Chapter 43
Brodie
Upon entering the bar, I was surprised to find it so crowded.
Wednesday nights weren’t usually busy, and there was nothing special happening.
It looked as if I had arrived just in time.
Derrick was behind the bar by himself, juggling beers and mixing drinks while Alison, one of the weeknight waitresses, called out another drink order.
I wasn’t in the mood to socialize, but thought maybe the busy work would help take my mind off of Gabrielle and her mother, so I grabbed an apron and put it on. “Why all the people?” I asked Derrick.
He shrugged, giving me a huge smile and proceeded to deliver the two drinks he carried in his hands to a couple of guys at the other end of the bar.
He came back toward me. “Why are you here? I thought you’d be home with Gabby.”
“Yeah. Me, too.” He gave me a bemused glance. “Trouble in paradise?”
“Might say that.” I didn’t want to go into detail about how awkward it had been meeting Gabrielle’s wealthy mother, or the fact that Gabrielle obviously didn’t want her to know we were in a relationship.
I busied myself filling some beers and mixing drinks.
I wondered how long Gabrielle’s mother would be there.
I felt foolish leaving my own house, and I wanted to go home.
I was tired after working all day and coming back, only to work twice as hard.
I’d been helping Derrick out for the past thirty minutes or so and the freaky rush was slowly dwindling down.
My phone buzzed. I took it out of my pocket and glanced at the display.
It was Gabrielle. I pushed the button sending it straight to voicemail.
I wasn’t ready to talk to her yet. I shoved the phone back into my pocket and waited on another guy.
As I placed a fresh drink down in front of another customer, my heart skipped a beat when I noticed Jeff’s face back in the corner.
He was sitting with a group of guys. Soccer pals, no doubt, since they were all dressed like they’d just come from practice.
He may be part of that team, and this was where they always came after practices and games, but he still wasn’t welcome here and he knew it.
I couldn’t let the harassing phone calls to Gabrielle go without at least calling the bastard out.
I threw down my bar rag and started to come out from behind the bar.
I wanted him gone. I had no sooner stepped out from behind the bar than the heavy doors opened and two cops strolled in and looked around, stopping me in my tracks.
They headed to the one and only empty table and ordered coffee.
So much for my wanting to pound the snot out of Jeff. It would have to wait for another time.
I wanted to let Gabrielle know that I had seen him, but then I remembered how she considered me to be such an embarrassment that she couldn’t even introduce me to her mother properly. I wanted to puke.
I headed toward the bar to grab my keys I’d placed under the counter.
I was done playing the dejected, run-out-of-the-house-with-my-tail-between-my-legs puppy dog.
I didn’t care what her mother thought of me.
I would claim my woman, and if her mother didn’t accept me, then…
shit. I stopped at the door. Gabrielle would support me, right?
But she hadn’t. Damn it. Come to think of it, I was still pissed off, and I didn’t want to talk to her.
My news about Jeff no longer important, I went back to work helping Derrick.
I probably stayed longer than I should have, but I wasn’t ready to go home yet.
“How about another?” I asked one of the guys sitting at the bar as he stared at his empty bottle.
He glanced up at me and nodded. I’d just pulled out a bottle of Bud Light to replace the empty one when my phone rang.
I placed the bottle on the counter and pulled my phone out of my pocket.
It was Gabrielle. I debated letting it go to voicemail again, but what the hell.
I wanted to hear what she had to say. “Hello?”
“Brodie?”
“Yeah.”
“Um… are you coming home soon?”
I laughed. Not because I thought the question was funny, but because I couldn’t believe that was all she had to say to me.
“Brodie?”
“What?”
“Please come home.”
“Is your mother gone?”
“Yes.”
I hung up the phone without saying goodbye. It was childish of me, but I didn’t trust myself to talk on the phone for fear of what I might say without seeing her face when I said it.
I said goodnight to Derrick, and he waved. “Good luck with paradise.”
The house was dark. Even the front porch light was off. It seemed strange to me, but I figured she’d decided to go to bed, and maybe she was upset about the unannounced visit from her mom.
As I went to turn the knob, I realized someone had left the door slightly ajar.
Maybe Gabrielle really had been upset about her mother’s visit and forgot to shut it all the way when she’d left.
I pushed the door open the rest of the way and walked in.
I flipped the switch on the wall since the room was pitch black, and what I saw when the light came on almost had me on my knees.
I was wracked with regret and guilt that I hadn’t come home when she’d called the first time, or fuck, even that I had left in the first place.
Gabrielle sat in one of the kitchen chairs, tape over her mouth and her hands tied behind her back.
The horror emanating from behind her eyes told me someone was behind me, but it was too late as something struck the back of my head.
Right before everything went black, I remembered noticing that Jeff had left the bar about thirty minutes before me, but at the time, I was too busy to think about it.