Chapter Forty-One
Emily
The Next Night
When I walk into Rusty Nail Tavern, I wrinkle my nose at the scent of cigarette smoke wafting through the air. Even though customers aren’t allowed to light up inside, the smell clings to their clothes.
That’s if the smoking patron even bothers to shut the door. Most of the customers hold the door open while blowing puffs of smoke behind them in the middle of their ongoing conversation with someone else in the bar.
The Rusty Nail Tavern’s owner, Joe Parkhurst, made the mistake of arguing with City Hall over the number of patrons he could have.
He wanted more business and petitioned for 75 customers versus his previous 50.
He won, but the joke was on him. The next year, the city banned smoking in all buildings with more than 50 customers.
I scan the room looking for Ruby, finding her talking to Joe at the end of the bar. Joe is in his late 50’s, embarrassingly considers himself a lady’s man, and is eyeing her up and down like she’s a tasty treat.
The lights are dim, making it hard to see into the corners of the bar and the music pipes over the loudspeakers blaring in all directions, making it impossible to hear a conversation from across the room.
Ruby shifts backward as he reaches out his arm, letting it drop down to his side versus laying it over her shoulders and hauling her to him as he intended. She smiles as he leans sideways and stumbles. Gotta love a smalltown bar and its resident overachievers.
A rock song comes to a rousing conclusion as Ruby says, “Be careful.” She grabs his upper arm and rights him onto his feet. “You don’t want to fall on your face and black an eye.”
“It would be worth it for you, baby girl.” His glassy eyes rove over her again.
“Now, Joe, be good.” She pats his bicep.
Moments later, she notices me. “Over here.” She waves her hand toward a booth on the outside of the room. Between the bar and the line of booths are two rows of pool tables with some random out-of-towners racking the balls and hitting a cue ball.
The men are wearing dirty jeans and T-shirts with a construction company logo on the backs of them. It’s a different company than Xavier’s father operates.
I make my way through the mostly empty tables that are haphazardly strewn about the room. With each step, the boards pop under my shoes.
As Ruby walks toward me, the next song picks up where the last one left off and Joe elbows the man beside him, saying something. Clearly it was something lewd due the way they’re laughing and watching her ass.
I slump into the seat opposite her as she flops down into her seat. The cracked cushions whoosh as they accept our weight. “Why in the hell are we here exactly?”
“Because you wouldn’t answer my calls yesterday.”
We rarely come to Rusty Nail Tavern, preferring to go to Callahan’s Bar in the city.
This place is filled with creepy old drunks who prey on young girls.
That’s not to say there aren’t jerks in the city, because there are.
But there, people don’t turn to the door every time it opens to see who’s coming in.
“I’ve been busy.”
She arches an eyebrow. “Doing?”
“Stuff.” I shrug my shoulder and avoid making eye contact with her. Yesterday, I promised myself I’d never utter a word to anyone about my night with Jake, and I intend to live up to that promise.
“Emily,” she growls under her breath. “Spill it.”
I cross my arms over my chest and meet her gaze head on. “I had to work, we were busy, then I went to Mom’s house to check on her because Kaleb couldn’t. She’s doing well by the way. Thank you for asking.”
“Oh no, you don’t.” Her eyes flash with irritation as she shakes her head.
“You’re not going to use your mom to make me feel guilty with the sole purpose of distracting me.
Those crude forms of manipulation don’t work on me.
Josephine said she saw you coming from my street at four o’clock in the morning.
In wrinkled clothes.” She blinks and pins me with a pointed stare. “And you weren’t coming from my house.”
I hate small towns. “I was taking a walk.”
“At four o’clock in the morning?”
“Yes.” I cross my legs and tilt my head sideways giving her a smirk even though it’s not doing any good. She’s not believing a word that I’m saying. But at this point, I’ve made my stand and I’m sticking to it.
“With your hair a mess like you’d just climbed out of bed from a very thorough headboard banging session?”
“My hair wasn’t a mess. I brushed it down…” I inhale through my nose as I slam my mouth shut. The rest of the words peter out as I realize how close I was to spilling everything.
Ruby leans forward. “So, was he any good?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t with anyone.” Heat flows like molten lava throughout my entire body. Who turned on the fucking furnace in here? I unlace my arms and fan the top of my lavender top as I block out every second of my night with Jake.
Was he any good? That’s a fucking stupid question. He was phenomenal. Out of this world. He did things to me that I’ve only read about. And….
I swallow. You aren’t thinking about him. It was a stupid, careless mistake. I cross my legs, causing the hem of my skirt to shift with my movements.
“You don’t know what I’m talking about?”
“No.”
“Then maybe I’ll have to ask Jake for an evaluation of the night. He just walked in.”
“He did not.” I roll my eyes. I’m not falling for her bluff this time.
Her face falls as the color leeches from her face. “Forget I said anything.” She grabs my hand. “Let’s go.”
“What?” I frown at the quick shift in topics, look over my shoulder, and freeze. Fuck. He’s here with Amanda. Son of a bitch. He’s here with her.
This is where they’re meeting? At Rusty Nail Tavern?
Fuck, my stomach clenches. I don’t know which is worse. That he’s here with Amanda or that he thinks this is an appropriate place to bring a date.
Amanda kisses his cheek, and I can’t look away. His 5 o’clock shadowed cheek.
Fuck, he’s gorgeous. Even with a baseball cap pulled low, covering his eyes.
He’s wearing a dark T-shirt and jeans. Amanda looks perfect.
Blonde hair brushed until it practically glows with the wayward curl nowhere to be found.
Her hourglass figure with perfect curves, tucked into a skintight red dress that couldn’t look more out of place than if a movie star walked through the front door.
Breathe. Fuck, I’ve forgotten how to breathe. I gasp, choking on the sudden influx of air into my lungs. My previous victory of knowing she walked around town with a hair out of place seems like a distant memory.
Amanda pats his chest and lowers her heels to the floor. He says something to her but doesn’t pull her into an embrace. She points to a nearby table with a half drank beer mug in the center of it.
How did I miss seeing her when I came inside? I drop my chin to my shoulder. Idiot. It’s not like you can hide in plain sight. Jake slumps into the chair across from her as she leans across the table and chats animatedly to him about something.
He straightens and responds to whatever she says. This time, his expression is less standoffish.
I sag into my seat and fling my head around before he sees me looking at them.
Ruby is right. It’s time to go. Tears sting my eyes as I swallow over the lump in my throat.
“I had no idea he’d be here.” Ruby grabs my hand.
“How could you?”
“I’m so sorry.” Her face is filled with a mixture of horror and remorse. “I know how much you care about him, and then to have…” Her eyes clear as her features harden. “I don’t know what happened between the two of you, but I never thought he was a dick.”
“It’s fine. It was a mistake.” There’s no point in pretending any more. I don’t have the energy left to keep up the subterfuge.
She glares daggers at him. “And then to come here with Amanda. Less than forty-eight hours after you left his bed. The fucking prick.”
“Let’s go. It didn’t mean anything. We fucked, and that was it. I’m a big girl. I can handle seeing him with someone else. I’ve done it for years.”
“But–”
“No buts. It’s fine.” I slide to the edge of the bench seat. “Let’s go. This place was already intolerable. Now, it’s gotten worse.”
“I can’t believe he’s such a fucking pig.” Ruby slips her purse over her shoulder. “I should toss a beer over his head.”
I love my best friend. She’s the fucking best.
“Thanks for the thought but he’s not worth it.” I embrace her and step back. “You’re the best friend in the world. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You’d have avoided seeing this asshole with the biggest bitch in town.”
I choke back a laugh that sounds more like a dying animal than someone who’s heard a joke, but it’s the best I can muster. “Right. You’re right about that.”
As we approach their table, Jake’s eyes meet mine. They’re filled with anger and then his attention is gone so swiftly that it’s like it never happened.
But it did, and it knocked the breath from my lungs. Ruby grabs my arm and hauls me forward. “Let’s go to a real bar where there are real men. The ones here are pathetic losers. Actually, they can’t even make themselves worthy of being losers.”
I have no idea how I make it out of the bar without passing out but somehow, the door slams shut behind us, and I suck down a gulp of air. And immediately start coughing from the cigarette smoke filling my lungs.