For the Love of Gracie Read Free Page B

shotgun a case of Natural Ice beers. To shotgun a beer; poke a hole in the side of the can near the bottom. Then you pop the top and chug.
    Well, by the end of the night, I had done that with the case of beers, and they ended up mostly all over me , soaking my white t-shirt. Then someone handed me a shot of tequila, and before it made it all the way down, everything from the night came up.  Tequila burned terribly when coming out your nose, I wouldn't recommend it, ever. Lesson learned that night, now I always followed the rule.
    As for tonight, I was currently feeling no pain and definitely in no condition to drive. Cameron asked his friend Ashton to give me a ride home. When we made it to his car, it turned out to be a motorcycle instead. As sexy as motorcycles were, I hoped desperately that I wouldn't become dizzy and toss my cookies on Ashton. 
    The thing about Nashville weather was that it changed at the drop of a hat. The joke was, if you didn't like the weather, just wait until tomorrow and it would be different. It was September, which was usually somewhat warm. When we had left home the previous evening it was in the high seventies. Now, in the wee hours of the morning, it was in the low fifties and I was shivering. Ashton slipped his black leather jacket across my shoulders when he saw me quiver. 
    "Thanks," I said. The great thing about the South was there were a lot of gentlemen. Unfortunately, I never seemed to date any of them.
    He handed me a helmet and helped strap it to my head. I exhaled loudly. "This must look attractive."
    He smiled. "You look cute." 
    He sat on the bike and I straddled his back, wrapping my arms around his torso. Pressing my nose against his shoulder I inhaled his scent. He smelled fantastic, like cedar, which was odd for cologne. I laid my head on his shoulder and cursed the gay community for getting all the deliciously gorgeous, sweet men in the world. 
    Ashton weaved in and out of traffic and it was making me queasy. There were microphones in the helmets, so I screamed out, "I'm going to hurl." 
    He pulled over quickly and lifted me off the bike in one swoop. Throwing the helmet off, I ran to the side of the road and heaved, all over the ground.  I felt his hands lift my hair back from my face.  "Wow, that's a lot of hurling you just did." 
    I sighed. "Gross. Sorry about that, I'm great with first impressions." 
    He reached into his satchel attached to the motorcycle and pulled out a bottle of water. He handed it to me and said, "It's warm, but it will at least rinse your mouth out." 
    I glanced down and noticed some was on his jacket.  "Oh gosh, I'm so sorry Ashton." 
    He waved it off as if it was nothing. "Don't worry about it. It can be cleaned." 
    We had pulled over near a small park. I wasn’t sure of the name, but the locals call it Dragon Park.  There was a large mosaic dragon sculpture that weaved around the playground with benches built into it. Ashton pointed at the dragon. "Wanna sit for a minute before we go? Give you time to recover." I nodded and took his hand as he led me over there. 
    "So how do you know Cameron?" I asked.   
    "Gavin and I have been best friends since high school. He introduced me to Cameron a few months back. Gavin has a thing for him. He didn’t want to look too obvious going around him by himself all the time, so I offered to be his wing man.  I personally think they'd make a great couple." 
    I agreed by nodding my head. 
    He continued by saying, "It's probably none of my business, but you seem like a great girl, Gracie.  Why would you be dating such an ass like that Hudson guy?" 
    I laughed. "It appears the general consensus on Hudson is that he's an ass. I seem to always meet the dirt bags; it's not a new thing for me. They're drawn to me it seems, or vice versa. The sex is great, though."
    He seemed a bit offended by my last comment.
    "Sorry, that's how Cam and I talk, didn’t mean to give you TMI." 
    He waved it off.