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“I don’t understand. Can I not stand up for you?” I lower my voice a tad, realizing I'm probably yelling louder than intended despite not being able to hear very well.
Hollis’ face goes white, and her eyes wide. I see her look around the room as she tries to stabilize Liam and I realize the whole fucking bar is staring at us.
“Can we help you?” Hollis bites at them, and like nothing I’ve ever seen before, they all scatter like ants back to their hills, like this wasn’t happening around them. That's new. Hollis was never brave enough to tell anyone off, let alone a room full of too-curious alcoholics.
“Jax, you need to leave this alone.” She looks back at me but still isn’t looking me in the eyes.
“Is gotta be fun seeing you 'gain. Sbeen a long time. Maybe we should-”
“Shut up, Liam,” Hollis tells him before shifting herself, trying to gain a better hold on him. He’s draped over her shoulder like a fucking rag doll. And he calledmethe loser?
“What’s going on here, Hollis?” Suddenly, I’m sobered up a bit. I mean, not really, but something doesn’t sit right. And I know how to hold my liquor, so I know I’m not about to chuck. But something really isn’t sitting right with me right now, so I straighten up and try to get to the bottom of it.
“Jax, just go home.”
“No. I wanna know what the fuck happened,” I demand.
“You should lissen to mah girlfrenn buddy.” Liam’s slurred words leave his mouth in what feels like a slow-motion movie. And it takes me a minute to decipher what he actually said.
“I’m sorry, you saidwhat?” My fists tighten and my jaw clenches. There's no way he knows what he's saying. But now, I'm seeing this situation differently.
Liam was yelling at Basketball Jersey to back up…because he thought the dude tried to touch Hollis…because Hollis is…
Not a fucking chance.
No shot.
“Jax, please.” Hollis is now pleading with me using her big, brown eyes and I almost lose it right then and there because I know exactly what is going on now.
“Him?” I point my finger at Liam. “How long?” My tone shoots up to a level of loudness that I can actually feel vibrations ring in my ears. Anxiety eating at me like a worm and a rotten apple. Ain't no fucking way she's about to tell me what I think she's about to tell me.
“It’s none of your business, Jaxon.”
“Oh, that’s funny," I chuckle nearly diabolically. "Because once upon a time, Hollis, everything you did was my business. Imadeit my business. Or do you not remember?”
“That was a long time ago. We’ve all changed since then,” she responds to me, but it sounds like she's defendinghim.
She’s still holding up Liam who looks half asleep now and I feel like I really might actually chuck now.
“Yeah, I can tell,” I state while giving a hard glare over to the idiot who clearly hasn’t changed.
“Say it,” I demand her.
“What?”
“I wanna hear you say it. Tell me you’re really dating this fucker. Say it, and I’ll leave you alone.” My tone bites colder than intended, once again not really having a grip on the state that I'm truly in but also feeding into the rush of anger flooding me.
We werebest friends, and Liam was an asshole. To both of us.
She sighs, and I can tell she’s putting on a tough act. She never used to be tough. But maybe she’s right, maybe she did change, and this is the real her now. But I still can’t believe what I’m hearing or seeing. This can’t be My Hollie.
“Liam and I are dating, Jax. Happy?” She pulls on Liam to signal him to walk. “And for the record, you already did leave me.Or do you not remember?”
My whole body screams as my blood boils.
Enraged.
Deceit.
