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With a half shrug, I replied, “Thought I’d stop by and get a beer.”
Waylynn looked behind me. “Where’s…um…Mallory?”
The way she chewed on her lip told me that Harley wasn’t expecting me to be here either.
“We had a fight.”
Waylynn’s eyes lit up. “You did?” she practically screamed.
“You seem pretty happy about that, Waylynn. Why’s that?”
An awkward laugh slipped from her lips before she turned to the rest of the Parker clan. “He got in a fight with Mallory!” she yelled.
The three of them tried—and failed—to hide their smiles.
“Was it serious?” Amelia called out.
I shook my head. The look of disappointment on her face was another clue these girls were up to something.
“Why are you here with Harley?” I shouted.
Waylynn opened her mouth and then clamped it shut again.
“Are we not allowed to be friends with her? We’re just a couple of ladies wanting a night out to blow off some steam,” Paxton yelled out.
Fuck, the music was loud.
“Y’all can be friends with whomever you want to be friends with,” I replied with a smile. I made the mistake of looking out onto the dance floor. Clenching my jaw, I tried like hell to keep my shit together. That asshole was holding Harley close as they danced to a slow song.
“Listen, we told Harley you wouldn’t be here because you and Mallory are the stay-at-home-type of couple,” Waylynn said as I glared at her. “So, if you could just…you know…leave before she sees you and resume your stay-at-homeness so you don’t ruin her night.”
There was no doubt my mouth was hanging open. “So, now you’re championing Harley?”
Waylynn lifted her shoulders. “Listen, I actually took the time to listen to what she’s been trying to say to you for the last however-many-years. So, yeah, I’m hoping she can finally find happiness…like you have.”
I took a step back and looked at all four of them. “You talked to her about what?”
Paxton shook her head. “That’s her story to tell. If she even still wants to. She seems to have given up, especially with you being with Mallory and all.”
“Yeah, she said now she knows you’re happy with Mallory she’s decided to leave you alone. Move on.”
My stomach felt sick. What in the fuck? Move on?
“So, that’s it? She’s moving on with Toby?” I barked out.
Waylynn narrowed her left eye at me like she did when she was fixin’ to get mad. “Tripp, the woman has been trying to talk to you for years and you’ve avoided her like she’s got the plague. Now she is moving on like you did and you’re pissed?”
“You’re the one who told me to date, Waylynn!”
“I didn’t tell you to ignore Harley all those years. I said maybe dating other women would help. You’re the one who got into a serious relationship with Mallory.”
I threw my hands in the air. “I give the fuck up. You want me gone so she can enjoy her night, fine. I’m gone.”
I did the only thing I knew to do. I turned and headed straight to Cord. I knew he had security cameras in his office. I was the one who’d told him to install them so he could see if there were any shenanigans with patrons. If they didn’t want Harley to see me, fine, but there was no way I was going to leave with that asshole hanging all over her after one damn dance.
“Hey, can I go sit in your office for a bit? It appears our sisters don’t want me around to ruin Harley’s night out.”
Cord raised his brows. “Wow. You gonna watch her on the cameras…like a stalker?”
“Hell yes, I am.”
He laughed and motioned for me to head to his office. I had keys to the bar and his office so I started in that direction, careful to go around the dance floor so Harley didn’t see me.
After I pushed my way through the crowd, I pulled my keys out and opened Cord’s office door. Shutting it, I locked the door and made my way to the wall of TVs that displayed every angle of the club. It didn’t take me long to find her. She was now back at the table and holding a beer, talking to the traitors I called sisters. Toby was nowhere to be found.
Good. Maybe the asshole left.
I leaned my head back and closed my eyes, a deep breath escaping from my lungs.
Harley was back in town and I still couldn’t wrap my head around having these feelings for her. Feelings that were all over the damn place…anger, lust, frustration, desire, resentment, possessiveness, and countless others that had my mind so muddied that I couldn’t think straight.
She was moving on, and I couldn’t blame her. She had slowed down on the calls to my cell phone and hadn’t called my work since she’d moved back for good. My mind drifted back over the past years to all the voicemails. The one where she had said she hadn’t been honest nagged at me the most. The unread letter she’d sent to me that I’d destroyed simply because my pride couldn’t take another beating. A large part of me wanted to know what she meant, what she wanted to tell me, but the other part—the one that could still see her running away—didn’t care. I was hurt and pissed. The only woman I had ever truly loved had walked away from me and I didn’t think I would ever be able to forgive her. No matter how much seeing her caused my body to ache in both pain and desire.
