Chapter 2 #2
“Believe me when I say, the situation couldn’t be avoided.
Just apologize for me and find her a nice banker or something.
Someone she would have more in common with.
” He doubted she was as adventurous as Sandy was making her out to be.
The woman looked like she wouldn’t know a good time if it bit her in the ass.
“Or someone who would give her the time of day,” Sandy mumbled.
“You know you’re not the first guy who has treated her poorly, but I’d told her you were different.
That you weren’t that kind of guy.” There was accusation in Sandy’s tone.
She wasn’t wrong though. Normally he was a great guy. Attentive. Annie had deserved better.
“What happened before?” Jack asked eagerly. Carson didn’t like how much interest Jack was showing in knowing more about his bad date.
Unlike him, Jack didn’t have a certain type of woman he liked. He liked all women. Tall, short, skinny, large-boned, it didn’t matter to him. And now hearing his behavior toward her, Jack was sounding all too eager to show her a real man. One who would wine and dine her.
Not only that, but leave her just as quickly as he’d come into her life. That fate wasn’t any more appealing than a series of bad dates.
“She’s been ghosted. Men have led her on,” she told Jack before her accusing gaze swung back to him. “You were her first date in close to a year because she’d been hurt so many times.”
Well, now he felt like an ass, though he couldn’t say he would have changed what happened even if he had known about her past. He had told her it was a work emergency. She should have understood that took precedence over a date he didn’t see going anywhere.
“It’s just not like you, Carson.” Sandy shook her head as her voice turned soft as if her anger had finally drained out of her.
He much preferred the hostile tone. The heartbroken one made him feel like the worst kind of person.
“I’ve never known you to be like that with someone before.
That’s why I came down here to talk to you. ” Scolded more like, but semantics.
“There was a crisis with work. I should have rescheduled instead of trying to do both things at once.”
“That’s just an excuse.”
“If she’s free next weekend, I’ll take her out,” Jack offered.
Sandy rolled her eyes. “There isn’t a woman on earth I would ever set up for you.”
“Ouch.” He clutched his heart in fake pain. Carson knew it was fake because Jack didn’t care if one woman slipped through his fingers. There were millions more to replace her. Few women turned Jack down, so he never lacked for company.
“You have to have a heart to hurt it, Jack.”
“I have a heart, Sandy. One that beats for you.” Jack’s voice dropped seductively as he moved closer to Sandy.
“Alright, enough of that.” Carson stepped between them. Jack was the resident playboy, and while Carson was used to hearing his antics, he didn’t want Jack practicing on a woman he considered his sister. “Sandy, you better go.”
“No, not until you tell me why you were so rude to my friend. I was praising your glory, only for you to be an ass to her. The last few women I’ve set you up with, you were cordial, but that was it.
It’s like you don’t want to date. Unless…
” She took a step back and looked at him with new eyes.
“It’s because of her, isn’t it?” She didn’t have to say a name for him to know who Sandy was referring to.
“Sandy, stop.” This was not the time or place to have this conversation. He looked around the room; they had the group’s attention. Fuck. He didn’t talk about his past relationship for a reason. It was a time he’d rather forget.
He should have known she wouldn’t stop. “That’s it, isn’t it? That’s why you didn’t care. For God sake, Carson. She is nothing like Jenny,” Sandy practically shouted.
Carson winced as if he’d been delivered a physical blow at hearing the name of the woman who had destroyed his heart.
“Who’s Jenny?” Barry asked.
“Allie doesn’t care about them,” Sandy continued, ignoring Jack.
Sandy was right. Allie hadn’t seemed to notice the scars that ran down the right side of his face.
Scars that also covered half of the right side of his body too.
He’d received many stares over the years.
The most haunting had been when his then-fiancée Jenny had seen them after he’d been shipped back home from the German hospital.
Half of his body had been covered in bandages.
He reeked like burnt flesh and sulfur. In a word, he looked and smelled horrible.
Jenny had taken one look at him and fainted. When she’d come to, she’d said she couldn’t be with a monster and returned the ring. He had avoided relationships since then, besides the brief ones that were gone by sunrise.
Regardless of the fact that Allie hadn’t cringed at seeing him, he wasn’t looking for a relationship. Especially with someone like her.
“Sandy, please let it go.” He pleaded to her with his eyes and the tone of his voice. He didn’t want to talk about this anymore.
Sandy looked up at him in defeat. “Alright, I’ll talk to you later, Carson, but make this right. It shouldn’t be me apologizing to her, but you. Take responsibility.” That was her stern warning before walking away.
“Seriously, that was a dick move,” Barry confirmed once she’d left.