Unbearable (Undescribable) (39 page)

“I can’t believe tonight is your last night to work
at Larry’s,” Holly laments.

“It’s a dream come true,” Slade sighs out.

I look up at him with a scowl.

“How did the unpacking go?” Josh asks as he enters
the kitchen with Courtney.

I sigh as I sit down at the kitchen island. “I
still didn’t find my parents’ rings.”

“I remember her saying something about them being
in her dresser,” Tate remarks.

I look to him with narrowed eyes. “Well, why didn’t
you tell me that?”

He shrugs carelessly. “I just remembered it.” He
then looks over to Slade.

I release a breath as Slade places his hand on my
shoulder. “We’ll find them, Angel. They have to be there somewhere.”

I nod my head. “Yeah.”

“Come on, let’s go down to the basement and watch
some football before you have to get ready for work,” Slade says, grabbing my
hand and pulling me away from the counter.

“That’s how you met Slade?”
Missy asks, wide-eyed.

I bob my head in confirmation, before I park the
truck in the back parking lot of Larry’s for my last shift. She and Holly
wanted to ride up here with me since the guys are all coming up later as well.
They can ride home with them.

“So he was once like Tate?” she asks, smiling.

“I don’t know much about Tate,” I reply honestly. I
have thought that a few times, but I’m not going to tell her that I have seen
him with several different women in the last couple of months.

“I don’t know if anyone can be as bad as Slade once
was,” Holly adds seriously.

“That is probably true,” I agree, nodding my head.

I open the door to the truck and get out and we all
start to walk toward the back entrance. I walk in first and run straight into
Jeremy.

He grabs a hold of my waist in an unnecessary attempt
to steady me. I instantly shove his hands away and jump back.

“You need to be more careful,” he taunts with a
smile on his face.

I just narrow my eyes at him as he walks away, now
laughing to himself. “You really hate him, don’t you?” Holly whispers as we
walk down the hallway.

“There’s just something about him,” I muse, more to
myself. Then I come to a stop and turn to face the girls. “Why is he even here?
I checked the schedule yesterday. He was not on it.”

Holly looks down to the floor then back up at me.
“Well….” She rocks back and forth on her feet. “I didn’t want you to work
tonight. This is a surprise quitting party.” She shrugs. “Whatever you want to
call it. So I had him come in to work your shift.”

I smile because I can’t be mad at her for that.
“That is very sweet, Holly. Thank you.”

She lets out a breath with a little laugh. “I
thought that was going to be harder.”

Holly then turns to Missy. “You can stay, but you
can’t drink anything alcoholic. Okay?”

Missy nods with a smile on her face. “I don’t drink
anyway. But thanks for letting me be part of the party,” she says excitedly.

“No problem. You’re one of the girls now,” Holly
says, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. “Let’s get Sam a shot. I plan on
getting her a little tipsy tonight,” Holly taunts as she leads us toward the
bar.

I roll my eyes as I follow after her. Holly goes
behind the bar as Missy and I sit on the bar stools.

“When is Courtney coming up here?” Missy asks.

“Later with the guys. Josh’s father needed some
help with something.” I wave my hand in the air, not remembering what Slade had
told me while I was in the shower.

“Here you go,” Holly says, sliding a shot my way. I
start to lift it to my lips but she stops me.

“I’m going to use the restroom real quick. Wait
until I get back and I will take one with you.” She places her drink on the
counter.

“Okay.” I set mine down as well. I turn to talk to
Missy when my phone rings and I know it’s Slade.

I stand up and pull it out of my back pocket. “I’ll
be right back,” I tell her as I walk away from the bar.

“Hey, baby.”

“Hey, Angel. I just wanted to let you know we are
going to be here for about another hour.”

“Okay, the girls and I just got here, so I’ll see
you in a little bit.”

“Love you,” he says before he hangs up.

I turn around to walk back to the bar when the door
to the women’s bathroom swings open and Holly emerges.

“Slade called.” I hold up my phone. “They are gonna
be another hour,” I explain.

“Perfect,” she says cheerfully. “Gives us girl
time.”

We make our way back to the bar. “Did he know I
wasn’t working tonight?”

She looks over at me with a smile on her face and I
shake my head. Of course Slade knew. He knows everything.

I sit down next to Missy as Holly picks up her
drink.

“I told him I didn’t want it,” Missy announces,
getting our attention.

“What?” I look over to her.

“That Jeremy guy.” She checks around for him before
she looks down to the shot glass in front of her.

“He made you a shot?” Holly asks, scowling.

Missy nods. “I told him I don’t drink. That I
wasn’t even old enough, but he said I needed to take one with you two.” She
then pushes the shot over toward me. “You can have mine.”

I look down at it and see that it’s the same colors
as ours, but looks a tad foggy. “What kind of shot is this?” I ask her while
staring at it.

“He said it was the same thing you two had.”

I pick it up to inspect it closer. I look at the
cloudy drink and frown. “This is not the same shot. This does not look anything
like ours.” A repulsive thought hits me. “What if he put something in it?” I
ask, setting it down in horror.

“Jeremy wouldn’t do that,” Holly states.

“You don’t know him, Holly. None of us really know
him.” I push the glass away from me. “And none of us are going to take that
shot.”

“I don’t think—” Holly begins and I stop her.

“What if we test it?” I question aloud. I’ve had a
bad vibe about him from the get go. Do I want to think that he is trying to
drug my friend? No! But something is seriously off and I’m tired of ignoring
it.

Holly looks down to the shot as she bites nervously
on her bottom lip. “How are we going to test it without drinking it?” she asks
quietly, thinking out loud.

“I have an idea.” I smile, looking back down to the
shot glass.

“What?” Missy asks.

I jump off the bar stool and go behind the bar. I
make up another shot exactly the same as the others.

I then slide it over to Missy. “That is yours.”

She stares at it for a few seconds and then looks
up at me with a frown. “I’m confused.”

“You have to take it.” I smile softly at her. “Or
this won’t work. Can you do that? Just this one.”

She nods her head as if determined. “I can do it.”

“Great! Hand me the one that he made for Missy,” I
instruct Holly.

I hold it up and look at it. The cloudiness is
already gone and it looks normal. I take a deep breath, thinking how much I
want to kick his ass. I know he has mixed something in that shot. How could he
do that to Missy? I knew he was a piece of shit from day one.

“Hey, Jeremy,” I greet as he approaches us from the
back bar.

“We are all going to take a shot to kick off the
party.” I hold up the glass in my hand. “I made you one as well.” I smile
sweetly at him.

He frowns at my friendliness. I’ve never been nice
to the guy. I’m sure he’s wondering why the hell I am being nice now. “Never
mind,” I say as I shrug, though I need him to drink it. If he takes it and it
doesn’t have any effect, then he didn’t do anything different to it. “I’ll take
both of them.” I start to lift the glass to my lips when he stops me.

“No. I’ll take one with you. We sure are going to
miss you.” He gives me that sly smile and then he looks over to Missy. I have
the urge to throw this glass at the side of his head.

“Here you go.” I set the shot down on the bar and
push it over to him.

“Decided to take it after all?” he asks as he looks
down at Missy.

She swallows nervously and her eyes shoot to mine.
I give her a small nod and a big smile to play along.

“Uh.” She clears her throat. “Yes. Yes, I did.”

I lift my shot glass before he catches on to us.
“To Larry’s.” I look around the bar. “This place changed my life for the best.
And I’m going to miss it.” I lower my glass, knocking the bottom onto the bar
and then shoot it back. Everyone follows including Missy. She coughs and gags
as I smile over at her. I’m pretty sure that was the first drink she has ever
had, but she had to take it or it would have raised questions from Jeremy.

“That was delicious,” I say, licking my lips.

Jeremy nods his head. “I have to go finish stocking
the back bar.” He sets his empty shot glass down before he walks off to the
cooler. “Thanks, ladies.” Then he pats Missy on the shoulder. She looks up at
him, terrified and frozen. “Save me a dance later.” He winks before he walks off.

I look at Missy. “Are you alright?”

“How do you guys drink that nasty stuff?” she says
with a sour look on her face.

“You get used to it,” Holly laughs out loud, before
she turns to me with a serious look on her face. “Now what?”

“Now we go and find out if he did what I think he
did.”

Holly and Missy follow behind me as I walk down the
hallway and into the cooler where Jeremy is stacking boxes. I don’t know how
long something like that takes to get into your system. I’m hoping it happens
soon before the guys arrive.

“Perfect,” he says when he looks up at us. “I could
use some help.”

“Feeling okay?” I tilt my head while I gauge his
reaction.

“Yeah. Why?” He turns around to pick up another
case of beer.

I stand behind him and cross my arms over my chest.
“I figured that shot would make you feel…funny.”

“Like drunk?” He laughs. “Baby, it takes a lot more
than one shot to get me drunk.”

I grit my teeth at the fact he just called me baby.
“What about one that was roofied?”

He stands up and spins around. The look in his cold
brown eyes has me taking a step back from him.

“What are you talking about?” he asks slowly as he
looks down at me.

I square my shoulders. I have never liked this man
and I’m not about to take his shit. “I gave you Missy’s shot,” I spit out.

“You what?” He looks from me over to Missy and then
to Holly.

I take a step toward him. “I said, I gave you
Missy’s shot. You know the one you drugged?”

Before I can even blink, he’s standing in front of
me. He reaches out, placing his hand around my neck, and pushes me up against a
bunch of stacked beer boxes.

Missy screams and jumps back, covering her mouth as
Holly starts to run toward him. I lift my knee quickly. He releases me when it
makes contact with his balls. He falls to his knees as he cups them in both of
his hands.

I rub my neck as I take in a few deep breaths. I
look down at him as he struggles to catch his breath as well, and tries to
stand. “I always knew you were a bitch,” he rasps out. “That’s why I drugged
you.”

I look at Holly and Missy as my heart pounds in my
chest. I then look back down to him. “You’re lying. There was nothing in my
shot.” Was there? I hadn’t even looked at mine or Holly’s after we noticed
Missy’s shot. What if he had put it in all of our drinks? We left them on the
bar when Holly went to the bathroom and I took Slade’s phone call.

He shakes his head slowly. “The first time I met
you.” He takes in a deep breath and looks up at me. “That night I was your
bartender.”

I remember trying to walk to our hotel room. How
awful I felt when I woke up in the middle of the night. That next morning. “You
son of a bitch,” I say between my teeth.

He lets out a small laugh. “I did Slade a favor.
I’m sure that was the best night he has ever had with your uptight ass.”

“Slade is going to kick your ass,” Missy says,
taking a step toward him as he continues to sit on his knees. Holly grabs her
shoulders and pulls her back then chimes in, “Speaking of Slade.” She then
produces her phone from her back pocket.

“What are you doing?” I ask, looking at her then to
the phone in her hands.

“Calling Slade,” Holly says as she dials his
number.

I walk over and snatch her phone out of her hand.
“That’s not necessary. I do not feel like sitting up at the police station
tonight as I once again tell an officer my statement while Slade sits in a jail
cell because he killed Jeremy.” I don’t know if Slade would actually kill a man
for me, but I know he would put a man in the hospital. I don’t want Slade to
get in trouble with the law when I can fix this situation.

“What are you going to do, princess, call the
cops?” he chides.

“That is a good idea,” I reply with a smile.

He looks up at me and blinks a few times. I can
tell the shot is starting to affect him. “Can you imagine what will happen to
you once you pass out in a jail cell with several other men?”