"Gonna sound like a winner when I lay you down and love you right, yeah that's my kind of night..."


Cassidy ran out to Jamie as he got out of the car, and just like in the movies, he caught her when she leapt into his arms. He kissed her as he held her off of the ground, smiling against her lips as she laced her fingers through his hair.

When he placed her back down, he set his fingertips on the back of Cassidy’s neck and stared at her, “how was your night?”

“It was good, my dad and I had time to catch up,” they began walking back towards the house. Cassidy could see her dad watching them from the kitchen window, doing his best to give them some privacy, but ultimately curiosity won. “Listen Jame, my dad’s going to want to talk to you today. Please don’t get all freaked out about it.”

He nodded as he pulled open the front door, immediately being greeted by Lee, who now looked the part of a southern man in a plaid shirt, worn jeans, and dusty cowboy boots.

“Mr. Knox, it’s good to see you again,” Jamie held out his hand.

Cassidy’s father smiled and shook Jamie’s hand, “you can call me Lee, son.” Jamie smiled and went silent. Probably sensing some discomfort, Lee continued, “sit down.”

“Y’all talk for a bit. I’m going to fix Jamie up something to eat before the game,” Cassidy walked through the living room and into the kitchen, looking through the fridge for something.

“No, Cass you don’t need to do that. I’ll just pick something up,”

At the sound of the nickname, Lee’s head shot up and his eyes flashed between Jamie and his daughter, trying to figure out the dynamic between them. It was clear by the mention of her nickname, that she trusted him enough.

“No, it’s fine. I want to,”

She disappeared to check a pantry and Jamie looked back at Lee, wringing his hands together nervously.

“I can see you care about my daughter. And obviously she cares about you; after all you are using her nickname.” Lee spoke quietly, just loud enough for Jamie to hear but ensured that Cassidy wouldn’t pick up on their conversation. “Plus she’s never cooked for anyone…”

“Your daughter is a great person and an amazing woman. I hope you don’t feel like I’m trying to replace you… There’s no way I could. She respects and cares for you so much.” Jamie glanced up at Lee and laced his fingers together and put them behind his head. “It’s going to take a lot to fill her daddy’s boots.”

Lee smiled and looked at his hands, rubbing them together. When he looked back at Jamie, he was staring at Cassidy as she moved in the kitchen, humming to herself as she prepared a meal.

“So for the game tonight, I was wondering if you would like to go?” Jamie looked at Lee and offered a quick smile, “I could get you and Cassidy tickets.” He paused and when he saw Lee contemplating the idea, he chuckled, “and I’ve been trying to teach Cassidy about hockey and I don’t seem to making any progress. Maybe you could take a stab at it.”

Lee threw his head back and laughed, waving his hand in the air, “after the game I sent her to, she called me up and said hockey wasn’t her sport. Your effort is valiant, but I don’t expect my daughter to understand the rules of the game anytime soon. Now if you played football, there might be something to talk to her about.”

“That’s good to know; I’m definitely a football fan.”

“Team?”

“Seattle Seahawks,”

Lee sighed as if he were shocked, “you ain’t gonna get much leeway from a Tennessee Titans fan. Why Seattle?”

Jamie smiled and shrugged, “they’re the team closest to where I grew up. Canada doesn’t have a football league like the NFL.”

“And where are you from son?”

“Victoria, British Columbia; small island town off of Vancouver. Ever been to Canada?”

“Son, I’ve been alive for fifty-four years, and the furthest from home I’ve ever been was Wyoming.”

“You never wanted to travel?” Jamie moved his hands and put them back in his lap.

“Honestly I got married young, on weekdays I was a trucker loading US steel on flatbeds, and on weekends I was a farmhand. Never had the time to travel, and never had the money.” His southern accent was thick, very clear that Cassidy had gotten it from him.

“And what about Cassidy?”

“The furthest she’s been is Dallas. Cass is like a little canary, y’know? You keep them in a cage because it’s a safe…” He tilted his head to the side as looked into the doorway of the kitchen as his daughter passed by. “But I never meant to clip her wings.”

Jamie shook his head, “I don’t believe Cassidy sees it as you clipping her wings. She’s prepared to come back to Nashville after graduation, and not because you asked her to, but because she cares about you enough to… May I speak selfishly for a moment?”

Lee nodded and brought his fingertips up to his lips.

“If I want a future with Cassidy, it’s not going to be able to be primarily in Nashville. Maybe if I’m traded to the Predators, but most likely, it’d be splitting time between Dallas, Victoria, and Nashville.” Jamie looked at his hands, “I’m not going to be able to fill your boots, and I’m not trying. But I don’t want to think about a time where I’m not going to be able to see her everyday.”

Cassidy stepped into the living room, carrying a large bowl in her hands. The contents: pasta with marinara sauce. She handed the bowl to Jamie and sat down beside him, smiling as he began stabbing at the pasta and put the first bite into his mouth.

“What were you boys talking about?” Cassidy inquired, looking at both her dad and Jamie.

“I was just getting to know Jamie Benn. I think he’s a very respectable man, Cass.”

Jamie’s cheeks turned red and he took another bite, finding it gave him something to do other than look embarrassed and flattered. Cassidy giggled and set her hand over Jamie’s back, rubbing it back and forth gently.

“Yeah, I think I’ll keep him for a little while,” she bent over and set her cheek down on his shoulder, clutching at his bicep and stroked it with her thumb.

Once he regained his composure, his began to take his time in between bites. “I asked your dad if he’d want to go to the game tonight. Try to teach you a little more about the sport,”

Cassidy groaned and sat up straight, “I’m never going to understand offsides and poke-checking and back-checking and fore-checking and hip-checking and cross-checking and stick-checking and body-checking…”

Everything was quiet for a moment as Lee stared at Cassidy with his mouth hanging open, “did my daughter just name off seven different types of checking?”

Jamie smiled and nodded, clearly impressed with her accomplishment.

“Bless you Jamie Benn, bless you.”

---

Cassidy pushed open the door of her apartment, only to be greeted by Kennedy on the couch with a boy. Catching a glimpse of what was going on, she shut her eyes, held her hands out in front of her, and slowly navigated to her room until she was safe behind the shut door.

After the game last night, Jamie only had a few minutes to say goodbye before he was back on the plane, this time going to North Carolina to play the Hurricanes. And after that he’d go to Florida to play both teams down there before returning to Dallas for a while. It was going to be a rough week and a half, but it would give Cassidy some time to focus on school and her new job.

Within two weeks, she was already accustomed to her new job at the bar. But of course, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to serve drinks to young socialites. The bar was right in the middle of downtown, and any time after eight ensured that the bar would be crowded. It was practically the place to be for people who were anywhere from twenty-one to twenty-seven.

An upside to the job, was that it was a country bar; appropriately named ‘Spurs’, and every night when a specific song was played, it meant it was time to hop up on the bar and start dancing. This included everyone from the patrons, to the waitresses, and even the bartenders. It kept the atmosphere light and fun, and although it wasn’t a job that would impress future employers, it was raking in good money.

Thursday nights, despite popular belief, were busy for the bar, mostly because all the college students would come in for ‘Thirsty Thursday’. And tonight was no exception. People were packed in like sardines but all happy to be drinking together. And at eight o’clock when Luke Bryan’s ‘That’s My Kind Of Night’ came on, the bar was packed with half drunk college kids dancing on top of it, grinding up on each other.

When the song ended and people returned to their normal behavior, Cassidy was swamped with new requests, mostly for rounds of shots. On nights like these, people weren’t asking for fancy cocktails anyway; mainly they stuck with shots or beer and she had become good at slinging shots and bottles at patrons quickly to help as many people as possible.

Cassidy was bent over, writing down the tab for a group of frat boys as a new group showed up, “hey guys, I’ll be right with you!” Over the music, she doubted whether or not the group heard her.

“Alright!” The man screamed back, clearly a regular to the hangout. He knew the drill, and knew he wouldn’t be heard unless he yelled.

But Cassidy didn’t look up hastily just because the man was a regular. Her head shot up because that soft, kind voice was unmistakable. She jumped up against the bar, wrapping her arms around his neck, squeezing him tightly. “Jame,” she mumbled into his ear. It wasn’t until then that Jamie returned her embrace, turning his head to kiss her temple.

“Cass, what are you doing here?” Jamie asked releasing his hold around her. She sunk back behind the bar and began filling up pints of beer for the hockey boys that had come in.

“This pays better than my last job…”

Before he answered, Jamie’s eyes wandered over Cassidy, first taking in the sight of her long, wavy blonde hair pulled into a loose side braid. His eyes followed the curve of her body, noticing that the small plaid shirt she wore were missing the first few buttons and ended above her bellybutton, where it was tied in the front. Jamie leaned over the bar, seeing the jean shorts that only covered enough to not be taken as public indecency. And the outfit was finished off with a pair of cowboy boots, some that he remembered seeing in Cassidy’s closet.

“You’re not wearing much, are you?”

Cassidy stared at him as she handed over his beer. Jamie hadn’t said it to be rude or condescending. It was just a fact. She wasn’t wearing much at all. Finally she shook her head, “the tips are good. I’ll quit if you want me to…”

Jamie tilted his head to the side and pursed his lips, “nah. I’ll just come in every night to make sure no frat boys hit on you.” His eyes flicked over her body before returning to her eyes, “I do like this outfit though; you look really good.” He winked and chuckled, taking a slow sip of his beer.

Cassidy bit her lip and smiled, flashing her eyes to the left as a young guy came stumbling up to the bar.

“Shot of Fireball, baby,” the guy slurred his words together almost incomprehensibly.

She turned around and stood on her tiptoes to reach the top shelf for the Fireball Whiskey. When she finally grasped it, she turned back to the bar, watching as Jamie was now eyeing the drunk man.

“Baby how about you bend over and let me get that ass,” he winked and downed the shot as Cassidy set it in front of him, it obviously giving him some more courage.

Instantly, Jamie’s grip tightened around his glass, ready to take a stand. But Cassidy set her hand over his arm, calming him down enough, “he’s not worth it.”

The drunk whistled at Cassidy, “hey how about you get up on this bar and dance for me… or better yet baby, come around the bar and sit your ass in my lap.” The man leaned to the side and then corrected the motion, clearly unable to keep his balance.

“I’m gonna punch him,” Jamie murmured.

Beneath her hand, Cassidy could feel the muscles in Jamie’s forearm flex. Although it was incredibly sexy, she shook her head and reached behind the bar, pulling out a tab and set it in front of the drunk. When the man opened it up, Jamie glanced at the total, which ended up being over three hundred dollars. Cassidy leaned over the bar towards the drunk, “in your dreams.”

She winked and with the man’s attention, she leaned over to Jamie, clutched onto either side of his neck and kissed him, tilting her head to the side as she opened her mouth and sucked on his lower lip. Jamie got into it quickly, and when the drunk left, Cassidy pulled away, giggled, and wiped her lips nervously.

Jamie wiped his lips as well, a quirky grin spread across his face like he had just been told a dirty secret. Soon after, Cassidy returned to work, and a half hour later, after most the hockey guys had gone home, Jamie as still at the bar, quietly watching as Cassidy worked. When the Luke Bryan song came back on, Cassidy ran to Jamie, stepped up onto the bar in front of him and looked down. She shook her hips playfully as he stared up at her, before reaching down for his hands.

He rolled his eyes and then took her hands and stood up on the bar with her, standing behind her as she began to dance. Holding a bottle of Jack Daniels in her head, she tugged on Jamie’s shirt until he bent down low enough for her to pour a shot into his mouth. He shook his head as the liquor went down his throat, and then wrapped his arm around Cassidy’s hip, pushing her back into him as they danced to the song.

She was now behaving like those college students she made fun of; the ones grinding up on people and acting like crazy kids. The song faded out and Jamie jumped off of the bar, holding his arms up for Cassidy. She bent down for his shoulders as he gripped onto her waist, picking her up and setting her back on the ground.

“What time do you get out of here?” He bent down to her ear, planting a small kiss on her neck afterwards.

Cassidy set her hands against his muscular chest, “one… no class tomorrow.”

“You want to go to my house afterwards?” His eyes were gentle as he awaited her response. When she nodded and could no longer suppress a smile, he leaned back in to kiss her lips.

Notes

This song is titled after "That's My Kind Of Night" by Luke Bryan.

Y'all get a new chapter because I'm done with finals!

Subscribe, vote, comment :D