Chapter 51
Note to self:
Weaponizing cheesecake may be one of my greatest ideas yet.
“Everything hurts.” Melanie pulled down her sunglasses a tiny bit. “I feel like roadkill that was resuscitated and then run over again for fun.”
I felt a twinge of guilt. Had I kept refilling Melanie’s glass of beer every time she got up to play darts or pool? Yes, yes, I had. But if there had ever been a bride-to-be in history who needed to relax, it was her. My plan worked. Maybe a little too well. I had no idea Drunk Melanie knew all the words to “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”
And she liked singing it while dancing on tables.
Let’s just say some of us weren’t allowed back at that sports bar.
“Melanie, take those sunglasses off. You’re inside.” Sonya glared down the table at her daughter. They’d not been happy to hear of our escapades last night.
As if they knew the half of it. I hadn’t had anything to drink so when the police were almost called after Cal, Frankie, and Abe tried to play blind darts and narrowly missed nailing a guy in the head thereby resulting in a pissed-off guy who wanted to throw more than darts back at them (all of which my brothers found hilarious), it was me who got them out of trouble.
Yeah, we probably shouldn’t even walk by that bar ever again.
But as it was the day after, the consequences for all that fun were front and center. Melanie was not the only one wearing sunglasses inside.
Melanie’s father stood and tapped on a glass to get everyone’s attention. “My wife and I invited you all to this brunch to thank you for your friendship, for traveling many miles to come to the wedding, and for your love and support for Melanie and Calvin.”
Melanie pushed around the scrambled eggs on her plate. “I can’t eat this. My stomach feels like a washing machine stuck on the spin cycle.”
I patted her shoulder. She winced and pulled away.
“The tattoo?”
She shushed me. “Not too loud. I don’t want my mom to know.” She leaned closer. “Why did you let me get a tattoo?”
I smirked. “Because it took me almost an hour to talk you out of the eyebrow piercing.”
She rubbed her forehead. “Oh, good grief.”
“You were pretty set on it. Something about how eyebrow piercings were exotic.”
She’d argued for that piercing with the same passion most people reserved for politics, religion and pizza toppings. When trying to rationalize with her hadn’t worked, I’d finally resorted to showing her photos of what happened if that piercing were to get infected. She’d only let her disappointment get her down for about fourteen seconds before she’d moved on to her new passion: a tattoo.
Melanie groaned. “I’m never drinking again.”
“You never were good at holding your liquor,” Alec said from across the table.
Unfortunately, there was assigned seating at this gig. Theo and I were seated at different tables, while Alec and I were not. I was determined to not let him get under my skin, especially after yesterday. Strangely, I didn’t feel angry when I thought of him now. Just pity and sadness we’d wasted so much time on a relationship that wasn’t meant to be.
“Shut up, Alec,” Melanie muttered. “I don’t want a lecture right now.”
“I wasn’t going to lecture you. I was going to say I hoped you learned your lesson.”
“My head hurts too much to deal with you right now.” Melanie stood, grabbed her glass of water, and wandered over to Cal’s table. My brother’s smile when she came close was bright enough to light a stadium. He pulled her onto his lap, and she rested her head on his shoulder.
Maybe Melanie was right, and they were the whole reason Alec and I had ever dated, so Cal and Melanie could find each other.
“They’re a good couple, aren’t they?” Alec said.
He’d moved to the seat Melanie had vacated. Be an adult, Ramos.
“They are.”
He peered at me over the glass of the Bloody Mary he was nursing. “So, you and Theo?”
“Yup. Me and Theo.” My eyes found the man in question. Like he somehow knew, he turned his head and locked eyes with me, his slow smile warming me.
“I always figured he had feelings for you.” He snorted. “I know you had feelings for him.”
I turned to face him. “Excuse me?”
“It was always ‘Theo this’ and ‘Theo that.’ The guy could do no wrong.” His words slurred, and I wondered how many Bloody Marys he’d had.
“I was never unfaithful to you, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
He tossed back half his drink. “Don’t matter now anyway, does it?”
“Actually, I do think it matters. I am not that kind of person, and I don’t like you insinuating I am.”
He shrugged. “I guess I am.”
I froze. “Excuse me?”
“You wouldn’t move to Dallas.” He shrugged. “I was lonely.”
“You were lonely?”
“Yeah. So, I saw other women.”
“You saw other women?”
“Are you going to repeat everything I say?” He ran his fingers through his hair, his voice agitated.
“When you broke up with me, you said it was all my fault. That I—I wasn’t emotionally mature enough for you.” Tears welled up and I blinked to hold them back. He was not getting the pleasure of making me cry.
For a split second, guilt slid across his face and disappeared just as quickly.
“I’ve spent over a year picking myself apart, wondering how I could be a better person because of the things you said. Worried I was too selfish for someone to love me, and all this time, it was you spouting stuff, so you didn’t have to feel bad.” I slammed my hand down on the table hard enough to make the silverware rattle. “You ass.”
Half the room’s occupants were now looking at us with interest. I’d promised not to cause any problems. I really, really, really wanted to keep that promise. Keep it together, Ramos.
“Quiet down,” Alec said.
I leaned in and stage-whispered, “You are an ass. Better?”
“Is everything okay?” Theo rested a hand on my shoulder.
“Theo, my man, how’s it going?” Alec lifted his glass in an insincere toast.
“Ali, you okay?” he asked, ignoring Alec.
“I think I might need to leave early.” I glared at Alec. “For reasons.”
The smirkiest of smirks slid onto Alec’s face. “Speaking of leaving, when’s the big move?”
I blinked at the sudden change in topic. “Move? Who’s moving?”
“Talk to your man here.” Alec gestured toward Theo.
Theo’s jaw ticked. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“Oh, did I hear wrong? I thought you were telling Cal and Abe about a job you’re interviewing for in Chicago.” He took a swig of his drink only to find it was empty.
“What job? Chicago?” I asked, my voice rising with each word.
“Chicago is pretty far away from Two Harts,” Alec pointed out. “You couldn’t even bring yourself to move five hours away.”
“Do you have a job interview in Chicago?” I asked Theo.
Theo’s eyes slid shut. He took a deep breath and opened them. “Yes.”
“In Chicago. But…you said…and we’re…” I growled in frustration. Why couldn’t I get a coherent sentence out? And why did it feel like my chest was squeezing the breath out of my body?
“I need you to hear me out before you jump to the wrong conclusion. Please?”
I stood so quickly, my chair almost tipped. How had it gotten so hot in here? I needed air. And space. I needed to process all this.
“Oh, whoops.” Alec’s smirk morphed into a vicious grin. “Was I not supposed to tell anyone?”
“Shut up,” Theo ground out. “Ali, listen to me. It’s not what you think.”
“Everything okay?” Cal appeared at my side. “You have an audience.”
“This is so sad, really.” Alec stretched out his legs. The Alec I knew was much too concerned with appearances to let himself drink so much in public. A part of me knew he’d regret this. “But gotta tell you, she’s not worth all this drama.”
“Okay, now,” Cal said at the same time Theo turned toward Alec, his hands curling into fists.
“No! There’s not going to be any fighting.”
That would have been it. I would have picked up my sunglasses and purse and gone to my room right that second, but I made the mistake of giving Alec one final look. That smirk was back, and I wanted so badly to make it disappear. To make him disappear. To make all this stop.
“Melanie,” I called out.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry. I tried so hard to be an adult.” I snatched a plate with a piece of cheesecake covered in strawberry preserves and a drizzle of chocolate syrup. I’d been looking forward to eating it.
Sigh.
“In my defense, he started it. But I am going to finish it.” In the next blink, I leaned forward and smashed the dessert on the top of his head. The gratification of watching him fling his arms out as the syrupy trails of strawberry and graham cracker crust slid down his face more than made up for not getting to eat it.
I grabbed my sunglasses and purse. “I’m leaving. And no one is following me.” I looked right at Theo. “No one.”
I took the elevator up to my room, changed my clothes, turned my phone off, and crawled into bed.
The scene replayed in my head. Not the part about Alec. What he had said mattered little. I didn’t even hate him; instead, the best I could feel was apathetic toward him. I’d had my say, and spending any more time dissecting his words wasn’t worth it.
But the parts with Theo? Oh, that, I couldn’t forget. I don’t know what hurt worse. That he was considering a job so far away or that he hadn’t told me about it. Maybe he wasn’t so serious about this thing between us. What if I were the only one who felt that way? I couldn’t watch him walk away and I couldn’t see myself moving.
I thought of the almost panicked look in his eyes when he asked me not to jump to the wrong conclusion and drew in a long breath. I trusted Theo and that meant I had to trust what he said. He asked me to listen to him, and I hadn’t.
Hugging a pillow to my chest, I curled on my side. That’s what I would do. I would listen to him.
I must have dozed off because I was jerked awake by heavy pounding on my door.
“Go away.”
“Ali-Cat, we need you,” Mack said and the urgency in his voice was the only reason I forced myself out of bed.
“What’s wrong?” I asked after I’d opened the door.
Karen growled at me from her place at Mack’s feet. But I ignored her because the expression on Mack’s face made the little hairs on the back of my neck prickle.
“I tried to call you. You need to come. It’s Abe and your father.”