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“Yeah, you were wrong. You’re a little kid!”
She stopped in the doorway and turned abruptly to glare at me. “I’m not a little kid. Stop treating me like one. If it was left up to you, I’d never date and die a virgin!”
My eyes threatened to bug out of my bed. “Cayla!”
She slammed the door closed between us, and a second later I heard the lock click into place.
I knew I needed to back off. She was getting older. But I was her big brother, and I felt like I needed to protect her.
When the memory faded into the recesses of my mind once more, dampness clung to my cheeks. For years I’d been protecting Cayla from everything. Back then I had a major case of hero-complex. But on the night she and my parent’s needed me most, I was gone out having fun and partying the night away.
Sutton was right. I needed to go back. I wouldn’t be able to move on until I did. I hoped she would go with me. I knew I couldn’t do it by myself.
The thought of stepping foot into that house once more sent my mind into a frenzy.
I knew the only thing that could calm me.
I headed inside in search of my undoing.
When I found what I craved I sat down on the couch and went through the motions. I’d done it so often that it was now second nature. The needle slid into my vein and the numbness soon settled over me like a cloud. As everything faded around me I smiled to myself. This was the best feeling in the world. I didn’t have to think. Or feel. Or hurt. I simply existed.
CHAPTER 20
Sutton
Work was pretty uneventful.
Up until Memphis walked through the doors.
I would’ve thought after our last conversation he’d do everything he could to avoid this place. I was so very wrong.
I wanted to crouch down and hide behind the counter, but it was too late. The shop was lit up and he had to have seen me through the windows.
An endless chant of, Fuck, this is not good, circled through my mind.
I was trapped with nowhere to go, and of course Emery was in the back. The rascal always seemed to know when to hide.
Memphis stepped up to the counter and tilted his head to study me. “You look good.”
“Ha!” I laughed. “Hardly.” My hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail, I had on the bare minimum of makeup, and I certainly wasn’t dressed up.
“I’m serious.”
“And you’re a liar,” I countered.
“I’d never lie to you, Sutton,” he winked. “Just a coffee,” he finally ordered, pulling his wallet out of his back pocket.
As I rang it up, I forced myself to say something instead of standing there like an idiot. I wouldn’t let Memphis rattle me. No one else could, so he shouldn’t have that power over me either.
“Late night working?” I ventured to ask. That sounded casual, right? I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea.
He nodded. “Yeah, and then after we closed I found myself wandering around. Somehow I ended up here,” he shrugged.
“It’s th
e coffee,” I winked, fixing his cup. “Best in town. Your nose couldn’t resist.”
“It’s not the coffee,” he said, running his fingers through his copper colored hair so that it no longer hid his eyes.
