Chapter 40 Bailey
BAILEY
“Come on!” Cheyenne pleaded. “I can’t sit around this apartment for another night. I need to get out and be around the people!”
“You’re around the people every day when you’re at the bank.”
“You know what I’m saying.” Cheyenne flopped dramatically on the couch beside me, groaning as if she were dying. “Please, please, please, don’t make me beg.”
“You already are.”
“I know, and I’ll beg all night until you relent. This is important, Bailey. I’m withering away into an old woman. Last night, Krista asked if I wanted to go to the bar with her, and I told her no because I was already in my pajamas!”
“That’s a valid reason,” I pointed out, then motioned to my own pajamas, which had been my solace over the past few weeks.
“It was five o’clock!” she shouted, making me wince.
Okay, maybe I was turning her into an old lady, but it couldn’t be helped. I was in no mood to go out.
“Why don’t you call Archer and see if he’ll meet you at the bar?”
“Because he doesn’t like me. Not like that, and I need someone to have fun with. If I call him, I’ll just try to get in his pants all night.”
“And that’s a bad thing?”
“Yes, because he’ll turn me down, and then I’ll get depressed and drunk, and it’ll all be your fault.”
“Well, that’s really a shame, but I can’t. I have things to do.”
“Like what?”
“Laundry,” I answered immediately.
“You did your laundry every night this week. I’m surprised we have any detergent left.”
“And I have to clean my bathroom. It’s absolutely disgusting.”
“That was your excuse last weekend. It couldn’t have gotten that dirty in a week.”
Huffing in irritation, I quickly ran through the rolodex of excuses in my head. “I have my period.”
“And?”
“And I’m crabby!”
“Good, then you’ll make all the hot men gravitate toward me.”
“Cheyenne—”
“No,” she cried out, jumping to her feet. “We are not sitting around here for another weekend while you feel sorry for yourself. If you don’t want Liam, that’s fine, but you won’t hide away forever.”
“What does this have to do with Liam?”
“Everything! You’re hiding from him and everyone else. What you need is to get out and live again.”
“What I need is a night inside.”
“Ugh, you are not going to sit here and mope.” Grabbing me by the hand, she tugged me to my feet. “I won’t allow it. I’m so sick of seeing you in your pajamas.”
“Well, too bad! If I want to wear pajamas all day, I will. If I want to get fat eating popcorn and candy, I’ll do that, too!”
“Not on my watch,” she snapped, dragging me into my bedroom.
Anger surged through me as I tried and failed to tug my hand from her grip. “Cheyenne! Knock it off! I’m not going out!”
“Yes, you are! I will knock you out and drag you along behind me if I have to!”
“You…will…not!” I said as I struggled to get away from her.
When it didn’t work, I kicked my foot up, bracing against the doorframe, refusing to let her drag me another foot.
“I’m just as stubborn as you!” she shouted, putting her own foot on the inside of the doorframe.
We both tugged on one another, each of us refusing to give in. Indian burns skated up my wrist as we both continued on with an iron will. I let out a bloodcurdling scream, hoping that would make her stop.
She finally released me at the same time I yanked one last time. I went flying backward, my feet stumbling over each other until I was on my back with my legs in the air. Cheyenne let out a yelp as she fell against my closet door and then broke it off the hinges.
Screaming, she quickly covered her head just before it collapsed on top of her.
I untwisted my body, groaning as I rolled over and rubbed my back where it connected with the floor. Cheyenne wasn’t in much better shape.
Shoving the door away from her, I gasped when I saw a red mark on her nose and the tears in her eyes.
“Ow,” she cried, holding her face.
I tried to look upset on her behalf, but the second I did, my face twisted into something ugly and laughter bubbled up in my chest. An unladylike snort filled the silence as she glared hard at me.
“What are you laughing at?”
“Nothing.” I pinched my lips together, but there was nothing for it. She’d been beaten up by a door.
Scrambling to my feet, I cried out as my back twinged. I hobbled over to her, acting like a woman three times my age as I held out my hand to help her to her feet.
“You’re evil,” she hissed. “I was only trying to help you!”
“I know—”
“I’ve been watching you drown for weeks, and the one time I insist on helping you, this is what I get for it!” she motioned to her nose.
“Cheyenne—”
“You’re mean!” She jabbed a finger in my direction, then broke out in tears when the pain in her face became too much. “I was only trying to help you.”
“I know. I’m horrible. A terrible friend.”
“You are,” she cried, her words barely audible.
“And I never should have refused to go out. You were only trying to help.”
She nodded, her sobs growing louder. “Do I look horrible?”
Her nose was already swelling quite a bit, but telling her that wouldn’t help matters.
“Not at all. You’re still as beautiful as ever.”
“You know, I don’t need you,” she cried. “I can hang out on my own anytime I want.”
“I know,” I said, trying my best not to laugh.
“All I wanted was to get you out of your funk and have a good time. Why couldn’t you just give me that?”
Sighing, I slumped down beside her. “Because I’m depressed, and I’d rather continue being the lonely recluse than go out in public and hear all the horrible things everyone’s going to say to me.”
“You don’t know that they would.”
I rolled my eyes at that. “Please. As soon as I walk in the door, they’ll be whispering about me and wondering what’s wrong with me that Liam left me.”
“They do that already since you’ve become a hermit.”
She bumped my arm playfully, laughing for only a second before groaning and covering her nose.
“Come on. Let’s get dressed and go make a fool of me.”
Twenty minutes later, I hobbled into The Beaver and Boot with my bruised sidekick at my side. As expected, everyone turned and stared, but not for the reasons I thought.
Lizzy ran over, her eyes wide as she studied us. “What the hell happened to you two?”
“A gigantic raccoon attacked us on the way over,” I supplied, wondering if she would believe it.
“Big Fat Rat? Yeah, he’s mean when he doesn’t get fed. Come on. I’ll get you a table.”
And just like that, everyone went back to their drinks and left us alone.
We took a seat in the back, ordering drinks immediately. My nerves were on edge the longer we sat at the bar, but I did my best not to imagine what everyone was saying about me.
It was easier to bury my head in an engine and pretend no one else existed. Out here, I had to face reality. Life would go on. Liam would not be part of my world, and most importantly, I had to find a way to make myself happy without him.
“Come on,” Cheyenne said, slapping the table. “I want to dance.”
“I might break a hip if I try to dance. I seriously bruised my back.”
She shoved back from the table, pulling off her sweater in the process. “Come on. If I can dance out there with my nose twice the size of Japan, then you can hobble along beside me.”
I couldn’t deny her anything right now. Not after I’d spent the last six weeks dragging her down with me.
“Fine. One dance.”
Squealing, she grabbed me by the hand and dragged me to the dance floor. The more I moved, the more my body loosened up, but I was still hunched over. The two of us looked absolutely ridiculous. Together, we made the Hunchback of Notre Dame look somewhat decent.
But I had to admit, it felt good to be out here dancing again, just enjoying the night without thinking about how sad and pathetic I was.
“See? You’re having fun!” she shouted over the music.
I was. I even joined in when the whole bar started line dancing to Any Man Of Mine. No one asked me about Liam or how I was doing.
“Can I have this dance?”
I spun around, a smile plastered on my face, but not necessarily from the dancing. Cheyenne had been plying me with drinks the whole night.
Archer’s sexy grin immediately put me at ease. Now that I knew he was only looking out for me and wasn’t trying to get in my pants, I didn’t mind dancing with him.
Slipping my hand in his, he tugged me closer until I was flush against him. “I haven’t seen you around much.”
“I was working,” I retorted as he spun me out, then tugged me back to him.
“In the garage? At night?”
“Nope. I found a new job as a hermit.”
He nodded, his eyes scanning the bar before returning to mine. “Glad you took the night off.”
“Why? Were you desperate to see me?” I teased.
“There were no damsels to give a ride home.”
“I’m sure you could have found someone. So, are you back for good?”
“Haven’t decided yet.”
Ever the conversationalist, he pretty much shut me down, but I wasn’t giving up so easily. Under that casual demeanor, I saw something harder. Dangerous. He hid it well, but I had a feeling that was only for the people in town.
“You could always open your own bodyguard agency,” I teased. “You’d be leaving broken hearts all over town.”
His eyes slid to mine, but there was no laughter in his eyes. Something unspoken and tortured swam in his eyes as he came to a standstill. We were the only two on the dance floor not moving, but he seemed to be frozen, unable to snap out of whatever had a hold on him.
“Can I cut in?”
I was so distracted trying to figure out what secrets Archer was hiding that I hadn’t heard him approach.
His presence was overwhelming. The familiar masculine scent was so intoxicating that I didn’t immediately step away. I had missed him so much, and now here he was. I hadn’t seen Liam since the day he showed up at my apartment, pleading with me to give him a second chance.
I was frozen as Archer released me and stepped aside for Liam. And the moment he slid his arm around my waist and tugged me closer, I melted into him, finally breathing for the first time in six weeks.