Daisy's Back in Town Read Free

years. And that had changed everything.
    Gina took a step closer and played with a button on the front of his shirt. "I was sorry to hear about Steven. I know he was your friend."
    He and Steven Monroe had been almost inseparable since the age of five when they'd sat next to each other at the Lovett Baptist Church, belting out "Yes, Jesus Loves Me." But that had changed too. The last time he'd seen Steven was the night the two of them had beat each other bloody, while Daisy looked on horrified. It was the last time he'd seen Daisy too.
    As if she didn't notice that Jack wasn't keeping up his end of the conversation, Gina rattled on, "I can't imagine dying at our age. It's just horrible."
    "Excuse me, Gina," he said and walked away. An old anger, one he'd thought he'd buried, threatened to pull him into the past. He pushed against it, tapped it down tight, and shut it out.
    Then he felt nothing at all.
    With his beer in his hand, he wove his way through the rapidly filling bar and moved to the crowded room in the hack. He leaned a shoulder into the doorframe and turned his full attention to Jimmy Calhoun. The man of honor sat in a chair in the middle of the room, surrounded by a dozen or so men, all watching two women dressed like rodeo queens bumping and grinding against each other while the Dixie Chicks sang about a sin wagon. Already stripped down to sparkly G-strings on the bottom, the girls popped the snaps to their silky blouses. In unison their shirts slid down their toned shoulders and perfect bodies, exposing big breasts crammed into tiny sequined bikini tops. Jack lowered his gaze from their full breasts to their G-strings tied at their hips.

    Marvin Ferrell paused in the doorway beside him to watch the show. "Do you think those breasts are real?" he asked.
    Jack shrugged a shoulder and raised the beer to his mouth. Obviously Marvin had been married too long because he was starting to sound like a woman. "Who cares?"
    "True." Marvin laughed. "Did you hear Daisy Brooks is back?"
    He looked down the bottle at Marvin then lowered it. "Yeah, I heard." Again he felt the old anger, and again he tapped it down until he felt nothing. He returned his attention to the strippers and watched them sandwich Jimmy between their half-naked bodies while they kissed each other above his head. The wet, open-mouthed tongue-thrusting kisses had the guys hollering for more. Jack tipped his head to one side and smiled. This was getting good.
    "I saw Daisy at the Minute Mart," Marvin continued. "Damn, she's still hot as she was in high school."
    Jack's smile flat-lined as an unbidden memory of big brown eyes and soft pink lips threatened to drag him into the black hole of his past.
    "Remember what she looked like in that little cheerleader outfit of hers?"
    Jack pushed away from the door and moved farther into the room, but he couldn't escape. It seemed everyone wanted a trip down memory lane. Everyone but him.
    While the strippers took off each other's tiny bikini tops, the topic of conversation was Daisy. Between whistles and catcalls, Cal Turner, Lester Crandall and Eddy Dean Jones all asked if he'd seen her yet.
    Disgusted, Jack left the room and made his way back to the bar. It was a hell of a deal when a man wasn't allowed to enjoy two mostly naked women making out with each other six feet in front of hint He didn't know how long Daisy would be in town, but he hoped like hell it was a short trip. Then maybe people would have something better to talk about. Mostly he hoped she had the good sense to stay the hell out of his way.
    He set his bottle on the bar and made his way back out of The Road Kill, leaving behind talk and speculation of Daisy Monroe. Rain pelted the top of his hat and wet his shoulders as he made his way across the parking lot.
    But with each step he took, the memories followed close behind. Memories of looking into a pair of beautiful brown eyes as he kissed soft lips. His hand sliding up the back of her smooth