24. Halle
HALLE
Ilock the front door with a soft click that echoes through the empty bar. The neon “Open” sign outside flickers once, twice, then dies as I flip the switch.
It’s just before two in the morning, and the first time tonight that there’s complete silence. There aren’t clinking pool balls over in the corner, or the speakers of the jukebox deafening us with the same song played a dozen times tonight.
Because Aunt Aria has been overwhelmed with life lately, Matt decided to take her to the cabin they own up in the mountains for a few days.
So it’s just been me running the place until they return.
I don’t mind, though. I completely get feeling the weight of it all.
Apart from running things here, life has been pulling all of us in so many directions.
One of us deserved to get the fuck away from it all.
“She needs fresh air and no one asking for refills,” Matt told me with that knowing smile.
I didn’t argue.
Someone has to keep the lights on, beers flowing, and make sure the doors stay open for the regulars who treat this place like a second home.
I wipe down the bar top again. My shoulders ache from hauling those kegs earlier in the evening, making the thought of taking a bath when I get home so appealing.
Closing down the bar is easy, though. I did this when I was in college too. At this point, it’s methodical.
Sweep the floors until the old wooden planks shine again.
Wipe down all the tables and straighten chairs.
Check the stock in the cooler, noting what needs ordering tomorrow.
Count the till carefully, stacking bills and sorting coins.
To be honest, I spend as long as possible doing it because the longer I’m here, keeping myself busy, the less time I have to spend at home, constantly thinking of Cash and how he ended things.
And less time I have to think about the fact that in a couple weeks, I have my court date with Zach to finalize this divorce.
Cash is right. It was foolish to think we could be anything other than what I insisted we were from the start.
He’s young and fun and I was na?ve to think he could be honest about his feelings about me.
And deep down, I know it was wrong of me to do it all while still legally married.
Or at least, that’s what I keep trying to convince myself, even if that part isn’t quite clicking.
Finishing up the main room, I head to the stock room to see what needs to be taken care of back here.
I haul empty bottles to the recycling bin, the glass clinking softly with each step.
Bringing the mop up front, I get the sticky spill left behind by that rowdy group who rolled in around nine, their group growing louder with every round they ordered.
My mind wanders back to Cash and the way he ate my pussy while I was tied up, begging him to let me come. My pussy aches at the thought of him doing it again.
It was just fun … That’s all.
Making my way back into the main area, I glance at the old clock above the bar. Almost fucking done. My feet start to drag just a little as I head toward the office to finish counting the tills, the fluorescent bulb overhead buzzing loud enough to annoy me.
The door to the back opens up, and I freeze slightly, putting the money in the safety draw and locking it.
I thought I locked the door, I think to myself as I walk toward the hallway leading to the back door.
The door slams shut and my heart gives a quick stutter, but I try to remain calm. “Cash, is that you?”
No one answers.
If this is some sick joke Cash is playing, I’ll beat his ass.
Stepping out of the office, I peek around the corner to see who the fuck is here.
I’m greeted by Zach, his large frame filling the hallway, blocking the back door.
His flannel shirt hangs rumpled, his hair disheveled, as if he’s run his hands through it a hundred times, and his eyes look wild under the harsh overhead light.
He looks like he hasn’t slept in days—exhaustion mixing with that familiar scowl etched deeper into his face than I remember.
“Halle,” he says, stepping closer to me in the hallway. “Hey, baby.”
I walk toward the bar room, trying to make sure I maintain some distance between him, and because I know both my phone and the gun are in there, should I need it. “What do you want, Zachariah?”
He chuckles, following closely behind me until we’re both in the bar room. I slip behind the bar and he sits down on a stool. “Can you serve me a beer?”
I grab a beer from the cooler, open the cap, and set it in front of him. “You didn’t drive six hours to be served a beer by your ex-wife.”
“You aren’t my ex-wife.”
“Soon-to-be.”
He scoffs. “C’mon. Humor me for a night. Let’s just talk.”
My heart pounds furiously against my rib cage as I freeze for half a second, then force my shoulders back, lifting my chin. “Get out, Zach. Whatever this is, it can wait till court.”
“You really think this bullshit is going anywhere?” His fists clench tight around the glass bottle, knuckles whitening. “You think you can hide in this shit hole forever? I’m done with your little runaway act, Halle. You’re coming home. Tonight.”
Home. The word lands like a stone in my stomach, twisting uncomfortably. That house was never home, just somewhere I lost myself, and a place for a baby I never got to have.
The Halle that lived there is gone.
I take a careful step back, toward the shotgun. “We’re not doing this. You signed the papers, Zach, then demanded more from me than you actually need. Move on with your life. I know I am.”
“You are?” He lets out a laugh. “With who? Who the fuck would want a broken woman who can’t even have kids?
A woman who failed at the one thing she’s supposed to do as a wife.
Don’t make me laugh. You’re mine, Halle—always have been.
I’m taking you back whether you like it or not.
We’ll fix this like we should have before you ran off and lost your goddamn mind. ”
Rhett’s words echo in my head about how Cash and Zach aren’t the same.
My blood runs hot, a flush creeping up my neck. “What about Melissa? I’m sure that slut can give you everything you want because I’m not. You don’t get to storm in here and demand anything from me.”
“Don’t you fucking dare mention her,” he growls. “You misunderstood everything. You always twist shit to make me the villain. I built a life for us and you turned into a cold, selfish bitch. You abandoned this family, not me.”
I feel months of suppressed truth surge forward.
“I changed because staying the same would have destroyed me,” I counter, my voice steady. “We were never going to work out. After you cheated and losing our baby … I finally chose my own peace. I chose myself. And for the first time in years, I feel like I can breathe.”
He takes the beer and chugs the remaining bits of it, then throws it against the wall to his left and it shatters to the ground. “Like you can breathe? Like I actually fucking suffocated you? You’re real fucking funny.”
He stands up from the seat and advances slowly around the bar, kicking a nearby chair aside with a loud clatter that makes me jump, despite myself. “We’re family, Halle—till death do us part. Remember those vows we stood up and said in front of everyone? Are you just a liar now too?”
Vows? Is he fucking kidding? Like he wasn’t buried balls-deep inside someone else when we were together.
He rounds the corner of the bar, completely on the backside of it now. I keep my distance. “You really need to leave. Now,” I say.
“You think you can do better than me?” he presses, his tone dripping with disbelief. “You don’t get to leave me. There is no you without me. I’d rather see you dead than out here whoring around like you’re free.”
“Zach, do you hear yourself? You sound insane,” I say, forcing my voice to stay low and even as my pulse races. “This is my life now—The Bar, my choices, my future. You need to accept that so we can both move on. You don’t need me.”
He lunges then, grabbing for my arm with surprising speed. “Who the fuck is Cash, huh? Some loser you’re fucking to get back at me? You don’t have a choice. Pack your shit. We’re leaving. Now.”
The sound of an engine roars outside—probably some kids doing some dumb shit in the middle of the night—and I use the moment he looks away to reach under the bar, grabbing the shotgun.
I pull it out in one smooth motion, racking the slide with a sound that cuts through the chaos like the crack of thunder. The barrel comes up level with Zach’s chest. “Back. Off. Now.”
He stops dead in his tracks, eyes widening in genuine surprise. For the first time tonight, the fury on his face falters.
“I said get the fuck out, Zach. This ends tonight. The only time I want to see you is in that goddamn courtroom. You don’t get to decide my life for me anymore.”
He stares at me, chest heaving. He knows that the argument has shifted, and he’s losing.
I hold the shotgun steady, pushing him back with it so I’m no longer being crowded.
My mind races through how to end this without one of us getting hurt.
For a second, something calculating flickers behind his eyes. Then he lets out a short, ugly laugh.
“You’ve lost your fucking mind,” he says. “Pointing a gun at me? Jesus, Halle. Think about what you’re doing. Put it down before you do something you can’t take back.”
“I am thinking,” I whisper back, my finger resting near the trigger guard. “I’m thinking about protecting what’s mine now—what I’ve built. If I pull this trigger, I promise you, nobody will ever find you. So get the fuck out of my bar, Zach.”
He circles slowly to my left, trying to find an angle. I pivot with him, keeping the barrel to his chest.
“I didn’t come all this way to leave empty-handed. You’re my wife, and if I have to drag you out of here kicking and screaming, I will.”
My finger tightens near the trigger, and I let out a short, bitter laugh, even though my heart is slamming against my ribs.
“Yours?” I spit. “You really believe that shit? You had me, Zach, and you threw me away the second things got hard. You fucked someone else while I was bleeding out in a hospital bed. So don’t stand there and act like I still belong to you. I don’t. I never fucking will again.”
His jaw tightens, but I don’t stop.
“You want to talk about what’s mine?” I continue, voice rising. “This bar is mine. This life is mine. And you don’t get to come in here and threaten to take it from me just because your ego can’t handle the fact that I left.”
Zach takes a step forward. I don’t back up.
“You’re not taking me anywhere,” I tell him, voice hard. “And if you try, I will blow a hole through your fucking chest. I’m not the same girl you used to push around. Try me and see what happens.”
He tilts his head slightly, studying me. “You really think that redheaded kid is gonna protect you?” he asks, voice dripping with disdain. “That’s Cash, right?”
My stomach drops. I don’t move, but my mind races. How the fuck does he know what Cash looks like? “How the fuck do you know him?”
“You really thought I wouldn’t find out that you’re fucking someone barely out of high school?”
He’s been watching me. Or someone has been telling him about me.
Before I can say anything else, with the shotgun still pointed at his chest, the back door opens and shuts.
“Halle?”
Cash’s voice cuts through the bar, and my heart races with a mix of relief and panic. Zach’s head snaps toward the sound, but he doesn’t look away for long, before returning his gaze to me, his eyes now wild. “Speak of the devil. Looks like your little boyfriend showed up right on time.”