“Screw being civil,” Marie spat. “You don’t owe him shit.”
“I know I don’t. I just–”
“Hales!”
Hearing him call out tohermade the burning in my chest flare. After what she’d told me, I didn't know why she was still talking to him, but she seemed to have her reasons.
“I’ll be back,” Haley said quietly, her jaw set. I watched her shoulders tense again as she turned and walked stiffly back to Brett.
“What the hell is she doing?” Marie whispered. “God, that guy is such a dick.”
I watched her sit back on the pub stool, her eyes flickering to mine again. “She’s a smart girl. I’m sure she’s just handling him in her own way.”
“I appreciate your confidence, Dr. Dimples, but you weren’t around to see all of those times he put her through the wringer before—the other women, the arrogance, the fake charm bullshit. Yet he always pulled her back in. I don’t want her swept into the romanticized version she had of him, making excuses. She deserves better.”
“She knows that,” I countered in Haley’s defense. “She knows she deserves better than him.”
She promised.
While Marie got pulled away to celebrate with some others, I remained at the bar, taking a seat on the stool and keeping my eyes locked on Haley.
“Can I get your usual beer?” Scott, the bartender, asked.
“Uh, no…” I said, my eyes never leaving her. “I’ll take a Blackwood bourbon, please.” I limited myself to one drink because I had to drive home, but a beer wouldn’t cut it. Whatever was coming felt heavier than that.
I sat there for the next damn hour, slowly nursing my bourbon while watching Haley have a hushed conversation with Brett. Even from the distance across the bar, I understood what Marie meant when she said “fake charm bullshit.” I could see the way that douchebag was smiling at her, trying his damndest to use what I assume were all the tricks that worked on her in the past. Itwasn’tworking, though. He would say something, and Haley would shake her head or roll her eyes, showing complete disinterest.
And she kept looking at me the whole damn time.
Every so often, her eyes would shift right to the bar where I was sitting, almost as if she were making sure I was still there. I wasn’t leaving. Not while that dickhead was next to her.
As time dragged on, Brett seemed to grow bolder. He leaned in, invading her space, fingers grazing her arm with a possessiveness that made my blood boil. Every touch was a taunt, done like he had some kind of right because of their history.
Haley finally jerked her arm back, her jaw clenching, but Brett stopped her. Then, I watched the asshole lean in as if tokiss her. My shoulders tensed and my chest burned, every muscle on high alert as I watched.
Haley turned her head, stopping him with a hand to his chest, and her gaze caught mine.That’s my girl, I thought.Don’t let him back in. I saw a flash in her eyes—a look that said she knewexactlywhat I was thinking…andlikedit. And she didn’t look away after that, the heat in her gaze becoming more apparent with each passing moment.
Brett must have seen it and assumed it was for him because he tried to kiss heragain, but this time, sheshovedhim back—not hard but enough to make her declination crystal fucking clear.
And he didn’t like that much.
My grip tightened around my glass as I watched the irritation flare on Brett’s face. He stood abruptly, lips pressed in a thin line. Then I heard him speak, sharp and dismissive. “I’m going to grab us another drink.Clearly, you need more to loosen you up. When did you become so damn uptight?”
He didn’t wait for her to respond before stalking toward the bar, but I wasn’t watching him. My eyes were still on hers. I barely registered the asshole when he came up to the bar, stopping just a few feet from me as he lifted a finger to Scott to flag him down.
But he seemed to have noticed me.
Andwhere I was looking.
His cocky voice cut through the air. “Don’t get any ideas. She’s interested in me.”
“That so?” I drawled, not even bothering to spare a glance in the prick’s direction.
“Yeah,” he scoffed. “Itisso. So look away.”
I nodded. “Interesting.”
He turned toward me, crossing his arms over his chest, pushing up his biceps with the movement to try to make them appearbigger. “What’s so damn interesting?”
