Their lips were moving as they spoke to one another, but I was too far away to make out the words. One thing was obvious though. The way he was looking at her, and the way she had her hands on him, they clearly knew each other. Intimately.
My lungs suddenly stopped working right, making it difficult to pull in a full breath. The pain that pierced my chest was worse than anything I’d ever experienced. Even that time I’d broken my arm when I was six.
I couldn’t move. All I could do was stand there and stare as I bled out all over the floor. At least that was what it felt like.
I didn’t think it was possible for the pain to get any worse, but I was quickly proven wrong when the redheaded woman lifted up on her toes and kissed Tanner, right there in the middle of the bar, in front of everyone. People I knew, friends, associates, watched on with gaping mouths, their gazes bouncing back andforth between where I stood, and where Tanner was in a clinch with a woman who was absolutelynotme.
If I thought the humiliation at being cheated on by Blane was bad, it was nothing compared to having your heartbreak witnessed in real time by people you’d have to see day in and day out.
My sinuses began to burn and my vision grew blurry as tears welled up in my eyes, but I refused to blink. No way I was going to let them fall where Tanner and everyone else could see.
It happened in slow motion. Tanner clasped the woman’s wrists and took a step back, his eyes lifting to meet mine. A myriad of emotions played over his expression before his lips formed my name. He released the woman quickly, like the feel of her skin burned him, and took a step toward me, but I quickly mirrored it, moving one pace back. I desperately needed to maintain distance between us, or I was going to break.
His voice rose over the din of noise in the bar, over the rush of blood in my ears. “Holly, it’s not what it looks like—” he started, but I was done.
Turning on my heel, I rushed through the thick crowd of people toward the exit and away from Tanner.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Tanner
“Holly, wait!” I tried to go after her, but it was as if the crowd swallowed her up. Where it had parted for her, allowing her to make a quick escape, it crashed back together like a wave beating against a rocky cliff, making it almost impossible for me to get through.
I could feel the stares on me, and I was vaguely aware of the whispered voices and pissed-off looks directed at me, but in that moment, I could only focus on one thing. And that was the fact that my heart just ran away from me.
“Tanner. Tanner! I need to talk to you.”
I whirled around on the woman who may have cost me everything. The look I shot her had her taking a step back. Smart, seeing as I didn’t feel in control of myself just then. “What. Thefuck. Was. That?” Each word cracked through the air like a gunshot.
Sandra at least had the decency to look nervous, her throat working on a swallow, as she took another step away. “I-I’m sorry. I just thought?—”
I cut her off, my voice as hard and rigid as cold steel “No you didn’t. You didn’t fucking think at all. If you had, you would have stopped texting and calling when I told you we were done. You wouldn’t have stalked me across state fucking lines. And you sure as shit wouldn’t have touched me or kissed me when I gave you absolutelyzeroindication that was what I wanted!” My voice rose with each word until it was so loud it boomed over the jumble of noises blending together in the bar.
The color quickly leeched from Sandra’s face. “But... we were so good together.” It was the same shit she’d been spewing when she cornered me at the pool tables. I’d been so shocked to see her that my brain had momentarily glitched. That was the only reason she got close enough to put her hands on me... to kiss me. She’d taken my stunned state and used it to her advantage. “I just thought if I came here, if I reminded you, maybe you’d give me another shot.”
“Sandra, we weren’t anything more than an occasional hookup. We didn’t have any kind of relationship.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, but they had no effect. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s the goddamn truth! We were never anything but casual. And I know that because I never once shared anything of substance with you. But that woman,” I pointed toward the door, “the one who just ran out of here, she knows every single piece of me, because I gave that to her. And in one fucking breath, you may have destroyed that.”
Movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned just in time to see Lennix join our little huddle. Thunder rolled over her features, and if I wasn’t already mad enough to breathe fire, it would have been enough to have me pissing myself. “Everything okay over here?”
“No,” I answered immediately. “Everything is fucking far from okay. This woman stalked me all the way from DC,followed me to the bar, and after I told her she needed to leave, she kissed me. Right in front of Holly.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You consent to that kiss?”
I pinned Sandra in place with a murderous look. “Absolutely not.”
“Tanner,” Sandra breathed, but I was done listening to what she had to say.
Lennix let out a sharp whistle, then raised her arm in the air, waving over the wall of muscle near the door wearing a shirt that readSecurity. “Zeke, please escort this woman off the premises, and make sure she doesn’t return.”
Sandra’s jaw hinged open in an affronted gasp. “Wait. What?”
“She’s kicking you out,” I said on a hiss. I took one step toward her, pointing my finger in her face. “And let me make something perfectly clear. If I ever see your face again, if you ever text or call, if you even so much as breathe in my general direction, I will file a restraining order. You understand me? And I won’t stop there,” I warned, then I lowered my voice. “I didn’t want to hurt you. I tried letting you down easy, but you wouldn’t accept it. Now I’m done being nice. And listen to me when I tell you, I am not the man you want to fuck with. Test me and see what happens.”
I didn’t bother sparing her another glance as Zeke grabbed her by the bicep to remove her from the bar. She wasn’t worth another second of my time. The only thing that mattered was getting to Holly.
