I guessed they were; I guessed last night was the twenty-first birthday I never had.
I just nodded.
Ethan shrugged. “No worries. I’m just glad you got home safely.”
Then he slipped into his room and I was left feeling like shit. Something had started between Ethan and I, whether I wanted it to or not, and I was messing it up by holding back. I knew that. It was like watching a train crash; I couldn’t stop it. I hadn’t expected to meet someone so soon after Bryce, and mending my heart while also opening to a new person ... wasn’t working. Shuffling my feet, I sulked all the way back to my bedroom. I had class in two hours, then work. Life didn’t stop for hangovers and bad choices. I was going to have to strap those big girl panties on and deal with it.
OceanofPDF.com
Nine
Icould barely stomach any breakfast, and class was hard to sit through. I just kept thinking of Ethan carrying me up those stairs, whispering into my neck that he’d wait for me to figure my shit out.Maybe I shouldn’t be living with him. Maybe I should hire a hit man and take out Bryce. I laughed at that thought. Bryce made the darkest parts of me reveal itself. I couldn’t really ever kill him. Not like that. I just wanted him to go away, I wanted to move on, and I couldn’t do that with the threat of him hanging over me and Ethan.
My mind gnawed all day at my problems until I finally got to work and made myself busy tending the bar. Mickey was starting to teach me all the drinks and how to stock everything for when we were busy and needed two bartenders. It was 1AM and I was pretty sure I would be cut soon. Mick knew I had class in the morning and tried to cut me early on those days. I’d Ubered here, and planned to do the same going home. Now that I was making decent money, I had a good monthly budget going, with cash set aside for late-night Ubers. Ethan always offered to drive me, and I usually took him up on it, but not tonight. Tonight, I was too ashamed to even look at him. I’d snuck off to work without seeing him so I didn’t have to decline his offer.
“Hailey, you’re cut!” Mickey yelled over the music.
I nodded, and wiped down my station before going to the back room to clock out. I decided to shoot Ethan a text and tell him I was Ubering home in case he was worrying.
When I opened my phone I saw that a text from him was waiting.
I’m at Nick’s down the street, text me when you’re off and I’ll drive you home.
I sighed. He was a good friend. He cared. And that’s just what I needed right now.
I’m off now. I can just call an Uber if you’re home.
His reply was instant.
On my way.
Well, saving six dollars wasn’t the worst thing in the world, and if Ethan was willing to look past last night, then hopefully we could pretend it didn’t happen.
Nick’s was only a five-minute drive away. I threw my bag over my shoulder and headed outside to wait for him. The craziest thing about living in the desert was how hot it got even in the middle of the night. It was 1AM and probably ninety-five degrees out. Heat blasted my face as I stared out at the passing cars.
Then a hand clamped over my mouth and started dragging me backwards.
“You little whore,” Bryce growled in my ear.
Panic ripped through me as he dragged me into the alley between Mickey’s and the Laundromat. I was so terrified, and it was happening so quickly, that I couldn’t think straight. By the time my wits came back to me, he had me pinned against the brick wall, hand over my throat, with my legs spread and his thigh between them.
“I saw you dancing last night. Wearing that dress. Trying to get fucked!” His light blond hair and ice-blue eyes made him look demonic with the way shadows cast across his face from the streetlamp. I’d never seen him so enraged.
“You want me to fuck you? Is that what it will take to bring you home?” His hand trailed down my stomach and I froze, petrified. I’d always envisioned being a badass fighter when put in this type of position, but instead of lashing out with all of the rage I’d built up towards Bryce, my body just shut down and I froze. The only thing I could focus on was breathing.
Just breathe.
I whimpered and he lessened his hold on my throat. “I want you to move out of that tattooed scumbag’s house and come home to me, understand?”
Breathe.
Just then I heard the roar of a motorcycle.
Ethan.
“No. It’s … over,” I got out before he clamped down harder, making black spots dance at the edges of my vision.
“It’s over when I say it’s over. You took a fucking vow. You promised to love me no matter what. You lying. Little. Bitch.” He growled and moved his hand to unbutton my jeans.
