Authors: Ana Layne
I’m pacing outside of Joe’s when Raegan and Garrett pull up in the parking lot. As soon as they get out of the truck, I’m approaching them quickly. My damn palms are sweating and we haven’t even made it inside yet. Hell, I don’t even know if Hilary’s here, or if she’s coming. Raegan links her arm with mine and we begin the walk to the front door with Garrett right behind us. The music blares through as we walk inside. My eyes take some time adjusting to the bright lights and when I can finally see, I make my way to the bar. I can’t do this shit sober. I know that sounds shitty, but my nerves are on edge. I order three shots of Patron and pass them to Raegan and Garrett.
“To liquid courage, making us a hell of a lot stronger than we normally are,” I say as I toss the shot back.
We set the empty shot glasses on the bar. I’m looking for her now.
“Don’t worry, Lance, she’ll be here,” Raegan whispers in my ear. Garrett slides her a drink and she begins slowly sipping it.
“I hope.” I lean across the bar and order a beer. I take the first sip and then glance over my shoulder. My breathing becomes erratic, and I see exactly what I want. Hilary is here.
“Raegan, there she is,” I say, nodding toward her.
“Told you. Okay, so what’s the plan?”
I was supposed to have a plan? Raegan never mentioned a fucking plan. I guess this is where I dive in balls deep and hope Hilary doesn’t crush them. I put one foot in front of the other and look back at Raegan. “This is my plan. Say a prayer for me.”
Garrett laughs and raises his beer to me. I don’t know what the fuck I think I’m doing as I slowly approach her. She doesn’t see me coming, and I think I like it better this way. I can hear her laugh and it’s like music to my soul. My hand moves without me realizing it, and I touch her shoulder. She turns around slowly and when her eyes meet mine, her smile fades.
“What do you want, Lance?”
“I’m sorry I never got back to you a few weeks ago, I had to leave abruptly.” I stay calm as I speak, but my palms are sweating, so I place them in my pockets.
“Oh, you needed to get sucked off in the parking lot? You don’t owe me an explanation for that.”
My heart plummets and I can feel tears forming behind my eyes. This was a damn mistake. “No, Hilary. I wasn’t getting sucked off. I got a phone call that my mom died, and I had to go home.”
Her eyes widen as she throws her hands over her mouth. She looks mortified. “Oh my God. Lance, I’m so sorry.”
“What do you have to be sorry for? That’s the truth, I can’t change it.”
Considering her attitude lately, her actions confuse me. She wraps her arms tightly around my neck and pulls me in for a hug. Feeling her body against mine ignites flames of desire and my cock begins to harden. I can’t let her feel that. I don’t want to scare her off.
She draws herself away slightly and looks at me. “Can you please forgive me for my comment? I feel like shit now.”
“You didn’t know, Hil. It’s okay. I haven’t been out since then, and I felt horrible about walking out on you that night…even though you made it clear you didn’t want to speak to me.”
“You hurt me, Lance.” She breaks the hug, but leans close enough that no one else can hear her words. “You left me all alone that night in the closet. I wasn’t trying to scare you off. I wanted you. But I felt you needed to know I was a virgin.”
Hearing her say she wanted me that night makes my cock twitch in my jeans. She’s really got to stop saying things like this in public. Her eyes are softer now, showing me the Hilary I met that night. I glance over to see Raegan grinning from ear to ear. She’s completely eating this shit up.
“I need to tell you something else, Hil. You know me. You may not remember me, but I remember you. We went to high school together.”
Her eyes widen. “Oh my God, it
is
you.” Her cheeks redden as she covers her mouth. “This is really embarrassing. I thought you looked familiar, but—”
“It shouldn’t be embarrassing, so please don’t think that. I made a move on you, not even realizing who you were. You should know it wasn’t my intention to use you.”
“I don’t know what kind of a guy you are. I know you were the kind of guy who was willing to stand up for me once, and I thank you for that. You made things a little more bearable.”
I’m in a whole other world—the world I’ve been dying to be a part of—when a voice suddenly breaks through. “Hey, Hil, is this guy bothering you?”
I look up to meet the eyes of Travis Pierce. He’s a local fighter like Garrett and I. Matter of fact, Garrett and I have
both
beaten him in the ring before so he’s not as badass as he thinks he is.
“No, babe, he’s not. He was just saying hi,” she tells him with a beautiful grin.
My
beautiful grin.
Wait, did she just call him babe?
He grabs her by the waist and pulls her in for a long, sickening kiss. He reaches down and gropes her ass, and I want to punch the shit out of him. When the kiss breaks, he just stares at me.
“You can go now,” he tells me.
Oh, fuck no.
My eyes begin to see red and I can’t stop the reaction that’s coming. “I’ll go when Hilary tells me to go.”
“No, you leave because I just fucking told you to. I don’t want you touching my woman. I don’t want you anywhere near her. She’s mine, asshole, got it? I’m the one taking her home, not you.”
Taking her home?
I look toward Hilary, and she glances down as if embarrassed.
“Don’t tell me you let
him
fuck you, Hilary,” I say. “You deserve so much better than this ass-hat. Does he even know how to be a fucking gentleman?”
“You better watch your mouth, Lance,” Travis barks.
“I’m not talking to you, so fuck off,” I reply.
Then he pushes me with brutal force, but not enough to knock me down. Within seconds, Raegan is by my side, shoving a few bystanders away and pushing at Travis. The bartender, distracted from his tasks, yells at us and threatens to call the police, but his words are ignored.
“What the fuck, asshole! Don’t put your damn hands on him,” Raegan says.
Travis barks out a laugh as he balls his fists against his sides. “Well, Lance, I see you have a fucking bitch fighting your battles for you.”
Raegan’s face turns blood red at his words and before I can reply, she raises her voice to him. “I will fucking knock you on your goddamn ass, Travis, so don’t play with me.”
“Why don’t you go bake some shit, and let the big boys talk?” He sneers at her.
“How about you quit talking to my girlfriend that way,” Garrett says, before he leans into me and whispers, “I went to the bathroom for five fucking seconds, and you two have this place ready to throw down already.”
I give him a shrug, not quite sure what the hell to tell him right now.
“Get your fucking girlfriend out of my business,” Travis tells him.
“Fuck you!” Raegan yells. Garrett grabs her by the waist and tries to calm her down. She’s on fire, and I’m surprised she hasn’t thrown a punch yet.
Travis points his finger before thrusting it into my chest. “Stay. The. Fuck. Away. From. My girl.”
The crowd that began to form moments earlier starts egging us on with their comments. I can hear some of them beginning to chant
fight, fight
. I ignore them, wishing they would get out of my business.
Travis just crossed another line, and I can’t hold back any longer. I ball my fist up and throw the first punch. My fist connects with his jaw and his eyes widen as he takes in what just happened. Hilary clasps her hands over her mouth as her eyes expand with fear. She looks like she wants to ask him if he’s okay, but she doesn’t say a word. Travis shakes his head, then storms at me. I fly backward, crashing into a table and some chairs. Damn, this shit hurts. I get up, and push him back just as hard. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Raegan grab Hilary by the arm and get her out of the way.
Garrett yanks me away for a minute. “Stop it, man, his pathetic ass isn’t worth it.”
Travis tries to punch me again but misses and hits Garrett. Yeah, big fucking mistake. Garrett turns around, his face angry and red. He balls up his fist and hits Travis in the eye, then again in the nose. Blood begins to pour, and I’m almost positive Travis has a broken nose now. The bartender comes running up and yanks me away from the situation. He’s a big man, and he manages to tug me away from the brawl. “You two macho pigs just don’t listen. Christ, I can’t be in two places at once! Get out of here, Lance, before I call Howard and the goddamn cops.”
“That was for talking to my girlfriend like shit.” Garrett nods at Raegan and walks off. Travis can’t even get to his feet right now, and Hilary looks scared to death.
I should get out of there, I should do what I’m told. But I can’t fight the magnet that’s pulling me toward her. Her eyes are full of fear as I approach her, and I can’t blame her. “Hil, I’m so sorry you had to see that.”
“I think you need to go, Lance. Please…before he gets up. I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I’m pretty sure I can hold my own, as you just saw.” I step closer, so no one else can hear. “Hil, please tell me you aren’t sleeping with him. Did he…did he take your virginity from you?”
She doesn’t have to answer me. Her body language tells me everything. The way she lowers her head and won’t even look at me says it all. Eventually, she whispers, “Lance, I don’t know what you want from me.”
“I wanted you to give me a chance, Hil. You haven’t left my mind since I remembered who you were, but I wouldn’t have even bothered you tonight if I’d have known you were with him.”
“We’re not even officially dating, Lance,” she tells me.
She doesn’t need to say anything else. They’re fuck buddies, great. That’s just the visual I didn’t want.
“I should get going.” I notice the bartender eyeballing me. I really need to leave and just do what he asked. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”
As I walk past Travis, the urge to plant my foot into his rib crosses my mind. Instead, I pass him and walk straight out the front doors, not once looking back to see if someone helped him up.
Raegan and Garrett are standing outside waiting for me. “What took you so long? I thought I was going to have to come back inside,” Garrett tells me.
“I had to tell her I was sorry for that. Travis is still on the ground.”
Raegan lets out a laugh. “Serves him right.”
“Raegan, please,” Garrett scolds. “You shouldn’t have stepped into that. If he’d have touched you, I would have killed him.”
Raegan sticks out her tongue and just glares at Garrett. “I guess we’re going to head home now. This was a short-lived night. You heading home too, Lance?”
“Yeah, I guess. Unless Travis leaves, I’m not going back in there.”
I reach into my pocket to grab my truck keys when a soft hand touches my shoulder. I turn to find Hilary standing behind me. My body goes on full alert looking for signs of Travis. I can’t let my guard down. I refuse to. I scan the entire parking lot to the front door, and when I don’t see him, my body relaxes a little.
“What are you doing out here, Hil?”
Raegan grabs Garrett by the arm and pulls him away. They don’t stop until they are sitting inside Garrett’s truck.
“I wanted to see you again before you left.”
“I don’t want Travis getting mad at you. You should get back inside.”
“I don’t care about him, Lance. He treats me as a convenience, so why can’t I do the same to him?” Hearing her say that makes me want to stomp back inside Joe’s and beat the shit out of him again. Hilary deserves so much better than that. The Hilary I remember from high school doesn’t deserve anything Travis has to offer.
“Then why do you stay with him? Why are you putting yourself in the same bullying situations I helped you get away from?” I ask.
“Hil, where are you?” Travis yells from the door. We’re standing just around the corner of the building. This is my cue to get the hell out of here.
“I’ll see you around.”
I don’t give Hilary a chance to say anything before I stalk to my truck and drive off quickly. In the rearview mirror, I see what I didn’t want to see. His arms around her. No woman I know would stick around someone like Travis, so what’s Hilary’s real excuse? She’s beautiful, and after the hell she went through in high school, I would have thought she’d have learned to stay away from people like
him
. I suddenly realize how fast I’m going. Shit, I need to slow down. I haven’t had a lot to drink but I still don’t need to get stuck with a DUI or a speeding ticket for that matter.
The next morning, I am lying wide awake in bed with a major headache. I was hardly able to sleep at all. I couldn’t do anything but think of Hilary and how fucked up everything was. My final attempt to close my eyes is interrupted when my phone begins vibrating rather loudly on the nightstand. I reach out and grab it, anything to make it stop. I can’t take that annoying sound over and over again. Howard’s name on the screen jolts me from the bed. It’s almost ten in the morning and I was supposed to be at Lou’s an hour ago.