Chapter 16
BECK
I wanted to go after her.
Truth was, Mae was an adult. If she chose to tend to Mathieu’s swollen face, or worse, listen to whatever bullshit he was slinging at her, that was her prerogative. Whether I liked it or not, my place wasn’t chasing after her.
It was here, making amends.
“Apologies for what you just witnessed,” I said, loud enough for everyone in O’Malley’s to hear. “It won’t happen again. Drinks on me.”
Some went back to what they were doing before the show.
Most cheered. One of my regulars said, “He must have deserved it.” Their reactions didn’t matter though.
Owning up to my actions did. Heading behind the bar, now that we were devoid of a tender, I poured myself a shot and downed it.
Chatting with my mechanic who was just happy for the free drink, I couldn’t say I was entirely surprised when Parker strolled in.
Cedar Falls. You couldn’t take a piss without someone getting sprayed.
“That didn’t take long.” I slid Parker a beer.
“I was already in town. What the hell happened?”
I shrugged. “That French fuck who cheated on Mae walked in here like he owned the place.”
Parker waited.
“One punch,” Lou called from the other side of the bar, proof no conversation was private in here. “Guy was on the ground. Boy has an iron fist.”
Parker lifted his glass as if to thank Lou for his version of events.
“Did he say anything?”
“I dunno. Muttered something in French. Mae didn’t give him much of a chance to respond before she dragged him out of here. But not before she screamed at me, ran around the bar and knelt down to assess the damage.”
The sight of her expressing even an ounce of concern with the guy who’d ruined her life wasn’t one I wanted to dwell on.
“Two Coors Light drafts, one Tito’s soda—light ice—and a Jack and Coke,” Jenn rattled off at the wait station, already scanning the floor for her next table before flicking her attention back to me. “On the house,” she added, teasingly.
While I made the drinks, I caught Parker’s curious look.
“An apology to the thirsty folks of O’Malley’s.”
“Better be careful, Beck, or word’s going to get out you’re actually a stand-up guy.”
“Watch it,” I warned him. “I have a reputation to uphold.”
“Speaking of which, Mace and I noticed your dry spell.”
That was my cue to check on the other side of the bar.
“All good down here?” I asked Lou and the two solo flyers perched at the rail.
Unfortunately, they were all topped off. Reluctantly making my way back to Parker, I tried to strike up a conversation about his fishing trip, something he usually couldn’t resist talking about. Until today.
“Tryin’ to change the subject. Not suspicious at all. I’m sure your dry spell and Mae’s arrival in town, not to mention you clocking her ex-fiancé, isn’t at all coincidental.”
“Glad we’re on the same page. So, about those trout…”
“Sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
What was there to talk about? I had it bad for Mae. She saw me as a friend and always would. End of story.
“Nothing to talk about.”
“Fine.” He gave up. “And the bar?”
A somewhat safer subject.
“I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about some of the changes I’d make as the owner. Has one thing going for it. Doesn’t reek of money or bullshit.”
Parker laughed. “No one would confuse you and the other Mr. Claymont, even if you owned this place and weren’t just a staple behind the bar.”
“Don’t give a shit about that,” I said, flipping a clean rocks glass into my palm and dropping in a cube like muscle memory. I grabbed the bottle of Booker’s from the shelf behind me. “Let them think what they want. I know where I belong.”
“Not even a little?” he challenged.
Digging in would be lying, something I wouldn’t do to Parker, even if I was willing to lie to myself.
“Maybe a little. Now tell me about the trout.”
As I expected him to do earlier, Parker regaled me with every detail.
While he talked, I snuck in a text to Mae.
All ok?
No response.
While Parker waited for takeout that he was bringing back for Delaney, I tried not to think about what Mae was doing.
What her ex was saying. What she thought about me, at the moment.
Was she pissed? Most likely. Probably should have thought it through first, but honestly…
I wasn’t sorry. He deserved it for hurting Mae.
Parker was on his phone, likely texting Delaney.
You know what? Fuck it.
“The rule was warranted,” I blurted.
Parker immediately put down his phone and looked at me.
“No shit, Sherlock.”
“Having her home is a double-edged sword,” I admitted. “In some ways, it was easier when she was across the Atlantic. And engaged.”
“Tell that to past Beck.”
I laughed, remembering the night I found out about her engagement. I hadn’t taken it well. Dating was one thing. But an engagement, and then subsequent announcement she was taking a job in France? That was an entirely different animal altogether.
Running both hands through my hair, I squeezed my head. Hoping to stimulate some sort of sense out of the whole thing. My brain just wouldn’t function properly anymore.
“She’s killing me, man.” Jenn brought his takeout over. “Nachos won’t travel well cold. Forget I said anything.”
Parker grabbed his takeout, thanked Jenn and hopped off his stool. “No can do. Off to the house and will be back with reinforcements. Calling an emergency meeting.”
Ah, Christ. Parker was all smiles, but it was too late now. I’d shot my big mouth off and, an hour later, wasn’t at all surprised to have both Parker and Mason sitting at my bar.
“I know we’d typically call Cole, but this meeting could do without him,” Parker said as I served them both.
I agreed. Cole’s advice would be as unsympathetic and uncomplicated as my dating life was before Mae came back home.
“What do you got?” Mason asked.
“It’s bad,” I warned him.
“Worse than having the hots for your new employee? And being the first to break our pact?” he asked.
Fair point.
“I checked my phone at least five times since Parker left to see if Mae texted me back after I clocked her ex a minute after he walked into the bar.”
“Ooo,” Parker grimaced. “That’s bad.”
“Agreed,” Mason said. “You have a few hundred dollars to spare for the pot?” Mason laughed at his own joke.
“I will if I buy the bar.”
“Or take the trust fund you’re sitting on,” Parker tossed.
“Not a fucking chance. There are more strings attached to that goddamned thing than a puppet show, and I’m nobody’s entertainment.”
“So give it a go.”
Mason really was so black and white that he thought it was good advice.
“Give it a go?”
“Yeah, give it a go. You took a pact. We broke it. You can too.”
Was he serious? I looked at Parker, asking the silent question, but he just shrugged his shoulders.
“You honestly think the only thing standing in my way is a pact I took with you dickheads almost ten years ago?”
He shrugged, took a swig of his drink and apparently had nothing else to say.
“Alright.” Parker sat up straighter, as if getting serious. “What is standing in your way of telling Mae how you feel?”
Dear lord, give me strength. I would have been better off getting advice from Jules or her Maine friend. Or my little sister. Maybe should have hit up my mechanic before he left.
“We’re listening,” Mason said, unhelpfully.
“Let’s start with the fact that Mae and I are friends, and that’s all she sees me as.”
“How do you know?”
“I know.”
Parker’s hand circled the back of his neck, the way he did when something didn’t sit right. “What else?”
“Besides not having Mae’s will or consent to date her?” I quipped.
“Yeah, besides that.” Mason was in investigative mode now. You could take the cop out of the city, but you couldn’t take the badge out of the man.
“I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”
“Duly noted,” Parker said. “What else?”
I leaned back, letting my eyes rest on the bottles behind the bar like they might offer an answer.
“She’s been through enough. The last thing she needs is some guy screwing up her peace just because he’s catching feelings and doesn’t know what to do with them.”
Mason raised a brow. “Sounds like her choice, not yours.”
“Maybe. But I know myself.” I paused. “And I know how this ends if I go in half-assed or still figuring shit out. She deserves better than a guy who’s still crawling out from under his family’s shadow.”
Parker let out a low whistle. “That’s poetic. Stupid, since you nearly lost her once waiting for the stars to align. But poetic.”
I cracked a grin. “Thanks.”
“You want my advice?” Mason asked.
“Do I have a choice?”
Parker made a low sound in his throat, almost a chuckle but not quite.
“I almost lost Pia trying to figure shit out. Don’t make the same mistake. Is it a risk, you guys being such good friends? Sure. But what’s the alternative, especially if Mae stays in Cedar Falls? Being miserable and punching out every guy she meets?”
Parker picked up what Mason dropped. “You said she sees you as a friend and always has? Could that have anything to do with you chasing every girl but her? Who the hell wants to date the guy who’s always chasing tail?”
“What Parker’s trying to say is… grow the fuck up, get your shit together and show Mae there’s more to you than some smooth lines and a halfway decent pour.”
Wincing inside at his words, I couldn’t refute them. “Halfway decent pour, my ass.”
“Not to mention,” Parker added, “sounds to me like you already made your choice. You’re just scared she won’t make the same one. Which I get more than most. Learn from our”—Parker waved a hand between him and Mason—“mistakes.”
“The pact—” I started.
“Was nothing more than four guys who had shitty examples of what being married looked like. Is it a fifty-fifty chance? Maybe,” Parker admitted. “But don’t throw the whole damn thing out just because your old man couldn’t keep it in his pants.”
Coming from Parker, it wasn’t a dig. His parents split because of his own father’s infidelity, and we’d had more than one conversation through the years about it.
I nearly jumped out of my jeans when my phone buzzed.
“Mae,” I said, hoping I was right.
I took out my phone, pulse racing at her signature pink icon.
I’m fine. Can you cover tomorrow? I’ll text you about Sat. morning to be sure we have everything ready.
“What is it?” Parker asked.
I read them her text.
“Think she’s taking off because he’s still in town?” Mason asked.
“Why else?”
Neither of the guys said any more. What was there to say?
Our entire discussion was a moot point if Mae was taking him back.
My stomach turned at the thought. I grabbed a rag and went to work.
Didn’t really matter anyway. I appreciated the guys’ advice, and their perspective having a rocky road with Pia and Delaney to get to this point, but the thought of spilling the beans to Mae…
nah. I just wasn’t ready to jeopardize our friendship anyway.
Please don’t listen to his bullshit, Mae.
The next twenty-four hours, until I could see her Saturday, were going to feel like the longest of my life.