“What can I get for you, man?” the bartender asks and I order a beer. He grabs a bottle from the fridge and pops the cap off before setting it in front of me. “You want to start a tab?”
I throw a ten dollar bill down and shake my head. “No. I’m not staying long.”
He nods and leaves me in peace as I take a sip of my beer and settle into my seat. I pick at the label on my bottle of beer and sigh as I close my eyes, unable to get the look on Juliette’s face as she climbed into Mercedes’ car out of my mind.
Fuck.
It broke my heart and it took all the strength I had to not go out there and tell her to stay and now that I’m alone, I can’t decide if I made the right decision. I needed time to think and figure out how to feel after everything she revealed to me this afternoon but I just keep going in circles and kicking myself for making her leave when I’m pretty damn sure someone is after her.
Shit.
What was I thinking?
“Thanks for coming,” someone says and I turn as Mercedes sidles up to the bar next to me. I nod. “You haven’t been waiting long, have you?”
“No. I just got here.” I look behind her. “Where’s Juliette?”
She sighs. “Asleep upstairs.”
“How is she?” I ask, focusing on my beer and refusing to meet her gaze. She sighs again.
“She’s heartbroken… but oddly determined to earn your forgiveness.”
I turn and we lock eyes. “Is that why I’m here? So you can butter me up for her?”
“No. You’re here because… two weeks ago, my best friend was in more pain than I’ve ever seen her go through… until tonight. And you’re also here because I’ve never seen her smile the way she does when she talks about you…”
“So you are here to butter me up,” I scoff, interrupting her and her eyes narrow into slits as she almost shoves me off my stool.
“Stop being a bitch and listen to what I’m really saying to you. You don’t have to forgive her. You don’t have to be with her again but don’t you think you should hear all sides of the story before you make your decision?”
Sighing, I nod. “Fine.”
“When she called me and told me that she couldn’t remember anything for the last five years, I didn’t know what to think. I mean, it’s crazy but then I thought about what it would feel like to not know anything from your life. She moved to Miami five years ago to be closer to her dad and her last memory before she woke up in the hospital was the last night we went out to celebrate her move here in Baton Rouge. She literally didn’t know a single thing about her life in Miami. Can you imagine that? Waking up and not recognizing a single part of your life and being told that the only person you remember is dead?”
I stare at the bottle in front of me as I try to imagine exactly what she’s describing. What if I woke up and my mom and dad were gone and I was in a city I didn’t know with people I didn’t recognize? It sounds terrifying.
“Exactly,” she says, studying my face. “But she still put on a brave face and tried to go back to her apartment with a man who said he was her fiancé but she didn’t know that, not for sure, at least. She tried to get back to her daily life but she might as well have been on a different planet so she finally broke down and called me for help.”
“I understand…”
She shakes her head. “No, I don’t know that you truly do. When she called me, she didn’t even know if we were still friends but she was so desperate for anything familiar that she took the chance.”
“I understand all that, Mercedes, but why didn’t she tell me about it at any point before now?”
She rolls her eyes. “God, men are so clueless… She wanted to tell you, so badly, but she was afraid that it would change the way you looked at her. She didn’t want to be another project for you to fix.”
The jab hits its mark and I suck in a breath as I lean forward and set my elbows on the bar. “Why are you telling me all this and not her?”
“Because I don’t have any skin in the game and I can lay everything out for you without getting scared or too emotional.”
I nod as I think over everything Juliette told me earlier. “This fiancé of hers… Do I need to be worried?”
“Ugh,” she groans as she rolls her eyes. “No. She fucking loves you and that’s exactly what she told him when he called her earlier and begged her to meet up with him.”
I glance up. “He’s in town?”
“Jesus Christ, not the point, dude. Did you hear what I said? She loves you.”
“She does?”
She shakes her head. “Finally, he listens to me.”
“What room number did you say she was in?” I ask, my heart pounding in my chest. She loves me? I mean, I knew there was something there but hearing the words out loud makes everything fall into focus and I have no clue why the fuck I’m still down in this bar. Mercedes laughs.
“Three-oh-nine.”
Nodding, I jump off the stool before turning back to her. “One more question… she mentioned her net worth earlier… how much money are we talking?”
“Does it matter?” she asks, arching a brow. I nod.
“Is it enough that someone might want to hurt her?”
Her eyes widen. “Yes.”
Shit.
I turn, determined to get to my girl.
“Wait,” Mercedes calls after me. “You really think she’s in trouble?”
“Yes. I’ll fill you in later,” I call over my shoulder as I march out of the bar to the elevators. As I smash my thumb into the up button, I sigh and turn to look up at which floor it’s currently on before shaking my head. “Come on…”
Time seems to slow and the numbers barely move as I cross my arms over my chest and tilt my head back, sighing. Another second passes by, feeling like a whole damn minute, and I turn away from the elevator. The door for the stairs catches my attention and I consider just running up three flights of stairs when the elevator dings. The door slides open as I whirl back toward them and I rush into the car, ignoring the annoyed looks of the two men getting off, and smash the button to make the doors close. As it starts rising, I pray that no one else stops it as I stare up at the numbers ticking off each floor we pass. When we finally get to the third floor, I breathe a sigh of relief and march down the hallway toward the room number Mercedes gave me.
Three-oh-six.
Three-oh-seven
Three-oh-eight.
“Finally,” I breathe as I stop in front of her door and lift my hand to knock. My heart races and I suck in a breath as I tap my knuckles against the wood. Silence greets me on the other side of the door and I knock again, harder this time.
Open the door, baby…
I’m just about to knock again when the door swings open and she squints up at me with a confused look.
“Sawyer?”
“Can we talk?” I ask and she nods as she yawns and takes a step back. “Sorry for interrupting your nap.”
She shakes her head as she closes the door behind me. “It’s okay. Where is Mercedes?”
“Down in the bar.” I scrub my hand over the back of my head. “She kind of ripped me a new one.”