but you’re our guest.”

“I wouldn’t mind at all. Actually, I would rather enjoy it. I have some experience, and my party trick is that I can follow any recipe to a T.”

“ That’s your party trick?” I ask her with a knowing smirk.

“Well, that, and I can do a perfect manicure in less than three minutes.” She angles her head towards her shoulder, fluttering her lashes at me with a smug smile on her face.

I dip my chin, leaning toward her to whisper into the shell of her ear. “I bet I could make you—” Her hand shoots out, fingernails digging into my jean-covered thigh before I can finish my sentence. I laugh, pulling back. “What? I was just going to say, I bet I could make you laugh in less than three minutes.”

Her grip on my leg loosens and she manages to pull her face together. I boop her cute, little button nose with the tip of my finger, and she playfully rolls her eyes.

My mum examines our exchange, lips parted, a faint smile ghosting her lips. My saving grace right now is that nobody is paying us any mind besides Mum, everyone else has resumed their conversations and continued to eat their meals. My mum’s all-knowing eyes are the only ones still fixed on us.

“Give me a purpose to kick my jet lag and get up in the morning,” Taylor says, shifting her attention back to my mum.

“Well, Olivia and I will take any help we can get. Thank you, Taylor. That’s very generous of you.” Her eyes dance back and forth between the two of us once more, but she doesn’t say anything else.

“Hey, would you want to come to The Saloon with me tonight?” my sister asks, practically jumping out of her seat. “They have a live band playing. It can get a little rowdy, but it’s still really fun.”

“You don’t have to twist my arm. You had me at ‘rowdy’,” Taylor says, holding her glass of water up to Liv in cheers.

“That’ll definitely help you get up early tomorrow for sightseeing,” I murmur.

“Mind your business, Browning.”

“Ooohh, tell ‘em, Taylor!” Ryder throws a fist up in the air, and I jab my elbow into his ribs, but he remains seated, slapping his thigh with a shit-eating grin on his face. He’s not the only one. I look around the table and everyone seems to be highly amused, including the beautiful light force sitting next to me. I’ve been avoiding these meals and get-togethers—this town in general, really to avoid having to talk about what happened but maybe I’m being given a grace period here.

“Do you want to get ready together?” Liv asks.

“Sure.” My sister sets her napkin down and scoots back from the table. “Oh, like right now? Okay.” She takes one last drink from her glass and turns to my mum, her hands clasped together in front of her. “Thank you for dinner, Isla. It was delicious.”

“Thank you. Have fun tonight, girls.” My mum waves to them.

Taylor squeezes herself behind my chair again, but this time, she drops her hand to my shoulder and leans down, whispering in my ear, “Enjoy your night, love. ”

I don’t bother fighting the full-fledged grin that takes over my face. I crane my neck in time to see her tight ass sway out of the room.

Guests move about, some retreat to their rooms, others to the sitting room and I clear as many dishes from the table as I can. My dad pats his full belly with a labored breath when I reach for his plate. “As always, that was delicious, Isla.”

She smiles from across the table and I turn for the kitchen.

“Knox, wait a minute.” I pause, turning to face him. “You should go, too.”

“Go where?”

“To Liam’s bar.”

“What about the desk?” I blink at him a few times .

He waves a hand in front of him like he could care less. “Everyone who was supposed to check in today has.”

I eye him suspiciously but his face gives nothing away. The night shift job reeked of bullshit when he first brought it up, and now I’m thinking it was what I was smelling: utter shite.

“Patrick doesn’t work the night shift, does he?”

“Nah,” he says with his lips turned down. He shakes his head. “He has the morning cab service. That’s why you haven’t seen him around.”

“Did they even have a baby?”

“Oh yeah.” He takes a drink of his wine. “About four years ago.”

He and Mum both look at each other, laughing like a pair of co-conspirators.

“You’re mental, you know that?”

“What?” He lifts his hands, not bothering to hide his smile. “You needed a good kick in the ass.”

Shaking my head, I carry the dishes to the kitchen feigning annoyance with my old man. The truth is, I’d take the lie and the fucked up sleep schedule ten times over again if it meant having that chance run-in with Taylor.