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“As happy as a tick on a big, fat dog,” he answers, falling into a chair. He snags a piece from the box and takes a bite without worrying about a plate. He speaks as he swallows down his food, “You moving back into the loft with Lauren yet?”
I stay standing while grabbing a piece and throwing it on my plate. It won’t get touched. I have no appetite, but if I don’t eat, he won’t either. “You getting tired of me already?”
He shakes his head. “Not even close.” The room quiets while he takes a long draw of Coke before he shrugs his shoulders. “Just want to see you happy, is all.”
Instead of grabbing a Coke from the fridge, I choose a beer. Hopefully, it’ll help calm these nerves. “Doubt that will be happening anytime soon … or ever.”
He drops his pizza and looks at me with pain in his eyes. “You know you can talk to me, right?”
“I know, and you’ll be the first person I see if it comes to that.”
Luke is the only person I’ve talked to about what happened. He was my best friend in Chicago and stood by me through my fight. He saw the highs and the lows, and he understood. Luke joined the fight against Missy and has been as hell-bent on her paying for her crime as I have.
“She’d understand, too,” he adds, slipping the words through in a low tone.
“Don’t do this.”
“Don’t do what? Think about your future? I want to see my son happy. She’ll make you happy. She’s always been what makes you happy.”
“A woman is not the basis of my happiness. Maybe in high school, yes, but shit changes when you grow up. Priorities change.”
“She can help you heal.”
I shake my head. “I need to get out of here.”
* * *
I’ve been nursingmy second beer for the past hour.
It’ll be lukewarm and taste like piss if I take another sip, but I’d put money down on that not happening. Even though I walked into Down Home Pub with every intention to get ass-face wasted, I can’t.
There’s a massive fear embedded in me that always stops me from finishing my second drink. There’s unease in the back of my mind of something bad happening. My phone could ring at any second with tragic news—at least, that’s what I tell myself.
I wonder if I’ll always have that uneasiness or if, eventually, it will fade away.
Will he fade away?
I shake my head and force myself to take another drink.
Yep, tastes fucking terrible.
“There’s a handsome man I didn’t expect to see tonight.”
I peek over my shoulder to find Sierra pulling out the barstool next to mine with one hand while gripping a drink in the other.
Fuck.
Dealing with Kyle’s kid sister isn’t what I need tonight.
“Why do you say that?” I ask when she sets her drink down on the bar and makes herself comfortable.
“You never replied to my texts.”
She doesn’t appear to be pissed. It’s more along the lines of annoyed. It’s not a lie that Sierra has grown up and found her sexuality. She’s attractive, fun, and most likely isn’t looking for a commitment.
I move my neck from side to side, hoping to release the tension shooting up it but fail. “Not exactly a good idea to sext your best friend’s little sister.”
She flips her blonde hair over her shoulder. “Your best friend’svery legallittle sister.” She holds up her beer. “Looky here, I’m even old enough to drink.”
