Earth and Sky

most of his time there.

    The ride out west was boring and long, and Grant had driven it so many times in the past years he didn’t even need to pay much attention. He stopped along the way for a burger but didn’t linger. If he made good time, he’d hit the outskirts of Portland by daybreak and catch forty winks in the park before heading out to the usual place. It wasn’t that cold yet and it was fairly dry, so he knew he’d be able to sleep rough for a few hours.

    After about six hours of driving, Grant left the Interstate feeling tired and weary. He also needed to pee, so when he saw the lights of a roadside bar in the distance, he decided to stop for a little rest. He resigned himself to drinking just one beer, so it wouldn’t prevent him from riding on safely, but he knew the break would help him be more awake and alert for the remainder of the ride.

    Although he’d taken the same route many times, Grant had never stopped at this particular bar. Inside was what looked like a pretty standard Friday night crowd: a few middle-aged, beer-bellied drinkers hanging out by the bar, an older guy with a younger woman sitting in one of the booths, and a few youngsters hanging around the pinball machines. Grant walked to the back to relieve himself and then returned to order a beer. He caught himself eyeing the ass of the long-haired, heavily tattooed bartender when he was accosted by a more-than-a-little-tipsy barfly.

    “Hey there, stranger.”

    “Evening,” Grant replied courteously. He didn’t encourage her, though. She looked like she was jailbait, although at the same time she looked wasted, like she’d been drinking for years and hadn’t seen a sober day in at least two of them. Grant was worried that she would try to hustle him into giving her money.

    When the buff bartender dropped off Grant’s beer, the man eyed her with concern. “I think you’ve had enough, Jewel.”

    “Aaaw, come on, Stevie!” She put her arm around Grant. “I’m sure this nice man will buy me a shot or two.”

    Grant gave Stevie a look to convey he would do no such thing, and to his surprise, the man understood.

    “Come on, Jewel. I’ll call your old man to come pick you up.”

    “No, Stevie! Please don’t. I don’t want to go home. All Al does is sit in front of the TV, and there’s football on tonight,” she whined.

    “Fine,” Stevie conceded. “But then you sit in a corner and leave my paying customers alone.”

    She drifted off and Grant took a swig of his beer, nodding a thank you to Stevie.

    The young woman who’d been sitting by the older gentleman in the booth came to stand alongside Grant by the bar.

    “Top us up again, Steve, will ya?” she asked the bartender before feasting her eyes on Grant. “We don’t get your kind here very often.”

    Grant looked at her and smiled. She was a good-looking woman in her early thirties, he guessed, elegantly dressed, with a bit too much makeup and jewelry for his taste, but it didn’t hurt to look at her anyway.

    “And what is my kind?” Grant asked a little apprehensively. For a moment he wondered if he’d encountered a woman with exceptional gaydar.

    She smiled seductively. “Handsome strangers.”

    “Ah,” Grant replied. “I thought there’d be plenty of handsome men around here.”

    “Oh yes,” she drawled. “But it’s always the same men. You’re not from around here, are you?”

    “Nope,” Grant answered, drinking more beer. He didn’t really want to give her any more information. If he’d wanted to be seduced by her, he’d probably indulge her, but he just wanted to have a quiet drink. The last thing he needed was any sort of intimate encounter, least of all with a woman, and judging by the way she was invading his personal space, that was exactly what she was aiming for.

    Grant looked around to gauge the reaction of her earlier paramour, but he was asleep in the corner. He completely missed the all-too-familiar face watching him from one of the other dimly lit booths.

Chapter 25

    Hunter didn’t like the look of Grant sitting at the bar flirting with that woman. They seemed friendly enough, although it didn’t appear to Hunter that she and Grant knew each other well. He was smiling, though, giving her a teasing, seductive look.

    She leaned over the bar, winking at the bartender after nicking a fresh bowl of peanuts from where the guy had hidden them. She offered them to Grant and he accepted, grabbing a handful