40. Leah

CHAPTER 40

LEAH

"For the love of God can we skip line dancing tonight? If one more person gets into an almost fight, I'm going to have to ban them indefinitely," Lauren demands as we all congregate on the sidewalk that is bustling with people—per usual.

"If we do not walk into a building soon, I will go the fuck home," Max says, his eyes never landing one place for long.

"How's therapy going, buddy?" Sawyer asks from his place behind me. Max growls in response.

"Let's just go into the saloon here and get a drink and then we can decide where we end up next." Tucker leads the way as we all file in behind him like kids on a damn field trip.

"Oh my god, I love this song." Lauren starts swinging her hips as the live band begins to play a Teddy Swims song. When she points to me mid lip-synch and takes a step back, she bumps into someone and turns to apologize.

"I'm so sor—" Her apology falls short, and she tosses her hair behind her shoulder. "I'm so sorry your new prescription doesn't seem to be working. You should really get that fixed."

Damn Lauren. Who the hell ? —

"Maybe it's you who needs glasses, then you'd be able to see how many of your clients are falling into my lap every day."

Oh my god.

"Who's the friend, Lauren?" Tank asks, sliding up next to her all protective big brother like, earning a glare from the guy I can only imagine is Fitz.

"Friend is a stretch. We just happen to work in the same office, unfortunately," she scoffs as Tucker joins the conversation.

"Oh, is this Lucifer?" Tank asks, causing Lauren's head to snap over so quickly I fear it might turn completely around.

"It's Luther ," Tucker corrects. "We played Topgolf together once—" his head tils, likely realizing this is in fact, not Luther. "Didn't we?"

"Um, no. We did not," he answers Tucker matter of factly. "Lucifer, really?" He walks closer to Lauren, whispering something in her ear before exiting the building without another word to anyone.

When she turns around to face the group again, the girls are all a mess of wide eyes and mouths hanging open, while Tank and Tucker simply shrug and begin a conversation completely unrelated to just calling a guy Satan and mistaking him for an entirely different human being all together.

"I hate that guy," Lauren bites out through her teeth before tossing back the rest of her drink.

"I have missed so much, haven't I?" Sawyer leans in and asks, making me laugh.

"More than you can even imagine." I take a sip of my margarita, the strawberry and tequila hitting the spot.

"Let me have a sip," Sawyer says, nodding to my drink. We're practically having to yell over the music playing, as a few of us sway to the songs flowing through the room. I hand him my drink and he takes a big sip, keeping the straw to the side with his index finger.

"You're getting another one, this is mine now." He winks at me, taking another long pull from the glass.

Who knew a man with a fruity drink could be so damn sexy?

"Karaoke time, bitches!" Shane squeals, as Max has his arms wrapped protectively around her. Then we pay for our drinks and head down the street to the karaoke bar.

By some miracle we end up sitting in a corner booth that fits our entire group—barely—as the guy on stage finishes his very off-key rendition of We Are The Champions . What a wild pick for a karaoke song if you ask me, but to each their own.

"Okay! Who's going first?" Shane asks, looking directly at Tucker.

"Why do I always go first?"

"Probably because Max sounds like a cat drowning in a barrel and I'm trying to give my wife a break before she ends up pregnant again." Tank winks at Ruby, then looks over at Sawyer.

"You sing, Moose?"

When the hell did he start calling him that?!

"You ever gonna not call me that, Tank?" He immediately starts shaking his head.

"Nope. No chance."

"Fantastic."

"Oh, he sings," Taylor says with a big ass grin on her face. My eyes shoot back over to Sawyer who has his jaw clenched now.

"No, I don't," he argues.

Umm. Liar.

"Whatever. You may only be able to sing the one song, but me and your shampoo bottles heard you loud and clear almost every day during my senior year. You actually got kinda good at it."

What song?!

I can clearly recall him singing with me in my living room the other day and my stomach and pussy flutter in unison when I remember just how dreamy he sounded. Even over the insane volume I had the speakers on.

"Sawyer, you don't have to sing. We just come for fun." A very un -invited Tank head appears right beside me, interjecting himself further into our conversation.

"Uh, if you've got the pipes, you have to sing. It's a rule." I fight the urge to visibly facepalm.

"Fuck it, I'll go first." Sawyer claps his hands against his jeans, kisses me on the cheek and walks to the front with Tucker and Tank.

"Oh my gosh, is he actually going to sing?" Lauren whispers, leaning in closer to Taylor and me.

"I really was just trying to give him a hard time, but I mean… I guess so." She shrugs. I'm watching with anticipation as he stands up on the small stage and the drunken audience starts yelling and clapping.

"Go Badgers!" One guy yells as the MC gets the music ready, earning a fist pump to the air from Sawyer.

"Number thirteen, have my babies." A woman in the crowd yells, making me want to throat punch her immediately.

"Oh, um. No. Thank you," Sawyer says into the mic. When his eyes find mine and he gives me a yikes look, I can't hold in my laugh.

Then the music starts.

I think for a minute it might just be a coincidence, but when he winks at me and Shane pipes up from beside me, I start thinking differently.

"Oh my god, Le. It's your song." The song I've been obsessed with for years. Well, the performance by Heath Ledger in my favorite movie is at least.

"You're just too good to be true. Can't take my eyes off of you. You're just like Heaven to touch—" And my heart completely leaps into my throat. He dances across the stage, making a big show out of it, and even runs into the crowd, getting down on his knees to sing directly at my feet at one point. When the song ends and the entire bar erupts in applause, he's still down on his knees in front of me, and without caring who's watching, I take his face in my hands and kiss him. I'm pretty sure I hear Max woof from behind me and I pull away before I end up laughing directly into Sawyer's mouth.

"I've never been able to keep my eyes off of you, Dove."

Have my babies' number thirteen, damn.