It wasn’t any wonder why Amber refused to give Mel my number when she needed it. Women were such bitches to one other. And it didn’t win Amber any points for keeping her from me. The past several years could have run entirely different if Mel and I had reconnected before it all went to shit.
Of course if we had, we might’ve fixed Brad before he broke and they could very well be married right now. As much as that pained me, at least the three of us would have a functional relationship. And perhaps I would’ve long given up hope of making her mine instead of constantly wondering what if.
Great. I could just feel the depression seeping out of my core, spreading throughout my body. Damn Mel and this hold she seemed to have on me. I groaned and roughly rubbed my hands through my hair, tempted to rip the strands out just to keep from feeling miserable.
“Dude, you need to screw Mel.”
“What?!”
He took a long sip from his longneck before he faced me, or he was just waiting for all the eyes I just attracted to lose interest in us. “You’ve got it bad man. Do you know how many times you’ve changed the subject or brought up Mel in our conversations? Or that I’ve actually heard you moaning her name in your sleep when I leave in the morning? And just now. You didn’t even have to say her name. Just the groaning and frustration coming off of you screams you were thinking of her again. I don’t care what you think the girl has or hasn’t done. You need to f**k her and pray it’s enough to get over her already.”
I think I held my breath for all that, because suddenly I inhaled a sharp gasp. “I moan her name?”
“Yup. Every night man. And I suggest you keep your door closed tonight and pray Brad’s asleep before you start dream-banging his ex-girlfriend again.”
“Shit,” I whined with frustration. What the hell was wrong with me? How the hell could a girl I’d never even so much as kissed have me so freaking panty-whipped? And if Brad ever found out I thought of Mel that way…
Crossing my arms across my chest, I blurted, “Fuck my life.”
13
I muttered a curse the second that all too familiar blonde came through the door. Why the hell she was here was beyond rational thinking. It was kind of like an unspoken agreement that we had. She didn’t come into my bar on the nights that I worked and I didn’t threaten to yank out the hair extensions she so obviously had.
Amber didn’t even bother searching the room. The second her eyes spotted me behind the bar, she swished her h*ps toward me in that gawd awful ensemble she had the nerve to call clothing. Forgive me if I was wrong, but clothing generally referred to material that covered the body in some form or fashion.
“Appletini,” she demanded with a smirk.
“Seriously?”
“What’s wrong, Mel-bell? Don’t know how to make a real drink?”
I choked down my laughter. “First of all, an appletini isn’t a real drink in any bartender’s opinion. And secondly, we don’t carry the apple to put in your tini. You can have a regular one or nothing at all.”
She flashed me a snooty pout and waved me off. “Whatever. Just add some grenadine to it.”
I wrinkled my nose but didn’t counter – the last thing I wanted to do was extend this conversation. Apparently, she wasn’t interested in watching me make her drink and took to scanning the crowd. Stupid on her part. I could’ve easily spit in her tini.
I placed the glass on the bar and said, “Five bucks.”
She slapped a five on the table. “My tip? Either straighten or curl that hair of yours. It’s too long and heavy for those natural waves to look pretty.”
I gripped my hands on the edge of bar on both sides of me, leaning in. “And who the hell exactly would I be trying to impress around here to even care?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Shane, maybe?”
I held my tongue and just stared at her. Fantastic. No wonder she was here trying to flash her goods. I mean, seriously, that top was so tight it could be considered a second skin trying to molt itself.
She pointed her finger at me and poked the air several times. “Ah. See? You do know he’s in town.”
“He’s not here,” I finally muttered.
“Oh, I know that,” she happily responded, taking a sip of her drink. “Because I just hung out with him over at Lucky’s for a bit.”
“Is that so?” I replied, trying not to let her words get to me. She was clearly baiting me for something.
“Yep. He needed to take care of something first, but then we’re going to go back to my place and catch up.”
I forced a pressed smile, but inside I was incredibly irritated. I had hoped his player days were over, but if he was going to meet up with this piece of trash, I had given him way too much credit. “Well, I’ll be sure to spray him down with disinfectant the next time he comes through the door then. Wouldn’t want my customers getting the clap.”
She looked at me like I was stupid. “You can’t disinfect your way out of the clap. You have to take pills.”
I laughed, I couldn’t help it, and I wasn’t sure she even understood why. She just looked annoyed with me.
“Ugh,” Chelsie groaned, looking directly at Amber as she approached, “did we forget to put out the no skank sign tonight?”
Amber flashed an obnoxious smile. “Wouldn’t take it too seriously even if you did. Doesn’t keep you from being able to work here.”
Chelsie returned the fake smile as I dully asked, “I take it you two know each other?”
“This bitch was a senior my freshman year and was always calling the house trying to hook up with my brother. So pathetic.”
Amber’s hand flew to her hip as her head cocked back and forth. “You’re just angry because your brother was f**king me. In your bed. Cute room by the way,” she sassed, taking a sip of her martini. “Pink. How kindergarten of you.”
Eew. No wonder Chelsie didn’t like her. Imagining Amber in my bed…that was disgusting.
“You just seem to make friends everywhere you go,” I said to Amber.
“I couldn’t care less about friends of the female kind.” With that she turned on her heels and headed to a table where two guys in their early twenties sat, who were more than eager for the busty blonde to join them.
“Bitch,” Chelsie sang in a high pitched voice just for my benefit.
“Agreed. What do you need?” She told me her order, and while I began filling it, I asked with a hint of disgust, “Did you she really have sex in your bed?”
“I don’t know. There was a day when I came home and my bed was all messed up. Which was weird because I always made it in high school. My brother was quite a man-slut back then, so I just assumed the ass f**ked a girl there. Didn’t know it was her until right now though. Thank God I put my entire bed set into the wash under sanitize.”
I just shook my head. Disgusting. This was one of the rare times I was grateful I never had siblings. Chelsie took off with her order, and the moment she did, the bottle-blonde made her way back over. Lucky me.
I wished Tracey was working tonight, then I could go to the office and get some work done in a hussy-free environment.
When she placed her empty glass on the bar, I replied, “Wow. Look at you cleaning up behind yourself. Would you like to take it to the back and wash it out for me too?”
“Sorry,” she replied, waving her painted fingertips in the air. “I don’t get my hands wet for stuff like that.”
“Not unless it gets your juices flowing, huh?”
“Speaking of getting wet, I saw your ex tonight.”
I was pretty sure my face deceived me, because I felt the way all those muscles just went slack. “What?” I asked quietly, praying to God that I heard her incorrectly.
“Brad. Yeah,” she said, extending the yeah for a really long time with a hint of disgust. “Just FYI, I wouldn’t go around bragging to anyone that you used to bang that, because he’s not looking so hot these days.”
The repugnance on her face was enough to make me believe her. Most people didn’t realize the way Brad was deteriorating before he bailed town. He was still fit back then. So for her to say his hot-ability had gone south, I couldn’t not believe her. If he continued the booze and drugs, he probably would look pretty shitty these days.
My heart was drumming fast, fearing he might actually be near. Probably within a mile or two at this very minute. Trying my best to be nonchalant about it, I asked, “Where’d you see him?”
“With Shane. Over at Lucky’s. Douchebag actually tried to get into my shorts. As if I would when Shane was sitting right there all single and yummy-looking.” Her phone jingled inside her purse and she reached inside. “Speaking of that sexy little devil, Shane’s calling,” she bragged, waving her phone in front of me so I could clearly see his name flash across the screen. “Time to go get wet the fun way. Bye, Mel-bell.”
The bitch walked off then, answering the call with a hey, baby just as she left the building. I wanted to be pissed at him for flocking to her the second things got rough between us, but I should’ve known better. Damn leopards never changed their spots.
More importantly, fear was creeping through my insides. What if Brad really was here? Shane was out f**king Amber tonight. He had to know she’d come rub it in my face. That was probably why he told her he’d meet her later. If he was that pissed at me over this money thing, maybe he would bring Brad here to make my life miserable. Stupid f**ker. The genius part of it all was letting Amber tell me, making me wonder, worry, losing my mind trying to figure out if Brad was really in town. Shane kept him hidden from me, hanging out over at Lucky’s instead of here. Gawd, I just wanted to smack the crap out him!
Freaking man-whore.
I don’t know why it took that long, but I felt the panic attack rising inside me. My chest was starting to heave, my breaths becoming shorter and louder. Brad could be in town right now. Anywhere. Even outside my home, trying to peek inside the windows.
That was so not okay.
“Chelsie!” I yelled out across the bar. Slightly stunned, she turned to look at me. My face must’ve been something awful, because she excused herself and came towards me, intensely analyzing me all the way. “Can you handle the bar for a few minutes? I need to make a phone call.”
“Yeah, sure. Is something wrong because you look–”
“I’m fine,” I interrupted, holding up my hand in a back-off fashion as I aimed for the kitchen door. “Thanks!”
I swept past Marcus in the kitchen and closed the office door behind me. First thing I did was call Susie, even though it was after ten already. Her phone rang six times before she picked it up. Before she could even say hello, I blurted, “Hey Susie, is everything going okay there?”
“Melanie?” she asked in a sleepy haze. “Yes, of course. Jake’s fine. Fell asleep around nine. Why?”
I let out a sigh of relief, beginning to shake my head for feeling so paranoid. Brad didn’t know where I lived. Neither did Shane. And they certainly didn’t know where Jake would be while I worked. “I’m sorry. I just had this horrible feeling all of a sudden, but I shouldn’t have woken you up. I realize now how silly it was to worry.”
“It’s alright. No harm done. Will you still be here after midnight?”
“Yes. Try to go back to sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“All right. Goodnight.”
I said goodnight and hung up. I didn’t feel as relieved as I thought I would, my chest still filled with an annoying burst of anxiety. I dialed Karen next and waited for her to answer.
“Hey, girlie,” she said chipperly. “Wuz up?”
“I think Brad’s in town,” I burst.
“What?” she snapped, the fun gone from her voice. “How? Why?”
“Amber,” I groaned. “She came in tonight bragging about f**king Shane and then mentioned Brad was with him.”
“Brad was there while Shane f**ked her? Disgusting!”
“What? No! Independent remarks there.”
“Uh, okay, we’ll get back to that Shane bit in a minute, but Brad’s in town?! Do you really believe her? I mean, the girl’s a bitch. I’m sure she’d say anything to get a rise out of you.”
“Yeah, she would. Which is why she mentioned the Shane part. The Brad part… How would she know to say that? She has no idea what’s been going on here. If Shane had told her about it she would’ve said something more heinous. I think she was just rubbing in the fact that my ex is no longer f**k material. She has no idea what his being in town would mean to me.”
“Okay, okay,” she tried to soothe. “We’ll figure this out. I can be there first thing in the morning.”
“What? No! I wasn’t calling to rally the troops, I’m just freaking out here a bit. Besides, you just got back home this morning.”
“Yeah, and by this afternoon, Kevin’s boss asked him to be in Oklahoma City tomorrow to give a presentation. Apparently the guy who was going to go got sick. It’s all last minute. He left at dinner time and he won’t be back until late tomorrow night. I can totally come back. You’re not even a two-hour drive.”
Gawd, that was tempting. I was seriously feeling outnumbered here. “What did I ever do to deserve a friend like you, huh?”
“Simple. You called out that ass**le Mark when he tried to tell the whole school I threw myself at him and gave him a titty dance after homecoming sophomore year. Lying bastard. It didn’t even occur to me to have him prove he’d seen me na**d by announcing where and what my tattoo was.”