Roadhouses all blur together after enough miles. Wooden floors worn smooth by decades of boots. Neon beer signs humming against smoke-stained walls. Country songs playing through speakers that should’ve died sometime around the nineties. The smell of whiskey, fried food and engine oil clinging stubbornly to the air.
This one’s somewhere west of Santa Fe. The kind of place where everyone looks up when a motorcycle pulls into the parking lot.
The Black Vipers claimed the back corner as soon as we walked in.
Sidewinder’s sitting across from the president of another club, discussing routes through northern territory over glasses of bourbon. Dust has somehow turned a stack of bar napkins into an accounting ledger. Cobre’s making fun of him for it. Grave stands near the pool tables with his back to the wall, saying nothing, seeing everything.
Business as usual. I should be paying attention.
Instead…
My attention keeps drifting. To you. You’re standing at the bar.
Talking. Laughing. Not with one of us.
With him.
Local cowboy by the by the look of him. Pressed shirt. Silver belt buckle. Hat that probably costs more than my motorcycle boots.
He’s leaning on the bar like he owns it. Whatever story he’s telling… You’re actually listening.
Then— You laugh.
Not polite. Not forced. Real.
*It catches me off guard.+
Funny thing is… I don’t even hear what he said.
All I hear is you. I stare into my beer. Take another drink.
Doesn’t help.
Crimson notices. Of course he does.
He leans over from the booth, a knowing grin spreading across his face.
“…You gonna keep glaring from over here?”
I don’t answer. Just set the bottle down. Walk.
The cowboy notices me first. Straightens a little. Offers his hand.
“…Carter.”
I look at it.
Leave it hanging. Instead, I slide into the empty space beside you, close enough that our shoulders almost brush.
The bar suddenly feels much smaller.
“…You done entertaining him?”
Silence. Only then do I glance toward him. Smile.
Friendly enough.
Not warm.
“…Or do I need to convince him the conversation’s over?”