"You know what I want." My words are so quiet they almost become lost within the small breeze passing by.
"Well, if your nearly worn off red lipstick is any indication," he says with a sigh, letting his hands dip into his pockets. "That's not an option." He turns away from me and walks back toward the motel and back into the room he walked out of.
“I’ve thought of you every single day since that night,” I yell after him, but he doesn’t pause his step or look back at me.
Finally being near Raine again after all these years has my stomach twisted into a knot, but as I watch him walk back into that woman’s room, my heart breaks with a pain I have no right to be feeling after all of this time. Imagining him with her makes me feel sick.
After denying a marriage proposal and scaring off the only other man I've ever been interested in on the same day, maybe I should reconsider my choices. Maybe I do belong with Bennett, despite what he did to me earlier this year. There’s a good chance that Raine is no longer the same man I once loved, and he may never forgive me for what happened all those years ago. It is what I deserve.Karma. Maybe love isn't always the tie that keeps a couple together. It could just be the companionship or the comfort. Bennett doesn’t make me feel the way Raine used to, but I could probably be content with him.
I pull out my phone, seeing the dozens of missed calls and texts from Bennett. Holding my finger down on his number, I hold the phone up to my ear. With my other arm wrapped around my midsection, I cower over to block the wind.
"Haven?" Bennett answers.
"I'm at The Motel in Sutter."
"What? Is someone with you? Why are you even in that—that—God—that town, Haven? What are you thinking?"
"I'm alone in the middle of the parking lot. Would you mind coming to get me? Or—um, I could call Maryanne or a cab." I should have just called a cab and gone home to Mom and Dad's. Explaining to them why I'm not with Bennett tonight might be easier than explaining to Bennett why I don't want to marry him.
"A cab?" he shouts into the phone. "Don't be ridiculous, Haven. I'll be there in fifteen minutes. Just—just, go into that bar or something." No. That bar was the worst mistake of my life, or maybe the best. I'm still undecided.
"Okay." I hear him fumble with something briefly, and Maryanne mumble something in the background before the phone goes silent.
As the minutes creep by, I stare over toward the room Raine walked into, wondering what's happening behind those doors. He didn't look happy when he walked out before, but clearly, he was eager to get back in there. I don't hear any moans or screams this time, but I'm also farther away. Who is this woman he’s with so soon after being released from prison?
Never mind. I probably don’t want to know the answer.
As if a subtle answer to my question appears from nowhere, I hear the door of the bar open and close, followed by two men shouting at each other. The biker bar—the place where lucky girls find bad boys, and bad boys get lucky. Unless of course, two unlucky men are fighting over a girl. I've heard the stories. The men are throwing punches, and one of them is instantly knocked to the ground. I back away slowly, hoping they don't spot me alone in the parking lot.
As I reach a lamp pole, I try to conceal as much of myself behind it as I can. Their voices continue to grow louder and more people make their way outside, many of whom join in the fight. It's like a full out brawl now.
"Hey," I hear another voice yell across the lot, and I look in each direction, trying to see where it's coming from. Then I see Raine standing in the doorway of his motel room in nothing but boxer shorts.Holy crap. I didn’t need to see that right now. "Get over here," he barks at me.
Knowing it’s my safest choice, I scamper across the lot and over to the motel room. Raine grabs my arm and pulls me into the room where I'm greeted by a naked woman lying on the bed. She's passed out, I think. I hope.No. Why is this happening?
"I don't want to be in here. Oh, my God... What—is that smell?" My nose seems to crinkle on its own. It smells like a combination of stale cigarettes, pee, and…I think, sex. Kind of like that bar, from what I remember. "You two an item?" I look over at the naked woman again, taking in the array of tattoos covering most of her skin.A match made in heaven, I suppose.
"Why do you care?" he asks. "Shouldn't you be halfway back to Cascade by now?"
"Because I do care. And Bennett is coming to pick me up." I turn around, needing to avoid looking at this emaciated, trashy woman.
"Is Bennett your 'almost fiancé'?"
"Why do you care?" I glance over at him with a raised brow, doing my best not to look at his chiseled body, which is covered by an array of artwork in the form of tattoos. That's new. Forcing myself to look away again, I peel the curtain away from the window, looking outside for headlights, but all I see are dozens of people fighting in the parking lot. The violence appears to be escalating as I watch a big burly guy pick up a smaller, scrawnier guy and heave him through the air. The poor man lands and skids across the asphalt. Having seen enough, I release the curtain. Good God.
The woman on the bed begins to stir and her eyes slowly open, finding me standing in front of her. "You brought us a friend?" she croaks out with a half-smile.Gross.
"No, she's leaving in a minute," Raine growls.
My phone buzzes and I look out the window, seeing the lights to Bennett's Aston Martin beaming toward the motel. "I have to go."
Raine places a hand on my back and guides me toward the door. "Take care of yourself and your Prince Charming out there. Oh, and don't ever forget that you're too good for this place." His words weren't meant to be kind. They were meant to hit me where it hurts.And I feel the intended pain.
I open the door and slip out, heading toward Bennett's car. When he sees me, he drives forward, meeting me in the middle of the lot. "What the hell are you doing at this dump?" he asks before the door is fully open. "And who the hell is that?" In the three years I've known Bennett, I've never heard him cuss. I follow his gaze, seeing Raine standing in the open doorway, still in nothing but his boxers. "Is that—?" I swallow hard, not wanting to answer any of the incoming questions, but also knowing I don’t have a better response.
"Yes, that's Raine. No, I didn't sleep with him. No, I didn't plan to see him tonight, and no, I'm not planning to see him again."
Because he hates me.
