He Came Anyway
1291 Words
Anna spent way too long getting ready.
Which was ridiculous.
Because she wasn’t getting dressed up for Ben.
She was getting dressed up because Blackwater Ridge was painfully boring and she refused to spend another Friday night alone in Room Twelve listening to broken air conditioning and wondering why the motel owner annoyed her so much.
That was all.
Still, she changed outfits three times.
By the time Jade knocked on her motel door at nine, Anna had settled on black boots, low-rise jeans, and a fitted dark top that showed just enough skin to make people stare.
Not Ben, though.
Ben barely looked at her.
Which was becoming a serious problem for her ego.
“You look dangerous,” Jade said approvingly.
Anna grabbed her lip gloss. “Good.”
The bar sat twenty minutes outside town down an empty stretch of highway surrounded by desert hills and old rusted signs.
Music pulsed through the walls before they even got inside.
Anna immediately understood what Jade meant.
This wasn’t a normal bar.
It felt rougher.
Louder.
Older.
Motorcycles lined the dirt parking lot while cigarette smoke curled through warm desert air.
Inside, people shouted over music while neon lights painted everything red.
Anna actually smiled for the first time all day.
“Okay,” she admitted. “This place is kind of incredible.”
“Told you.”
Jade dragged her toward the bar.
People noticed Anna immediately.
Not in a dramatic movie-scene way.
Just enough glances to remind her she was new.
A tourist.
Fresh entertainment.
“You want a drink?” Jade asked.
“Yes.”
“Strong?”
“Always.”
By Anna’s second drink, the heat buzzing beneath her skin finally started loosening.
The music was loud enough to shake the floor.
People danced badly.
Someone started yelling near the pool tables.
It felt alive.
Unlike the motel.
Unlike Ben.
Unfortunately, Anna still somehow ended up thinking about him anyway.
Mostly because she kept imagining how out of place he’d look here — dark clothes, tattooed hands wrapped around a whiskey glass, standing in the corner looking bored with everyone.
The image appeared so clearly in her head that when someone suddenly sat beside her at the bar, her stomach jumped automatically.
Not Ben.
Disappointing.
The guy smiled easily. “Haven’t seen you before.”
Anna took another sip of her drink.
“Because I’m smart enough not to live here.”
That made him laugh.
“I’m Cole.”
“Anna.”
“Passing through?”
“Trying to.”
Cole leaned one arm against the counter. “And yet you ended up here.”
“Temporary bad decisions.”
His eyes moved over her slowly.
Unlike Ben, this man looked openly interested.
It should’ve been easier.
Normally it was easier.
“You staying alone?” Cole asked.
Anna almost answered before another voice cut through beside them.
“She’s leaving soon.”
Her entire body reacted before her brain did.
Ben.
Anna turned immediately.
Black t-shirt.
Dark jeans.
Tattooed forearms.
That same unreadable expression.
He looked almost irritated to be there.
Her stomach flipped anyway.
Cole glanced between them slowly.
“You know him?”
Ben answered first.
“She’s staying at my motel.”
Not I know her.
Not we’re together.
Just that.
Cold as ever.
Cole smirked slightly. “Protective owner?”
Ben’s eyes settled on him calmly.
“No.”
Anna stared at Ben harder than she should have.
Because despite the flat answer, he’d still come over.
He’d still interrupted.
And something about that sent dangerous satisfaction curling through her chest.
Ben finally looked at her.
His gaze dragged over her outfit briefly before returning to her face.
Too brief.
But Anna noticed.
Oh, she noticed.
And suddenly she became painfully aware of everything:
the heat in the room,
the pulse in her throat,
the way his veins stood out beneath tattooed forearms as he rested one hand against the bar.
God.
His hands were unfair.
Anna bit lightly against her lip before she could stop herself.
Ben’s eyes flicked downward for half a second.
Then immediately away.
Tiny reaction.
But real.
Her heartbeat sped up instantly.
Interesting.
“You’re staring,” Ben said flatly.
Anna leaned back against the bar slowly.
“So are you.”
“I’m assessing bad decisions.”
“And what’s the verdict?”
Ben looked exhausted already.
“You’re drinking tequila.”
“Wow. Nothing gets past you.”
Cole watched the interaction openly amused now.
“You two always talk like divorced parents?”
Ben ignored him completely.
Which honestly looked harder to do now.
Because Anna could feel something shifting slightly beneath his calm exterior tonight.
Not attraction exactly.
Awareness.
Like he was paying more attention to her than usual and resenting himself for it.
Jade appeared beside Anna suddenly.
“There you are,” she said before spotting Ben. “Oh.”
Ben took a slow sip from the whiskey someone had apparently placed in front of him.
“You brought her here.”
Jade rolled her eyes. “She survived.”
“So far.”
Anna frowned immediately.
“You act like this place is a crime scene.”
Ben looked at her calmly. “Depends what time it is.”
“That’s not mysterious. That’s annoying.”
His mouth twitched very slightly.
Anna noticed that too.
God, she was becoming pathetic.
Cole eventually wandered off after realizing whatever this thing was between them made flirting difficult.
Ben remained beside her at the bar for another minute in silence.
Which somehow felt more intense than conversation.
Anna could smell whiskey and smoke every time he shifted slightly beside her.
“You hate crowds?” she asked eventually.
“Yes.”
“Then why are you here?”
Ben looked straight ahead toward the dance floor.
“Looking after something.”
The answer landed strangely.
Anna turned toward him slightly. “Something?”
His eyes moved toward her slowly.
“Don’t make that face.”
“What face?”
“The one where you think you’re clever.”
Anna laughed softly. “You came because of me.”
“No.”
Too fast.
Again.
Her smile widened immediately.
“Oh my God.”
Ben’s jaw tightened.
“You’re drunk.”
“I’ve had two drinks.”
“You’re still annoying.”
“But I’m right.”
Ben looked down at her then.
Really looked at her.
The music pounded through the room around them while neon red light cut across his face.
Too close.
Too intense.
Anna’s stomach twisted hotly.
She suddenly couldn’t stop looking at his hands resting against the bar —
large,
veined,
tattoos disappearing beneath rolled sleeves.
The type of hands that looked dangerous.
Her thoughts spiraled somewhere deeply unhelpful.
Ben noticed her staring again.
His expression hardened instantly.
“What?”
Anna blinked once.
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit.”
Heat climbed into her cheeks.
God.
“You’re incredibly intense,” she muttered.
“And you stare too much.”
“Maybe you should stop giving me things to stare at.”
The second the words left her mouth, silence dropped between them.
Ben’s eyes locked onto hers.
Dangerous territory.
Anna’s pulse stumbled hard.
For one terrifying second, she thought maybe this was it —
the moment something finally happened between them.
But then Ben leaned back slightly.
Distance again.
Always distance.
“You should slow down on the tequila,” he said calmly.
And just like that, the moment disappeared.
Anna almost wanted to scream.
Because he kept doing this:
getting close enough to make her think something might happen,
then shutting the door before it could.
And somehow that only made her want him more.
- Writer
