Chapter 5
Chapter Five
RORY
I’d been in a crappy mood since I woke up this morning, and seeing as it wasn’t even lunchtime yet, I didn’t have a good feeling for how the rest of the day would turn out.
Since walking away from Mike the night before, an irrational anger had been festering in my blood.
I was angry at Lincoln for mentioning Cord in front of my date.
I was angry at Cord for invading my head the entire time I was with Mike.
But mostly, I was angry at myself for not being able to move on from a man who’d hurt me over and over.
And since my crappy mood had already infested every part of me, it had started bleeding out into how I was acting toward everyone else.
I was currently behind the bar at the Tap Room, restocking the beer fridge while Mona and Dan gave me a very wide birth, choosing to wipe down tables and set up chairs instead of being back here with me.
Hell, Mona had even gone as far as offering to wrap the silverware—a task none of us liked—as long as it kept her several feet away from me and my shitty disposition.
Honestly, I couldn’t blame them for their avoidance. I’d only been at the bar for thirty minutes, yet I’d already snapped at them more than once for no good reason whatsoever.
I squatted in front of the fridge, reshuffling the beers to place the coldest at the front, when I heard the door open and Mona’s sweet voice say, “Mornin’, Eden.”
Slamming the door to the fridge, I pushed up and turned to look at my friend with a scowl as I crossed my arms over my chest.
She returned Mona’s greeting, then gave one to Dan before coming to a stop across the bar from me with an apologetic look on her face.
“Peace offering,” she said, holding up a coffee cup with Muffin Top’s logo on the front in her left hand. “I got you a vanilla latte with an extra shot as a way to say I’m sorry for what went down last night.”
I wasn’t quite ready to put her out of her misery yet, but I had to admit, hitting up Muffin Top on the way here was a smart move. “You mean for how your fiancé crashed my date, then inappropriately brought up Cord in front of him?”
“Yep, that would be it.” She wiggled the cup and her eyebrows at the same time. “So what do you say? You forgive me?”
We both knew I was incapable of staying mad at her.
Eden Brenner was just too damn sweet. With a fake defeated sigh, I reached over the bar and took the cup, slugging back a hit of that sweet caffeinated goodness.
“Fine. You’re forgiven.” I pointed to the white paper bag in her other hand. “And what do you have there?”
She plunked the bag on the counter and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth nervously before answering, “That’s an apology apple fritter.”
The coffee cup stopped halfway to my mouth at her ominous declaration. “What exactly are you apologizing for with that?” She twisted her fingers together in front of her and began shifting from foot to foot. “Eden,” I said in warning when she didn’t answer.
“Fine. It’s an apology for the fact that Linc told Cord about your date this morning, and last I saw him, the man looked ready to breathe fire. So I’m apologizing in advance, because I’m pretty sure he’s on his way over here right now.”
“Are you kidding me?” I cried, slamming the coffee down on the bar.
“Wish I was,” she said with a contrite wince. “But you know how those guys are.”
“Jeez, those men. They gossip worse than a bunch of little old ladies.”
A snort burst out of Eden’s mouth as she tried to temper her laughter.
She knew all too well how gossipy that particular group of men was.
She and Lincoln had hit a bit of turbulence when they were first starting off.
The result of that was for her to freeze him out, something Linc hadn’t been too keen on.
And the men he employed at Alpha Omega Investigations were all too happy to help shove her back into his arms.
Before I could say a word or make a run for it, the door was thrown open and Cord stomped in like a raging bull.
Mona looked from Cord to me with wide eyes as she stood from the table where she’d been rolling silverware into napkins. “I’ll just, uh… go take inventory of the stockroom.” Then she bolted from the front of the bar.
Dan was no help either, fighting back a grin as he mumbled, “I should probably go help her,” before taking off as well.
Cowards.
“I think that’s my cue to leave,” Eden muttered as she started backing away from me.
I pinned her in place with a glare. “This isn’t over,” I admonished.
The woman actually had the nerve to giggle before saying, “I’m pretty sure I’ll be back in your good graces just as soon as you finish that fritter.”
Damn her for knowing me and my weakness for pastries so well.
She all but skipped toward the door, pausing where Cord was standing with his feet planted and arms crossed to lift up on her toes and smack a kiss on his cheek. “Later, Cord.”
“Later, sweetheart,” he muttered, keeping his murderous gaze on me.
Eden disappeared out of the bar, leaving Cord and me all alone. Suddenly the spacious room felt way too small.
He started moving, each furious clomp of his motorcycle boots bringing him closer to me until only the length of the bar separated us.
Ignoring the menacing electricity shooting off Cord and crackling through the air, I planted my hands on my hips and informed him, “The bar opens in fifteen minutes, so I don’t have time for whatever this is.”
That was the wrong thing to say. The rage radiating from him grew so heavy that I felt it pressing on my chest, making it hard to breathe. “Then I suggest you make time, ’cause we’re havin’ this out right fucking now.”
Desperate to give my hands something to do, I bent down to the trash can to tie up the partially full bag. “There’s nothing to have out,” I returned, yanking the bag from the can. “You said everything you had to say the other night. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m kind of busy.”
I turned on the heels of my killer brown cowgirl boots with turquoise threading and stomped toward the door to the back alley where the dumpsters were.
“Did you kiss him?” Cord asked, trailing behind me as I shoved through the metal door.
“You have no right to ask me that,” I spat, spinning around to shove my finger into his chest. “It’s none of your damn business.”
His eyes flared before growing dark as he glared at me. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
The trash bag swung wide as I threw my arms out in frustration. “And so what if I did, huh? Last I checked, I’m a single woman. I’m allowed to go on dates and kiss a man if I feel like it. And you’ve got no right to be pissed about that.”
Whipping back around, I stomped toward the dumpster, noticing that several bags had been pulled out and torn open, scattering garbage all along the concrete.
“Damn it,” I clipped, swinging the bag with more force than was necessary into the dumpster.
“What is it?” Cord asked, coming up close behind me.
“Damn animals are getting in the garbage again.” I bent and started gathering up the mess. “That’s the third time in the past two weeks.”
Without me asking, he crouched down beside me and helped clean up the last of the trash as he continued to press. “Rory, you can’t keep pushing me away. We need to talk about us.”
I threw the last torn bag back into the dumpster, then brushed my hands on my jeans as I slowly turned back to face him, pulling in a deep inhale to calm my frayed nerves.
“Cord, I need you to listen to me,” I pleaded.
“There is no us, all right? There never has been. We were friends once, but that was it. And you’re the one who saw to destroying that. ”
I tried to step around him, but he moved in front of me, cutting me off.
“And that’s what I’ve been trying to explain to you all this time.
It was a shit thing to do, pushing you away because Laurie was insecure about our relationship.
But I had my reasons for the decisions I made.
I’m not trying to excuse it, but if you’d hear me out, then maybe you’d understand. I wasn’t trying to hurt you.”
I’d been avoiding this conversation for months now, scared that his explanation would only pour salt on the wounds he’d inflicted.
But as we stood in that alley, staring at each other, I made the decision to finally hear him out.
I was certain it wouldn’t make a difference, but maybe if I let him get out what he so desperately wanted to say, we’d both be able to move on.
“Fine,” I said, hugging my arms around my middle as I braced for what was to come. “You want me to hear you out, then I will. Explain to me what was so special about her that you threw my friendship away like it was garbage. Please, I’m all ears.”
Ignoring my sarcasm, he dove right in, and nothing could have prepared me for what he had to say.
“I was put in the foster system when I was seven years old. I don’t have a lot of memories from those first seven years, but what I do remember isn’t good.
I had shitty parents who didn’t give a damn that they had a small kid who needed to be taken care of.
My dad was always in and out of prison, and because he was a repeat offender, his last arrest earned him eighteen years. ”
My entire body locked tight at that admission, but I didn’t dare utter a single word as he continued.
“My mom wasn’t any better, believe me. She got pregnant with me by accident.
I was a product of what happens when two people are high out of their minds and forget to use a condom.
When my old man was sent down for that long stretch, she decided she’d had enough.
My last memory of her is watching as she drove away after pulling up in front of a fire station and telling me to get out of the car. ”
“Oh god. Cord.”