“Yeah, well, so am I. I’m sorry I wasted two years of my life with you. I’m sorry I trusted you. I’m sorry I ever met you.”
“But we’re going to get married, honey. You are my soul mate. Let’s figure out a way to work through this. I don’t want us to throw everything away over one misstep.”
Ok, he’s groveling, but he’s going to have to do a lot better than this. I give this performance a C minus. He needs to put all the blame on himself and stop with all of this “us” talk.
“Hell. To. The. No.”
I lower my hat to keep from laughing in his face after her comeback. I see Adrienne is funnyandballsy when she wants to be. I like this side of her.
“I’m only human,” he says with his arms spread wide as if he’s baring his entire soul to her. “Born to make mistakes.”
Wait a minute, did he just quote a song from The Human League? Holy hell, I call bullshit. If the server brings over another drink to this table, I’m going to toss it all over this loser myself.
“If you can’t be faithful now, imagine how it will be when we get married.”
Adrienne’s eyes are a little glassy and I don’t blame her. Most women would be curled up somewhere, knee deep in ice cream, and bawling their eyes out after what she’s been through.
“Yeah, imagine that,” I blurt out.
I did my best to stay out of their conversation, but I couldn’t help myself. I hate that she’s on the brink of crying. She was doing so well. He should've given this twenty-four hours and regrouped in the morning, but no, here he is ruining my night and hers… again.
Once the tiny man has finally had enough of my interference, he takes another long look at me and cocks his head curiously to the side.
“Yo, do I know you?”
Eleven
JETT
“Nah,man, you definitely don’t know me.”
My guess is that Troy probably watches sports and while part of him recognizes my face, the other part is bewildered by it. This happens a lot when you’re a professional athlete.
People imagine we live our lives on another planet. Planet billionaire. Where life is full of the typical over-the-top trappings of success one may see in a movie or music video. So when folks see us in a normal place, like this bar, it confuses them. I’m hiding in plain sight, and his minuscule brain can’t compute how a person like me would ever be a part of his average world.
“Well, you’re kind of in the way,” he says to me. “If you could excuse yourself, that would be much appreciated.”
“Can’t do that.”
“I’m sorry, but what did you say?”
“I said that I can’t do that.”
“And why is that?” he asks with a firm but guarded tone.
I’m taller and bigger than the average quarterback and definitely than the average man. I’ll give him points for not completely folding like a deck of cards, but I can see the fear in his eyes, even though he’s trying his best to walk a fine line between “tough guy” and “chicken shit”.
“Troy, stop being rude,” Adrienne says in defense of me.
“Yourexand I have plans after this,” I tell him. “And if I’m going to get her home at a reasonable hour, we’re probably going to need to get going.”
I came up with the first thing that entered my head and it infuriates him, which makes me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside. I watched my mother numb herself with alcohol to escape the pain of my father’s philandering. And if Adrienne feels even half of that, I’m fine with not minding my business. Breaking a promise you make to another human being can have devastating effects. My father not only hurt my mother, but I was a casualty of his poor choices as well. I have no sympathy for men who do that to women. In my opinion, they aren’t real men.
Adrienne gives me a confused look, but I shoot her a look of my own back, hoping that she understands I need her to play along if she wants to get rid of this loser.
“We broke up two fucking seconds ago and you’re on a date with some stranger in a bar?” He raises his voice at her.
“Watch your tone,” I warn him, as the hair on the back of my neck rises. I can’t explain my sudden need to protect her, but it’s there.
