10. Jules #2
Sage’s eyes shimmer with unshed tears. “It’s the longest I’ve ever been away from her and every day feels worse than the one before. But River and I have always given Junie the right to make her own decisions and she wanted to stay with River while I looked for a house.”
I shift in my chair. As someone who was close to her aunt, I know it always bothered my mother. A lot of things bothered my mother, but the fact that I chose her sister over her bothered her the most. Then again, my mother is the kind of person who isn’t happy seeing you happy.
“That doesn’t bother you?” I ask. “She picked her over you.”
Sage looks at me, smiling softly. “River is as much Junie’s parent as I am. I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without her.” She shrugs. “It’s not any different to me leaving her with my husband if I was married.”
God, I can’t believe I’m jealous of a toddler because her aunt and mother love each other. There’s probably a special place in hell for me.
“I have to go pee,” I say, sliding off the stool.
I make my way to the bathrooms in the back and on my way, I pass by Drew’s table. He’s sitting alone, but he’s not alone. The booths at Archer’s are U-shaped, so the woman sitting at the next booth is leaning over the top, talking to Drew.
I’m not surprised she’s practically climbing over the booths to talk to him. He’s wearing two of the sluttiest things a man can wear—a backward baseball cap and slutty little glasses. Pair that with the fact that he’s devastatingly good looking and the man is lethal right now.
As I walk past, his eyes flicker to me momentarily before going back to the woman he’s talking to.
We haven’t spoken since the elevator incident almost a month ago.
It’s probably the longest we’ve gone without fighting ever since he moved back and started playing for the Titans again four years ago.
I use the bathroom and on my way out, I stop by the pool table to watch Holden, Reese, and Kai.
“As good as you are at hockey, you guys suck at pool,” I say, watching Reese miss a shot I can make in my sleep.
“It’s easy to make comments from the sidelines,” Kai says.
“Ouch, Kai. Such snark.” I place a hand over my heart as if I’ve been hurt and have the pleasure of seeing Kai blush. “I like it.”
I hold out my hand. “Let me show you how it’s done.”
There was a whole semester of college I spent in the local pubs because spending time with drunk idiots was a lot easier than having to focus on school work when my whole world had stopped making sense. I learned to play pool from guys who could do it professionally.
I line the shot and lean over, hitting the cue ball. It rolls across the table, knocking into balls, ending with three in the pockets.
“And that’s how you make a shot.”
Holden, Reese, and Kai stare at me like I’ve just outlaid a game play for hockey.
“How are you so good at this?” Kai asks.
I line up another shot. “I’m good at games. I used to spend a lot of time in bars.”
Three more balls land in pockets. The game is over in two turns. I hand the cue stick back to Kai. “I hope you learned something boys.”
“I bet I can beat you at air hockey,” Reese says.
I pat his shoulder, looking up at him. “Do you want to win because I’m a girl?”
“No, because I don’t like to lose. What does your being a girl have to do with winning?” Reese’s face twists in distaste.
“Unfortunately for you, I kill at air hockey. It’s the only kind of hockey I like.”
“You’re only getting away with that because we love you,” Holden says.
I wink at him. “I’m heading back to my table now.”
I wave at them as I start to make my way back to my table where the girls are waiting.
“Can you teach us how to play as well?”
I stop and look over my shoulder at the man who’s just spoken. He’s there with two of his friends who snicker behind their fists as I glance at them. My back is immediately up and I’m tense.
“No.”
“It won’t take too long. We’ll be done soon.” The three of them snicker like it’s an inside joke I’m too dense to understand.
Fear fissures down my spine. I tell myself I’m being crazy. These guys haven’t done anything other than make vague innuendoes. I’m surrounded by people, some of whom are my friends. Nothing is going to happen.
I’m fine.
“My friends are waiting for me.” I turn to leave.
“Come on, you had time for those guys,” Creep number two says. I look toward Reese, Holden, and Kai, whose backs are to us so they haven’t noticed these guys accosting me.
Archer’s has three pool tables and these guys are the first one while my guys are at the end. There’s an occupied table in the middle, the bar is loud, and there’s music playing. The girls are right there and the bar is crowded.
Still, my palms start to sweat as my heart rate rises in panic. The logical part of my brain knows I can just walk away and everything will be fine. The scared part of my brain is frozen.
“I promise we’re nice,” Creep number three adds. The three of them laugh.
It’s not always men, but it’s always fucking men.
I open my mouth to scream or say something, I’m not sure which, but no sound comes out.
Creep number one seems to take my silence as my acquiescence.
His arm starts to reach out for his beer but my panicked brain thinks he’s reaching for me and I knock his hand away.
The glass falls to the floor, beer spilling everywhere.
“You fucking bitch!” Creepy number one reaches for my arm but a cold voice behind me stops him dead in the track.
“Touch her and I’m going to break your arm and shove it so far down your throat you’ll be able to give yourself a prostate exam.”
My relief is immense and immediate. I look over my shoulder at Drew, whose eyes are trained on the creep in front of me. His eyes drop down to me and soften just slightly.
“Who are you, her boyfriend?”
Drew steps between us, shielding me from the creep. “Right now, I’m the guy most likely to beat your ass.”
“This bitch—”
Lightning fast, Drew reaches out and grabs the guy’s collar, hauling him closer. He’s a fair bit shorter than Drew and I’m sure right now, his feet are barely touching the ground.
“Call her that one more time and see what happens,” Drew growls.
I jump when I feel someone touch my back and turn around in a panic, only to see Lavinia and the girls.
Lavinia grabs my hand, squeezing in reassurance.
Behind them, I see Roman and Ford circling around to lean against the railing which separates the pool tables from the rest of the bar.
The kerfuffle has drawn attention and Reese, Holden, and Kai leave their game, coming over to their teammates.
“Let’s go,” Vin whispers.
I glance at Drew in concern. He’s the last person I expected to come to my defense and now that he has, I can’t leave him.
“Don’t worry about him, it’s three against six,” Vin says.
She tugs on my hand and I let her pull me away. She leads me outside and I breathe in the fresh air, filling my lungs and exhaling loudly just like Dr. Kim taught me.
“Are you okay?” Lavinia is slowly rubbing circles on my back. Sage looks like she wants to say something to help me but isn’t sure what to say and Elena looks like she’d rather be inside fighting with the guys.
“I’m fine. I was just freaked out,” I say.
Honestly, I was more than freaked out, though I’m not about to admit it.
“Jules.” Lavinia admonishes softly because she can tell I’m not being honest.
“I just want to take a long bath and forget it all.”
The more I think about it, the bigger it’s going to seem. I don’t want to make it a thing. I don’t want to feel like a victim.
“We should have a sleepover,” Sage suggests.
“I’m down,” Elena agrees.
I look back towards the door, as if expecting Drew to walk out. There’s this tightness in my chest urging me to go back inside and make sure he’s okay. He didn’t have to come to my rescue like that, but he did. And I can’t stop thinking about it.