AllFreeNovel
Share Us
BARTHOLOMEW
The wrap finally came off—and I had a nasty scar all the way up my torso.
My body had been untouched except the bullet wound Benton had given me. But then I got that cut on my arm from Silas. And now this.
Might have to start covering everything with ink.
I took a drink then returned it to the counter.
“Should you be drinking that?” Benton took the stool beside me.
“I’m off the pain meds.”
“So you’re feeling better.”
“No. I just need a drink more than a pill.”
“How’s retirement treating you?”
I slouched on the counter as I looked at him. “Is that your way of addressing the elephant in the room?”
Benton ignored the question and ordered a drink.
“Laura and I are done—for good. So I didn’t see the point.”
“What happened? She shot her father for you.”
“Bullshit, that’s what happened.”
It took Benton a moment to draw the conclusion. “Kids.”
“She won’t change her mind.”
“She changed her mind before.”
“Not anymore.” I hated it, but I also respected it. She shouldn’t be with a man who refused to give her what she wanted. I wasn’t worth it. No one was.
“Then why don’t you change your mind?”
I raised my glass and clinked it against his. “Good one.”
“I’m serious, Bartholomew.”
“Are we really going to have this conversation again?”
“Kids aren’t hard—”
“They keep you up all night, wake you up at the crack of dawn, are entitled little assholes that don’t appreciate a damn thing, and suck the life out of you for twenty years. That’s not hard?”
“Even if that were true, there’s a lot more to it.”
“I argued about this with Laura for an hour. I’m not doing it again.”
“Fine.” Benton took a drink. “Then lose the love of your life. Fuck whores until she forgets about you and marries someone else. Let her move forward in her life while your life stays exactly the same—except your age.”
It took a solid month for me to feel normal again.
The bruises finally faded, and my skin returned to its normal color. It didn’t ache every time I moved. I was back in the swing of things. I’d killed off all the men who’d staged that coup with Leonardo and was looking for new recruits to replace them.
