Page 17 of The Other Half

“Lucky us! There’s like six of them.”

“All yours,” I said, turning my attention back to what I came here for.

Whiskey.

Loneliness among friends.

Pain cloaking me like pleasure.

“Come on, man.” His voice softened, and he turned back to me. “You gotta snap out of it. It’s been months. It’s time to get back on the horse.”

“No horse. No more riding for this guy.”

“Jake. Get on the fucking horse. Like six of them just walked in and I bet you could ride any one you wanted!”

“Dude, you’re disgusting.”

The pack of wasted women moved through the Ox, turning the heads of every man they passed. I made the mistake of looking at one, and the whole group turned toward me like a school of fish. “Fuck.”

“What’s that about you not having women throw themselves at you?” he said while they came at me.

“Shut up, Aaron.”

“Hi!” The one wearing the maid-of-honor sash said when she stumbled up to me. “You’re hot!”

“As I was saying?” Aaron whispered, but I shrugged him off.

“What’s your name?” she asked, but I turned my back to her and focused on my whiskey. When she tapped me on the shoulder, I tried to shrug it off, but looked up to see Cassie staring at me. Not wanting her to think I went for every cheap piece of ass, then wondering why I cared what she thought, I plucked the woman’s hand off my shoulder and brushed it aside.

“Oh, come on!” she said, pressing her breasts into my back while she leaned into my ear. “We just need a pair of underwear for our scavenger hunt.” A hiccup broke up the last word.

“You can have mine!” Aaron said, squishing in between us.

“We want his,” she whined, but I continued ignoring her and caught Cassie’s quick glance with my own.

“Dude, I gotta go.” I slammed the rest of my drink and set it down. “Jo, I’ll tip you later. I’m outta here.”

“You got it. See you later,” she called over the crowd.

Rising from my stool, I tried to push through the group of women surrounding us while Aaron flirted with each one of them. As I turned toward the door it opened, and the face I never wanted to see again appeared. Rage rose inside me like an inferno burning away all my good senses. This was my bar, and he knew it. The Cornerstone was his, and this one was mine. Just because it’d been months since it happened, didn’t mean he could pretend away his betrayal and waltz back in here like we were still best friends.

“Oh, shit,” Aaron mumbled when he saw Matt in the doorway, and he moved in front of me. “Jake. Dude. Jake, look at me.”

I couldn’t look at him. When my gaze locked with Matt’s, red swirled before my eyes. I didn’t care that I saw remorse mirrored back at me. I didn’t care that he’d tried to call and apologize a hundred times. To care, I’d have to give two shits. This was the first time I’d seen him since it happened and the emotions I’d felt back when I found out flooded back into every cell with the force of a hurricane. Before Aaron could get ahold of my shirt, I flew across the room.

“Jake!” I heard Jo shout, but it didn’t slow my charge.

“Jake, I’m sorry. Jake!” Matt said just before I collided with him. We tumbled onto chairs by the window and landed on Captain Bailey, the stuffed mannequin taking up the middle one. Patrons launched out of the way as I let my rage rip out of me. My fist connected with his face three times before I felt someone stop my arm from making it four. Hands gripped me, and I struggled against them until too many arms wrapped around me and dragged me off him.

“Jake! Stop!” Jo yelled, though it was hard to hear her with the ringing in my ears. “Get him out of here!”

“Jake, come on!” Aaron was part of the group of men wrangling me to the door. I gave up my fight against them, but my glare found its way back to Matt’s bloodied face once more before they got me outside onto the sidewalk.

“I’m fine!” I shouted, shrugging off the hands still pushing me along. With rage still radiating off me, I stormed away. As I reached the Beachfront Inn across the street, I spun back around, my gaze fixated on the Blue Ox while I contemplated racing back inside to finish what I’d started. If looks could kill that building would be enveloped in flames, a fiery inferno that still wouldn’t compare to the fury inside me.

“Jake, Jake, JAKE!” Aaron clapped his hands in front of me to get me to refocus. “Dude! Calm down!”

Deep, quick breaths lifted my shoulders while I huffed, feeling the adrenaline still coursing through me. When he grabbed my shoulder, I shoved it off and practically snarled.