look that said “Oh shit, sister” and began to gather bottles.
“Fine,” I said. “One shot and I’m leaving.”
“Ah, but here’s the kicker,” he said as he took the slip of a light scarf from around my neck and tied it behind my head. “You have to actually be able to take the shot.”
“Rafe, cut the crap,” I barked. “Why do I need to be blindfolded for a shot?”
His breath was at my ear as he lingered and placed a kiss on my cheek. “Secret southern ingredients, baby.”
“Whatever,” I rasped out as he put the glass in my hand.
“Now, once you take it, you have to swish it in your mouth for fifteen seconds, not a second less, and then swallow. If you do that, then I’ll not only let you go on your date with Trey, I’ll pay for it.”
“Rafe, I have to drive,” I said, suddenly worried about the shot’s potency.
“I promise it’s harmless.”
“Fine, can we do this now?” I didn’t know what my real issue was, it may have to do with the fact that I felt he liked me, and I now wanted him to admit it. I couldn’t stand the constant wondering, the incessant thinking about it. I wanted him to verbalize it like an adult. This ploy to keep me away from a date was childish. Well, screw him. I had a perfectly fit pilot ready to let me know he liked me in a mature way. Without hesitance, I lifted the glass and began to swish the liquid in my mouth.
And then hell unleashed it’s fury on me as the longest fifteen seconds of my life began.
My first sensation was a sour burn on my tongue, quickly followed by the presence of something solid. Something that should not be present in a liquid shot. Cottage cheese? I swished as I held my gag in and smacked my hands over my mouth to keep from spilling a drop.
“Holy shit, Rafe, she’s going to do it,” I heard a bar regular named Will shout as I became aware I had an audience. The count was at an unbearable six, and for a second, I thought the concoction would bulge out of my mouth and through my fingers.
“Spit it out, Alice!” Kristina pleaded as she ripped one hand from my mouth and put an empty plastic cup in it.
“It doesn’t get better,” Rafe whispered, his voice unsure, which only fueled me to keep going.
In my mind, I’d thrown up a hundred times, and yet as the count wound down and I thought Rafe nothing more than a barbaric pig, I ripped off my blindfold and looked right into his eyes as I swallowed in an exaggerated gulp.
“FIFTEEN!” The crowd shouted in unison.
“Here, honey,” Kristina said as she handed me a fresh beer. I took it gratefully as I downed half of it and got several pats on the back as a few people dispersed. Rafe kept my eyes, his full of ice as he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and threw a couple hundred on the bar. “Have a nice dinner.”
I looked down at the bills and left them there as I pushed myself away from the bar. “A simple I don’t want you to go, Alice, would have been enough,” I whispered as I stood in front of him and saw his eyes roam my light blue dress. I was more dressed up than any other night he’d seen me. I had a dusting of bronzer on my newly tanned face and had applied mascara and a nude lip gloss. My dress was cut in a V in the front and showed my molehill of cleavage. I felt pretty. The way Rafe was looking at me made me feel beautiful, but in a way, he’d just ruined it.
I waited all of the three seconds he deserved and walked out of the bar as my chest sank a little. I made it to my car and jumped when I heard him close behind me.
“I don’t want you to go, Alice.”
“Why?”
He turned me around to face him. His eyes held the honesty I was looking for, his voice was thick with sex. “Because I want to kiss you, Alice, and then I want to drive you home—to my home—and make you come while you say my name in a way and in a tone you’ve never used before.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all I’ve got,” he said as he took a step forward.