“End it with Julia. Be fair to her.” She straightened her tank top and cleared her throat before grabbing the fallen hair scrunchy from the floor. Then she walked around me, careful not to touch me. At the foot of the stairs, she looked back at me. “Just make sure that this is what you want.”
Chapter35
Paisley
Jake moved in the following weekend, and it was smooth sailing. He was a good roommate, decent and clean, and a hoot to know. I adored his company, and it kept me from mulling over Hansen. Since we had recently been switched to alternating shifts, we rarely saw each other anyway, but I think that was okay with the both of us.
Saturday night, I was in the mood to celebrate. We’d had a good week at the station, six good saves and only one loss. While I hadn’t heard anything from Hansen regarding Julia, I didn’t bother asking. Whatever the answer would have been, it would have broken my heart just the same. Avoiding each other was easier.
“I’m going out!” I called to Jake. He poked his head out of the bathroom and gave me thumbs up. “Where are you going?”
“The Tavern. For a drink and some pool. Wanna come?”
“Xbox and pizza are calling my name.” He shook his head. “Have fun.”
I grabbed my keys from the hook on the door and drove to the little bar down the road, the one where all my crew frequented. They were all working tonight, however, so I figured I’d have to make an attempt at making new friends, not that it would do me any good. I finally had friends, for the most part, and they were all I needed.
I parked behind the alleyway in the off-street parking lot behind the tavern and shrugged on my jacket before making my way toward the bar. Gravel crunched beneath my feet and a cold chill in the air bit at the bare skin on my neck. I shivered, turning into the alleyway to get to the bar’s entrance, shoving my hands deep into my pockets.
The first hit came from behind, catching me off guard. It was like a freight train had smashed me square in the back, leaving me on my knees in the gravel, gasping for breath. Before I could even make sense of it, the tip of a steel-toed boot connected with my ribs, catching me at just the right angle, so I flipped to the side, broken glass and gravel etching their way into the uncovered skin of my arms and face.
Standing over me, hovering, was a douchebag with his hood drawn up over his head and a wrap around his face, covering most of his features. As I sucked in a breath, wincing, and tried to roll onto my knees, he kicked me again. This time, when I fell, the crack of my ribs was painfully loud. A searing pain like that of a sledgehammer to the skull seared through my body, and this time I couldn’t catch my breath at all. Frantically, I tried to push myself away from the attacker, but with every inch of movement, my body screamed in pain, resisting my getaway. As I waited for the next hit, closing my eyes so I wouldn’t see it coming, my attacker’s face was suddenly in my own; I smelled the chewing tobacco and menthol before he spoke.
“Consider this your final warning,” the voice hissed. One hand reached out and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, yanking me closer to him. I cringed. “Leave the squad. You’re not welcome there, bitch.”
Chapter36
Hansen
“Do you need a cab?”
“I can’t leave my car here,” Julia said. She sounded annoyed that I’d even suggested it, which is how she’d sounded all night long.
“Let me drive you home.”
“I don’t need your charity.”
We were sitting inside the bar, finishing a drink. Julia rummaged through her purse for her keys, swaying as she released a string of profanities that would make a sailor blush. It had been over a week, a mere week, since I’d ended things with Julia, and she was still just as pissed now as she had been then. I couldn’t blame her, not even a little bit. I was a fucking dick, and she had every right in the world to hate me.
As she stepped around me, I got to my feet and followed her, tossing some cash onto the counter for the tab. It was drizzling, with a chilly breeze in the air around us. Julia hiked up her jacket around her chin and shivered.
“I can’t let you drive like this,” I said. She ignored me, shoving the key into the door’s lock. It was the wrong one. She cursed.
“Piss off, Hansen. Haven’t you done enough already?”
“Jules, stop.”
“I said pissoff!” She wheeled around, eyes burning, nostrils flaring. The keys were gripped in her fingers, clenched, digging into the palm of her hand as she stared at me, ready to fight tooth and nail. I took a step back in case she started swinging at me. As she turned around to get into the car, I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her back, wrestling for the keys. She shrieked something, clawing at the air, but I held on. Apparently, her desire to “just talk” had turned into nothing more than a drunken escapade. It had been a bad idea coming here to meet her.
“I hate you!” she screamed. “I fucking hate you.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“I hate you.” She collapsed in my arms, her anger becoming quiet sobs of hurt and turmoil. Tears stained her cheeks as she cried in my shirt, her fist clenched desperately around the fabric.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Julia,” I said. “I would never intentionally do this.”
“Why her?” Julia asked. When she looked up at me, her cheeks were stained with mascara. “Why her? Why Paisley?”
