Chapter 25 - Callum #2
“Dang it, now that’s mine. Seems we’re destined to be interrupted today.” Z pulled out her phone, making an annoyed huff when she saw the message. “My mother wrote. She actually apologized and asked if I would come for dinner tonight.”
My heart sank a little because dinner with her parents wasn’t the evening I’d had in mind. “Happy to come along for moral support.”
“No, I can’t subject you to that again.” She rubbed her face and groaned. “I’ll go. If I refuse, then I’m the bad guy who won’t forgive. And who knows, maybe things will start being different.” She gave me a weak smile.
“Hope so.” I really hoped so, for her sake.
“Sorry to bail on you for dinner.”
“Another time. Let me know when you’re ready, and I’ll take you home so you can get your car.” Home. Meaning my place. Would she want to keep living with me and the guys after Manny made his decision?
Was I overthinking this? Probably, and it wasn’t like me.
The sun was setting as we pulled up to the house. She didn’t bother going inside, just jumping out of my truck. I got out too and walked her to her car.
“Can you feed Chloe for me?”
“Sure. Coco and I have an exciting evening ahead of us. Nail painting, hiding under the couch…”
Z smiled, going onto her toes to give me a soft kiss. Right here on the street where anyone could see. “Save some energy for me? For when I’m home later?”
“I’m planning on it.”
As she drove down the street, I stood on the sidewalk, my gaze not leaving her taillights. Felt like my heart was leaving with her.
I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, but if Zandra drove away from me for good, I wasn’t going to be okay with it. “So do something about it, O’Neal,” I murmured to myself, wiping a hand down my face.
Then I heard a scoff.
My eyes zeroed in on the figure hiding between an SUV and a lifted truck. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I grated out. “In front of my house?”
Tommy Pickering stepped more into view, glancing up and down the quiet street. “You own the road? Looks like public property to me. Anybody could walk by and see you pining away for your boss’s granddaughter.”
Rage flared in my veins, but I kept it down. “Have you been watching Zandra? Leaving notes?”
“I might’ve seen her when she was staying at the Pine Cone motel. Wasn’t that a surprise? Little Zandra, all grown up.”
Rage made my vision blur. “You’ve been following her.”
“No. But if I was, could you blame me? She’s an even sweeter piece of ass than back in high school.”
Surging forward, I slammed him against the side of the lifted truck, barring my forearm against his throat. “Did you harass her back then too?”
Tommy’s mouth cracked with a knowing smile. His breath smelled like stale garlic and tequila. “Not me. I wasn’t the one with a pathetic little crush on her. The only girl at school you couldn’t have.”
“Bullshit. You had your sleazy eye on her.”
“Maybe. The bonfire party would’ve been the perfect chance for me to pop that cherry. You cockblocked me ’cause you worried I’d have her first.”
It took all my training and self control not to throttle him where he stood. “So that’s why you lied to Zandra about me after Jessa died? You told her I’d spread rumors about her.”
“That was me cockblocking you back. I didn’t want her drama after Jessa dying and all that shit, but I told her you were to blame for the rumors flying. Just in case you decided to come around trying to comfort her. Seemed like something you’d do.”
“Were you harassing her back then? Leaving notes and breaking her car window? Trying to make her life miserable?”
His smirk made my fury rise even more. “Nah, man. She made her life miserable by herself. Snapped at anyone who tried to get close.”
“Because she was in pain.”
“But why the fuck should I care about any of that?”
“Because you’re supposed to be a decent human being.” I pressed my forearm against his throat. “A woman like Zandra is worth a million of a bottom feeder like you.”
Tommy’s face turned bright pink. When he shoved at me, I let up, and he started coughing and spitting onto the concrete.
“And you think she’d ever wind up with you?
You’re nothing, O’Neal. You’re a bartender.
Just a weak little bitch whose mommy died and whose father didn’t give a shit about him.
You’ve spent your whole sad life trying to make people love you. You think Zandra doesn’t see that?”
My vision clouded. If I didn’t get him out of here, I was going to do something I’d regret.
There’d be bloodstains on the concrete for me to explain to Zandra when she got home.
All around unpleasant. “You’re banned from Hearthstone.
Find a new bar. Better yet, stop drinking and go to therapy so you can be a decent husband and father to your family. ”
“I don’t need your crap beer anyway.”
“Stay the hell away from Zandra.”
“My pleasure. But you just better watch out for who else is hanging around her.” He backed up, still smirking, then got into a car and drove away.
Maybe I should’ve stopped him, considering the scent of alcohol on his breath. But I didn’t. I just wanted him gone. Before I did something myself to make that happen.