Chapter 23
“You know what? I do want to dance.”
I clenched my fist, resisting the urge to punch the asshole. I swear to God, if his hands dip any lower…I clenched my beer in my hand so hard I was seconds away from smashing the glass.
On the dance floor, Phoebe swayed with Prescott. What a pretentious name. Beside her, Alex twirled with Erik, ignoring her boyfriend, the brother of the fucker with his hands on Phoebe, Preston. The music was some slow country ballad, and I was going to kick the DJ’s ass if he put on another.
After the week I’d had, the last thing I wanted to do was come out tonight. Mom had insisted and then I somehow found myself picking Olivia up. She finally decided I was shitty company and had moved to the other end of the table to sit with Mom, Helen, and Octavia.
I swear to fucking God…
One more inch and I was going to demolish the son of a bitch where he stood.
If it wasn’t for the fact Phoebe was here tonight, I would have stayed at home.
I needed to talk to her.
This week had been the single most fucked up week of my life, and she was at the center of it, even if she hadn’t known it. I cursed last weekend to hell and back.
Now, I was sitting at a table, watching Phoebe dance with the preppy asshole, and my only solace was this was my dad’s bar, and I could have all the liquor I wanted.
The knife in my gut was the way she gave Prescott the attention I wanted.
In fact, she’d barely acknowledged me all night, and it was starting to piss me off.
And no, I didn’t see the hypocrisy of the situation after the catastrophe last Sunday had been at the café, all right?
When the song ended and another slow tune began, I shoved away from the table. “I need another drink.” Heading to the bar, I ignored the questioning looks from everyone. Well, those who noticed, anyway. Most of them were well on their way to being drunk.
Slipping behind the bar, I nodded to Isaac and pulled a bottle of my dad’s good Irish whiskey out. After pouring a large glass, I was putting the bottle back when the blond demon sashayed up to the bar, swiping my glass.
“Do you mind?” I held my hand out.
“Not at all.” Alex winked, taking a large sip, then replacing the glass with a third of its contents missing.
Reaching for the glass, I found my hand restrained by her surprisingly strong one. Not in the mood for her shit, I snapped. “What’s your problem?”
“What’s yours?” She cocked her head, her eyes assessing.
“Right now? It’s that you aren’t leaving me the fuck alone.” Later, I’d feel bad for snapping at her. Right now, I just wanted to drink away the image of Phoebe in another man’s arms. Again.
“That’s it? You sure it’s not that you’ve been a total asshat to my best friend all week, and now someone else is playing with the toy you decided you didn’t want after opening the package?” Her tone, although light, didn’t quite match up with the simmering anger on her face.
“You have no fucking idea what you’re talking about,” I snarled lowly.
“Oh, so you didn’t ignore her all week after kissing her and touching things you had no business touching?
How did I miss that? Was that when she came by your job site and you said you couldn’t talk and would call her, but then didn’t?
Or when last week at the café you didn’t so much as greet her?
Or how about all those texts she sent you that you couldn’t be bothered to answer?
You want to tell me how that doesn’t add up to you treating her like shit? ”
When she put it like that…
Alex wasn’t done. “Or how about how you made a date, right in front of her, with your ex and then did all the ignoring, making her feel like she’s every kind of fool for what happened?
” The laughter that was usually so much a part of Alex was wiped off her face and replaced by a look of a pissed-off woman who was a second away from cutting my balls off.
“First,” I hissed, leaning over the counter, not wanting everyone to know my business. “That night is none of your business—”
“She’s my business, bitch. You better learn that right now,” Alex shot back.
“Second, I’m not having this conversation with you. Third, I’m not the one who was shacked up with another man all-fucking week.” I couldn’t keep the jealousy and fury out of my voice. “So back the hell off.”
Alex’s look suddenly turned pitying, which I did not appreciate. “You’re a total moron.”
Grabbing my wrist, she dragged me down the small hall behind the bar that went along the kitchen to my dad’s office.
I went along purely because I didn’t want to make a scene and disrespect the freedom Dad gave me here. And if there was one thing I’d learned about Satan’s protégé, it was she lived for making scenes.
As soon as the office door closed, she whirled on me, crossing her arms over her chest.
Exasperated, I snapped, “Spit it out, Alex, and let’s be done with this,” already over this.
Giving me a look like I was a naughty schoolboy, she pursed her lips.
“Let me be sure I have this straight. You come to my bestie’s house, make a move on her, which she reciprocates, I might add.
Then, the next day, you don’t call, you don’t text, and a whole twenty-four hours after that you have your old girlfriend cuddled up with you at the café, and everyone is plotting your party date with her, no doubt followed by your wedding.
And you’re pissed because the man who has been Phoebe’s friend since childhood, the man who used to keep asshole kids from bullying Phoebe, the man who is her son’s godfather, and his sister stayed with her for a week? Is that what I’m to understand?”
Opening my mouth, I snapped it shut, my brain zeroing in on the most important fact. “His sister was there?”
Rolling her eyes, she muttered, “Naturally, that’s what you focus on.
Yes, he-whose-hammer-has-more-brains-than-him.
Aaron and his sister were staying with Phoebe and Lock.
She wasn’t ‘shacking up’, not that she couldn’t given the fact I didn’t see you anywhere near being a decent fucking man where she was concerned and talking to her. ”
“Shit,” I cursed. He was there with his sister. He was her friend. Just her friend. I’d been acting like Phoebe was cheating on me when I was the asshole. “I’m such a dick.”
“Go on,” Alex bade regally.
A million ways I’d fucked up over the last week flashed in my head.
The times I went by Phoebe’s only to turn around when I saw the other car in her driveway.
The way she’d come to the job site, sandwiches in hand, and I’d told her I was too busy because I was seething that another man was in her home.
Every unanswered call and text had solidified the knowledge in my head that this other man was more than just a friend.
Even Lock chattering away about Aaron-this and Aaron-that at baseball had convinced me Phoebe and Aaron were more than just friends.
“I need to talk to her.” I started toward the door only to find my way blocked.
“Hold up there, bub.” Alex gestured between her and me. “We aren’t done.”
“Look, I get it. I fucked up. There are other things, and I still can’t explain how they happened, but it isn’t what you think.
I’ll explain to Phoebe.” And pray she forgives me.
Even with jealousy eating a hole in my gut, there hadn’t been a single night I hadn’t thought about her. Wanted her. Dreamed about her.
“We’re going to come to a little understanding.” Alex dared me with a look to try and get past her. “Now, explain yourself.”
As desperately as I wanted to leave and hunt Phoebe down, especially to make sure Prescott got his hands off her, I stayed put. Pissing off the woman you’re crazy about’s best friend was dangerous and stupid. And I’d been stupid enough for one week.
Crossing my arms over my chest to keep from picking her up bodily and moving her out of the way, I gritted out, “Fine. Let’s talk.”
“Good.” Alex turned calculating, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “Now, let’s start with you ignoring her all week. ’Cause you’re not going to mess with her head anymore if that’s the kind of shitty boy you are.”
My shoulders relaxed. At least I had a decent answer for this. “I didn’t ignore her.”
At her incredulous look, I pulled my phone out. Unlocking it, I tossed it to her.
“I didn’t. Saturday, okay, not calling her or texting her Saturday was stupid.
” I’d thought about it all day and cursed myself to hell and back.
It just hadn’t felt like…enough to send a text after what had happened.
“The storm that hit in the morning destroyed one of our job sites. I was bailing out water and dealing with collapsing roofs starting at four o’clock in the morning.
” I didn’t know what was up with Georgia and the storms lately, but I’d had enough.
“I didn’t finish until eleven that night, and by the time I did, I’d lost my phone.
I drove by her house, but the lights were off, and I’d forgotten Lock wasn’t there, or I’d have gone to the door… ”
Some of the deadly intent in her eyes mellowed. Some. “Continue,” she encouraged.
“The next day, I still couldn’t find my phone and had to go get a new one.
We still had some damage to clean up, so by the time I ended up at the café, I was exhausted.
Phoebe was just there”—looking so heartbreakingly beautiful I had to look away from her, or I wouldn’t have been able to stop myself from touching her—“I didn’t know how she’d want me to handle it, given my mom had warned her off. ”
“I’m not loving that.”
Neither was I. I’d been forced to sit with Phoebe across the table from me when I wanted her beside me, or better still, in my lap.