Waiting For August

Part 41 ~ Bonds

"Caleb Bishop. What on earth are you doing here?" A familiar voice called out to me.

I was at the far corner of the bar, spending time with my overly friendly barkeep ever since I had left August's suite. Our relationship was a simple one. I kept drinking and he kept pouring.

I was keeping my head down and trying not to attract any unwanted attention when Naomi dropped down onto the bar chair next to me.

"Oh, you know... open bar... drinking..."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it. Where's August?" She was now glancing around the bar like she thought he might actually be here.

I didn't want to think about that, where he was, because if I thought about where he was, then I might start to think about what he might be doing. Instead, I was trying to forget, to purge him from my thoughts for the remainder of the evening. I suppose it was a hopeless endeavour, more so now that she had arrived. This woman had a way of making me face my demons.

"Did something happen? Why aren't you with him?" She was leaning against the bar as she tried to make me meet her eyes. "Caleb, what happened love?"

"A drunk blonde happened." I tossed back the remainder of my drink. Almost immediately my friendly neighbourhood bartender stepped up to refill my glass. He backed off after a look from Naomi.

"Not Hannah!"

"Do you happen to know of another drunk blonde?" Truthfully, I didn't want to think about her either. She made my wolf furious.

"How on earth—no forget it," She shook her head. "I've changed my mind. We can talk later." She took a firm hold of my arm. "Let's get you home first."

"Don't wanna." I tapped on my glass.

It caused the barkeep to look between the two of us. Instead of pouring, he set the bottle down in front of me. "Sorry, but I know better."

I reached for the bottle only to have Naomi put her hand on mine. "If it's just about getting shit-faced... What if I told you I happen to have not one, but two bottles of Old Sal's moonshine stashed away at the farm. I even have mix to cut the taste."

I frowned. "When did you—"

"The night we thought Lulu-Belle had—" She sighed. "It was for the bonfire. I thought we could play a drinking game." She lowered her voice. "You had wanted August to stay the night, remember."

Right. I knew she'd been up to something. I'd just never discovered what.

I nodded. "Okay."

She perked up then. "Yeah?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

On the drive home, my drinking caught up to me. I'd been throwing them back without much thought and by the time I stepped out of her mini cooper I was feeling it. My head was no longer my own and my balance was shit.

Naomi hurried around the car to slip her arm around me as I staggered. "Whoa, love. Lean on me, yes?" I tried not to put my full weight on her as we made our way inside. She was wolf strong, but still only half my size.

She led me to the bedroom, where I dropped down heavily upon the bed. I flopped back, ready to surrender for the rest of the night, but she immediately pulled me upright. "Uh, uh. Let's get you out of your tux first."

I managed to nod as she helped me to slip off my jacket and then my waistcoat. I had already loosened my tie in the car and unbuttoned the top button of my shirt, and a moment later she was finishing unbuttoning that too. She lay the articles neatly over her arm as she headed to the closet.