“Of course,” Nora replied. “The more the merrier.” She looked incredible as always—a pair of dark jeans and simple, pale yellow, long sleeved shirt. The girl looked good in anything, but these particular jeans seemed to be hugging her ass in an exceptionally tempting way tonight. Her long hair was down and wavy, looking a little blonder from all of our time outside on the bike recently. She pulled it to one side as I stood next to her, purposely showing off her delectable neck to me. I leaned in a pressed my lips to her skin, chastely.
“I don’t know about you Brett, but I’m about sick of these two and their constant groping,” Georgia teased. “You wanna grab a drink?”
“Yeah, they’re pretty gross,” he said with a smile before following Georgia to the bar. As soon as they walked away I turned Nora in my arms and pressed my lips to hers.
“If they want to see groping, we can show them groping.”
“You’re incorrigible,” she said against my lips.
“You love it.” I tightened my arms around her waist.
“I do,” she said wrinkling her nose. “So, what’s the deal with them?” she asked, turning her head to toward the bar. Georgia and Brett seemed to be having a friendly conversation as they ordered drinks.
“No idea,” I answered. “I know he thinks she’s hot. You mean you haven’t gotten any gossip from your sister on the topic?”
“Not really,” she said. I released my arms from around her and took her hand in mine. “She’s been busy at work and I’ve been busy with you so...”
“Yeah, I’ve kind of dropped the friend ball with Brett, too.” I sighed. “I might have said that I didn’t think he was good enough for her a while back. I don’t think he’d tell me the truth about her anyway.”
“Hmmm.” Nora stared up at me pensively. “I mean, I don’t think he’s a bad guy,” she hesitated. “And, I think Georgia is pretty good at making her own decisions.” As she was talking, Georgia playfully slapped at Brett’s arm and it appeared that she was actually flirting with him. “We might just have to wait and see how it plays out.”
“Well, we might not have that much time,” I said, deciding it was best to just tell her that I had to leave in a week.
“What do you mean?”
“We’ve gotta go back. For work.”
“When?” Nora’s big blue eyes were full of concern, a crease had formed between her brows and I wanted to kiss it away. I wanted to tell her that we were going to be fine and that it was all going to work out. I wanted to keep telling her that until she believed it.
“A week.” I squeezed her hand in mine. “It’s going to be fine though. I’ll be able to come back when the house is completed, and you can fly out for the weekends. We’re going to be fine.” I needed just as much reassurance on this topic as she did. What if she decided that I wasn’t worth the trouble and was the one to end things? I knew she thought it would be me, but I was the one that was worried.
She nodded, but didn’t say anything. I could see the tears welling in her eyes and I felt helpless. I hated seeing her cry, and knowing I was the reason for her tears was almost more than I could handle.
“Shutterbug. Please don’t cry.” I pulled her against my chest and pressed my lips to the top of her head.
“I’m not,” she said, shaking her head and trying to muster up a smile. “I’m fine. I just need some air.” She pulled her hand from mine. “I’ll be right back.”
O ne week.
It didn’t seem fair. It was too soon for him to be leaving. I paced the sidewalk in front the bar. The sun had set and the street lights had turned on. For a Friday night the town square was exceptionally bare. Which was fine, I really didn’t feel like explaining to anyone why I was wiping tears off of my face.
I knew that he would eventually have to leave, but the house wasn’t finished. I thought we still had time.
Stop being so ridiculous, I told myself. Yes, he was leaving, but it wasn’t like last time. This time was different. We’d talk every day. We’d see each other whenever it was possible. We were going to be fine.
“Nora?” I heard my name and turned expecting to find Reid. Instead I nearly ran right into Beau. I placed my hands on his chest and steadied myself.
“Sorry,” I said, taking a step back. He looked at me and I knew that he could see the tears on my face.
“What’s the matter?”
“Nothing,” I said. “I was just having a moment.” He reached out and rubbed his hand on my shoulder and I looked up into his eyes that were sweetly trained on me. Maybe he did really care about me. “I’ll be fine,” I told him.
“Rethinking leaving me for Travers?” he said. Of course he would assume that my tears had something to do with him. “I told you it would end this way.”
“Nothing is ending.” I wiped the last bit of wetness from my face. “For your information, Reid and I are just fine.”
“Yeah, well, I give it a month.”
“I get that I hurt you, but you don’t have to be a dick about it.”
“Actually, I can be however I want to be about it. You’re the one that made the mistake. You’re the one that cheated on me.”
“Whatever, Beau,” I said, walking past him. I didn’t have to stand out there and listen to a single word he said. I hadn’t cheated on him. Well, not exactly. He could think whatever he wanted, his opinion really didn’t matter to me. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry that things didn’t work out between us, but I’m not going to apologize again. If you want to be pissed for half your life, that’s fine.”
“Wait just a minute,” he said, reaching out to grab my arm. “You didn’t even give me a chance to fight for you. That’s what really pisses me off.” His fingers tightened around my arm as he stepped closer. He was angry and I could smell the alcohol on his breath. “I could be the right guy for you.”
“No,” I said, yanking free of his grasp, I took a step back. “You couldn’t.”
He took a step toward me. I shuffled my feet back until I felt the cool cement of the bar wall behind me.
“What is it, you only fuck professionals?” he said, pinning me between his arms. The heat in his tone and stare had me worried. “I don’t have enough sponsors for you?”
“That has nothing to do with it,” I said, trying to move past him, but he wasn’t budging. “Just let me go back inside. I have nothing to say to you.”
“Well, I think—”
“I’m going to give you two seconds to get the fuck away from her before I beat your ass, Gregurich,” Reid’s voice broke the trance that Beau was trying to hold on me. I could see Reid over Beau’s shoulder. His fists and jaw clenched, whatever restraint he had was wearing thin as those two seconds passed and he walked to where we were standing. Beau held up his hands, releasing me, and took a step back. Briefly, I thought maybe that would be the end of it. That somehow we could avoid what was next, but just as I reached Reid’s side, Beau turned on his heels and launched his fist toward Reid’s face. The sound alone was enough to draw a scream from me.
“Omigod,” I yelled, as I rushed to Reid’s side. The punch hadn’t knocked him off his feet, but I could see his cheek reddening and immediately starting to swell. “Are you okay?”
“I’m all right,” he said to me, before turning his attention to Beau. “I’m going to give you that one,” Reid said. The chuckle that followed surprised me as much as it surprised Beau. The smug smile he had on his face after sucker punching Reid fell as quickly as his fist had. Reid rubbed his hand over his cheek and smiled as if it hadn’t hurt at all. “I deserve a punch for stealing back what was mine, but I swear to God if you ever touch, talk, or look at her the wrong way, I will end you. Do you understand me?” Reid took a step toward him, and he knew as well as Beau that they weren’t evenly matched. Reid could have wiped that parking lot with Beau if he wanted to. “Don’t think I won’t use every connection I have to ruin you.”