AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But my mouth wouldn’t move. And when I didn’t say anything, something in his face crumpled. He dropped his head. “I understand.” Then he turned and walked straight for the door, not stopping to say anything to our mutual friends still drinking nearby.
I was done. All of my drunken bravadoes dissipated like a popped soap bubble. I stumbled back out to the bar and grabbed Meg’s arm. She looked up at me in alarm when she saw my face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, getting to her feet.
“I just saw him.” I was having a hard time keeping it together. I didn’t have to explain who he was.
“Oh no. Where is he?” Meg looked around the bar.
“He left. Meg, it was awful,” I cried, covering my face with my hands. “I need to get out of here. I can’t be here anymore.”
Web and Whitney, realizing I was upset, immediately gathered around me.
“What’s wrong, Murphy? Tell me,” Web demanded.
Meg wrapped an arm around me. “I’m going to get her out of her. Tell Lena and the girls Sky isn’t feeling well.”
Whitney’s face was pinched with concern. “I can drive you guys. I haven’t been drinking.”
Meg shook her head. “That’s okay. It’s not far and I think Skylar could use the fresh air.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. It was all I could get out.
“Let’s go back to my place. Tyler will be in bed. We can eat brownies and watch a bunch of episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How does that sound?” Meg was trying so hard. I didn’t want to tell her that all I wanted to do was to crawl into bed and sleep the next few months away. I wanted to wake up when I didn’t hurt so much.
Instead, I nodded. “Sounds good.”
So, I let my best friend take care of me while my heart shattered to pieces.
Chapter Sixteen
Robert
Life sucked.
I was miserable.
I wanted to hit something really badly and I wasn’t a violent kind of guy. But that was before Skylar Murphy had blown my whole world apart.
And I only had myself to blame for how things turned out.
I berated myself constantly for keeping such a huge thing from her. How in the end I let Tiffany win. But I couldn’t blame this on her. This was all on me.
It had been two weeks since Skylar had kicked me out of her house. Two, long, hellish weeks. I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t get my head around work. All I wanted to do was see Skylar. Be with Skylar. Losing her had ruined me.
I knew Adam and Jeremy were worried about me. They talked in hushed whispers that quickly stopped once I entered a room. I knew when I was the source of conversation. But I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything except how much pain I was feeling.
But after I had been given a warning by Judge Rinder for questioning his ruling in a deposition, they must have decided to intercede.
“Grab your coat, we’re getting out of here,” Adam announced, coming into my office. I hadn’t really been doing anything but staring at my laptop screen for the past hour. My phone had been ringing but I hadn’t answered it. It wasn’t Skylar, so I didn’t really care who it was.
“I have work to do,” I responded dismissively, not even bothering to look at him.
“You haven’t done any actual work in weeks. Decate and I are picking up all your slack. So, get your ass in gear and follow up now,” Jeremy piped up.
I glared at him. “Oh, so now you’re worried about me not keeping up my end of things? Where was this amazing work ethic for all those years Adam and I carried your ass?”
“Okay, okay, enough of this. Jeremy, we talked about this, stop being so fucking combative.” Adam stepped in front of Jeremy and gave us both a stern look.
Jeremy sighed. “Sorry, man. We’re just worried about you.”
“Well, you don’t need to be. I’m fine.” I turned back to my laptop. “If you don’t mind, I’d better do some actual work since it seems my time is being accounted for.”
My laptop lid slammed shut and I looked up at Adam, ready to deck him. “What. The. Actual. Fuck?”
“Get on your feet, Jenkins. We’re taking a little drive.”
I was tempted to argue again, but then the fight left me. Feeling slightly defeated, I stood up and followed my partners out of the building. Adam locked the door and told the receptionist we wouldn’t be back today.
“I have three client calls this afternoon,” I argued.
“Yeah, they’ve been rescheduled,” Jeremy said, pressing the button on his key fob to unlock the door of his car. “Get in.”
Adam climbed in the back and I got in the passenger seat.
“So where are we going?” I asked with little interest. I knew I was moping. I was probably being really annoying, but I couldn’t summon the energy to care.
