Chapter 12 #2
The jukebox was playing rock tonight, an old song that had been one of Dad’s favorites to blare at the garage while we worked. The noise was loud enough tonight that there wouldn’t be a lot of conversation. People were practically shouting as they spoke, adding to the volume.
Loud was good. Loud meant no talking.
The clack of a cue hitting a ball rang through the air and the guys invited me to play a round.
One turned into three, which turned into five and I made sure to supply the quarters because I wasn’t giving up my spot at the table.
Because when I left here, I’d go home and I wasn’t ready to go home.
I wasn’t ready to know if Nova had shown or if she’d stayed away.
The noise in the bar ratcheted up and up until it was practically deafening by midnight.
My beer was long gone but I hadn’t felt like another.
My mood was teetering on the edge as it was and getting drunk would only tip the scales.
I was in that place where what I really wanted was to fuck or to fight.
A long, hard fuck. Or a violent, punishing fight.
In the corner beside the pool table, a man in his sixties wearing a cowboy hat occupied a stool.
Once, a long time ago, that stool had been Dad’s favorite spot to sit. We’d come to The Betsy and he’d play one or two games of pool, then he’d take up his spot and spend the rest of the night bullshitting with whoever came close enough.
It was painful to look there and not see his face. To not see his shiny bald head and his long white beard braided down the center of his chest. Thank God I’d gotten Mom’s thick hair. But I’d give up every strand for just one more day with my father.
A jolt of sadness came over me and suddenly I needed to get the hell out of this bar. Even if my house was empty, I didn’t want to be here, in the place where he’d been killed.
It was like this. Either I’d come here and feel close to him. Or I’d come here and feel his absence like a gaping hole in my chest.
A room full of people and I was alone.
“Hey, Emmett.” A familiar voice caught my ear and I turned. Tera was wading through the bodies surrounding the pool table.
“Hey, Tera.” She wasn’t who I’d expected to see. “How’s it going?”
“Good.” She smiled, her cheeks flushed. Then she turned and pointed to a cocktail table surrounded by four other women, only one I recognized.
“I’m here with some of the other teachers.
Girls’ night. It’s the first time I’ve been out since moving here and they told me that I had to check out The Betsy. ”
“Ah.” I nodded. “Where’s Maggie?”
“At your mom’s, actually. I tried to get a babysitter, but she insisted.”
“Sounds like Mom.”
“She’s not going to let me pay her, is she?”
I chuckled. “Nope.”
Tera laughed and her eyes softened. “Well, I, um . . . just wanted to say hi.”
“Glad you did.”
“Have a good night, Emmett.”
I opened my mouth, about to offer to buy her a drink, but clamped my mouth shut before the words could tumble out. And I let her turn away and retreat to the table with her friends.
If I bought Tera a drink, I’d feel like a complete bastard for leading her on. I couldn’t—wouldn’t—go there with her. Not when a pair of dark eyes haunted my every thought.
Even in the crush of the bar tonight, I could smell Nova’s exquisite scent. I could hear her musical laugh and the way she moaned as she came around my cock.
For Nova, I’d consider the future. A wife. Kids.
If only she wanted that too. But she didn’t. She wanted to use nicknames and keep her distance. The sooner I got my head wrapped around that, the better.
I gotta get out of here.
I put my pool stick away and waved goodbye to the guys I’d been playing with. Then I turned, ready to head for the door, and my eyes landed on a beautiful face.
I froze.
Nova sat at the bar, wedged in between two men who were facing the bar itself. But Nova was turned to the room. Her long legs were crossed. She had a martini in one hand. She raised it to her lips, taking a slow sip. Her eyes never breaking from mine.
How had I missed her coming in?
I changed direction, strode over and stopped one foot away. I stood there, not saying a word. What was there to say?
“Hi, Ace.”
“Emmett.”
“Emmett,” she repeated.
“Why is it so hard for you to use my name?” My voice was barely audible above the noise, but she heard me because her eyes widened.
She reached behind her and set the martini aside, then stood and moved in close. “Because no good will come of me getting attached to you.”
“Too late.”
Her mouth parted on a gasp I couldn’t hear.
I leaned in closer, bending so that my nose was barely touching hers. “Too fucking late.”
She stared at me, her eyes searching, but I’d hit my mark. She was as attached to me as I was to her.
“Why’d you come here?”
“Because you weren’t at home.”
That pain in my chest, the one I’d been fighting all day, vanished. Poof. Gone. She’d come to find me and the relief was overpowering. My shoulders sagged. God, I was tired. Pretending not to care was exhausting. “What do you want from me, Nova?”
Her face fell, the same exhaustion I felt etched on her beautiful features. “The truth.”
“When have I lied to you?”
“You haven’t.” She put her hand to my cheek, her nails sinking into my beard. Then her lips were on mine and the world melted away.
There was no music. No crowd. No drinks being served or drunk patrons laughing. It was just us, her tongue seeping against mine as I devoured her mouth, not caring about anything else.
This was all we’d have. Something in my mind clicked and the realization crept into my bones. This was all we’d have for one more month.
One more month.
Then I’d have to let her go.