19. Chapter 19
Chapter nineteen
Parker
Laiken is drunk.
I’ve never seen her drunk. Not once. She giggles as Micky fucking Mack twirls her around the dance floor. She isn’t exactly twirling. She’s stumbling, and he’s clearly misreading her drunkenness for interest.
“Hey.” A feminine voice from my left has me turning to glance over my shoulder. “You’re Parker Stillwater, right?”
The blonde idles up next to me, her perfume entirely too strong and her eyes entirely too insinuating.
“Yeah.” I move my eyes back to the floor, my jaw clenching when Micky runs a hand across Laiken’s back.
A little too low for my liking.
Not that I have a claim or anything.
Not anymore.
Still pisses me off. So much I’ve completely tuned out the blonde, who still hasn’t taken the hint.
Laiken spins, her boots tangling together as she clumsily tumbles back and lands flat on her ass.
“Shit,” I hiss, leaving my spot to stride to the crowded dance floor.
Micky attempts to help her up, but I reach her first and scoop down to lift her up to her feet.
“Time to go, Firefly,” I mutter into her hair, the honey scent flooding me with memories.
Ones I only allow at specific intervals, so I’m unprepared for the hit.
Her body stiffens in my arms.
“I got her, Parker.” Micky attempts to snatch her from my arms, but I slip between them.
“She’s had enough to drink. You let her fall. She’s done and so are you.”
He stands taller, the challenging look in his eyes like he wants to argue. He doesn’t. Smart man.
“Everything all right over here?” Maddox steps up next to me, his gaze bouncing between us.
“Let me go,” Laiken snaps, her arm disappearing out of my grip.
“Laiken, you’re drunk,” I start.
“I am not.” She shoves past me. “And I’m not leaving wifftt you,” she slurs.
“Shit. You get her. I’ll grab Ivy.” Maddox slaps my shoulder before turning back to the table.
My gaze snags on Laiken’s red locks as she maneuvers through the packed bar.
“Laiken!” I shout, my stride eating up the space as I follow her.
She moves quickly before the door to the entrance flies open, and she dashes out into the pouring rain.
I follow with urgency, the rain pelting painfully against my face as I stride out into the parking lot. I glance right, then left, catching sight of her as she stomps across the gravel.
“Laiken!” I call again, breaking into a jog to catch up with her.
She doesn’t slow, but I manage to latch onto the crook of her elbow and tug her to a stop.
“Let me drive you home.”
She whirls around, her expression hitting me square in the chest. Those aren’t just rain droplets gliding along her skin. Those are tears. Her red-rimmed eyes shine with fury as she jerks away from me.
“No!” She shakes her head, red locks cascading water off her shoulders. “You don’t get to do this.”
“Do what?” I toss my hands up.
“Act like you care!” She cries. “You don’t get to show up and make me feel things. You don’t get to…” Her voice cracks.
My chest fractures as I take a solid step toward her. “Firefly, let’s get you out—”
“No.” She steps away.
“Please.” I soften my voice.
She pauses, her shoulders dropping. Defeat is written all over her body language. I thought I made it through. Broken down that wall.
“How could you do it?” she whispers painfully.
My throat threatens to close. I can barely breathe.
“I loved you.” Her lip trembles. “I loved you so much. We had dreams. Plans.”
Fuck. No bull could ever cause as much damage to me as the devastation on her face. But along with the guilt and self-loathing over my choices, she made a choice too.
She nearly takes me out at the knees when she speaks next.
“Then you left and gave them all to her.” A sob rips from her throat as she wipes water from her eyes.
“I didn’t…” I attempt, but my words fail.
There is so much to say. So many things I haven’t had a chance to tell her. So many things that weren’t as they seemed. And even though I know she doesn’t know the truth, I have my own heartache. My own pain that I’ve held onto.
“You left me,” she sobs again.
“And you had a baby with another man!” I roar.
The pain of knowing that truth is still as raw as the day I found out.
He should have been mine. Trace was supposed to be mine.
Her hands shoot out, shoving me against the chest. “Because you broke my fucking heart!” she screams before her tiny fists slam against my shirt.
She pounds them into my soaked chest, the rain never letting up. I stand there, allowing her to pour out her anger on me. Letting her feel whatever she needs to.
Her sobs are heavy, the kind that split you straight down the middle. The kind that crawl into your soul and stain it with pain.
“Laiken.” Dakota’s face appears in my blurred peripheral, then she slides between us, taking Laiken by the shoulders. “It’s okay. I got you, Red.”
Ivy is there next, a frown on her face as she encompasses Laiken from the other side.
Dakota meets my eyes. “We’ll take her with us.”
All I can do is nod and watch them guide the woman I’ve loved since I was eighteen years old across the parking lot.
Shame and regret light me up, and when I turn to walk back to the building, I have no choice but to stop in my tracks. Cooper and Maddox stand at the entrance, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
I open my mouth to speak, but before I can, Maddox takes a single step, then everything goes black.