The soft smile on his face told me he did. As he walked past me, he lowered his voice and said, “Good luck.”
Remy crossed his arms over his chest and glared at me, no doubt trying his best to intimidate me.
“A Bloody Mary, Remy? Really?”
He shrugged. “Felt fitting.” He didn’t say anything else, but I saw the flash of emotion in his eyes.
Fuck it. I cut right to the chase, wanting to get it over with so I could go home and curl up on my bed. “Why did you interrupt my date, Remy?”
His jaw ticked, and his body tensed minutely before he forced himself to relax. “I already told you. Just wanted to say ‘hi’ which I accomplished.”
Trying again, I decided maybe he needed me to spell it out. “Why did you ruin my date, Remy? You’re not an idiot, not in the slightest. You knew what you were doing. Why?”
He muttered something under his breath and my ears started to burn. I didn’t break and ask him what it was. In fact, I didn’t move a muscle.
“Mom said you were here on a date, and I didn’t believe her. I had to see it with my own eyes. I didn’t know you were ready to date anyone, Parker. I thought you were still mourning Danny.”
At that, the wall I’d built up to keep my emotions in check burst into a thousand tiny pieces—shattering. I took one step forward so that we were practically flush, and I didn’t give a fuck at all that there were people watching us. What I did was poke him in the chest as hard as I could, even though I knew I wasn’t all that intimidating.
“Listen here, Remington Vance.” He cringed at my use of the ridiculous and hated nickname I’d given him in second grade when he pissed me off. “You don’t deserve shit from me. You cut me out of your life a long time ago. You don’t get to just show up and demand answers.”
“Are you done yet?” His voice was barely a growl, but the threat in his eyes screamed louder than any question could. When I didn’t say anything, he almost smiled. “Good. Go home, Parker. That guy isn’t your type.” He eyed me up and down, biting his lip almost seductively, before turning and walking in the opposite direction.
Not my type, my ass.
Yet, when I saw Benton standing patiently in front of the restaurant, his eyes shining in the night sky, I didn’t feel an ounce of chemistry. Not the kind I should, especially with how attractive and attentive he was.
“Well, that was awkward,” he said with a small laugh. “But I get it.”
My eyebrows pulled together, furrowing with my confusion. Benton only smiled wider and then looked behind me like he expected Remy to walk out after me.
“I’m sorry that Remy ruined our date.” A chill ran down my arms and seeped into my core.
Benton gave me a half smile and then shook his head like he was clearing a thought. “You’re gorgeous, Parker. You make me smile in a way that not many women can, without even trying. If you want, give me a call and we can do this again.”
As I was getting into my car to head home, Benton waved at me through the window. It took every bit of strength I had to put a smile on my face and peel my hand away from the steering wheel to wave back.
If Remy was going to ruin my night, that was fine. I knew exactly how to ruin his fucking life.
11
Remy
The clock behind my head struck midnight, and I still stared at the unopened shoebox full of letters in my hands. I’d sat there for an hour or more, after leaving Parker at the restaurant on her date.
A date.
Running a hand across the back of my neck, I struggled with my chest tightening as I prepared to open the box and delve into a time of my life that I’d rather forget.
Thankfully I was alone, because as I lifted the lid of the old shoebox, my hands were trembling. Fucking trembling. That’s what Parker did to me. It's what she’d always done to me. And like a fool, I had kept every single memento of hers, even down to the bracelet that I hadn’t taken off since she sent it overseas for me.
As my thoughts drifted to it, I lowered my eyes to the dirty and faded blue bracelet. The one I’d gotten in her very first letter. The same one I’d left in her room after I pulled the ultimate stalker move, breaking into her house before I deployed and our lives changed forever. After Danny told me she was pregnant and they were getting married.
“Fucking fuck,” I muttered. I shouldn’t have worn it. I never should have taken it out of the box. I know she saw it. Her eyes devoured me while I stood at that table, and not in a good way. How could she have missed it?
The letter. The very first letter I got overseas stared at me from the top of the pile. I labeled them, every single time I got one, so that I’d know. In the corner, the faded black number 1 dared me to open it. Challenged me to face those demons. It was the first letter she sent me after I broke her heart and destroyed our friendship.
Dear Remy,
I don’t know how this got to my house, but I thought you should have it. It’s your lucky charm, after all. Thank you for coming to the wedding. It means a lot. To me. We should talk when you get a chance. I don’t like how things were left. There are things you need to know, but I don’t know how to tell you. I hope you don’t die over there. You’re still my best friend, even if you hate me.
Yours,
Parker
I had ignored her then. And every letter she wrote me after that. I refolded her letter and placed it carefully back in its envelope, only to pull another letter Parker sent out of the stack, this one labeled 25.
There were twenty-seven different letters, and I’d ignored every single one of them. Starting with our first week overseas and ending with the month after Danny died. Technically, the last letter wasn’t sent until after I’d been redeployed. And that one, I never let out of my sight, even after getting home. It’d never made it into the box.
Dear Remy,
I’m so alone surrounded by family and friends.
Please… Tell me it gets easier.
Parker
Daisy shoved her nose into my lap at that moment, and a flicker of panic overcame me. She wasn’t trying to be her usual asshole self, though, and I had the distinct impression that she was mourning what could have been, just like I was. After all, she’d lost just as much as I had.
“It’s okay, girl,” I whispered, rubbing her behind the ears. “Everything is going to be okay.”
I had fucked up with Parker. I knew it. But I also knew that Benton Mays didn’t deserve her. I didn’t give two shits who the man was. No one deserved Parker, least of all me. Yet, there wasn’t a chance in hell that I’d let her spend her life with him.
I set the letters on the couch next to me and buried my head in my hands before looking up at the picture of all of us. Danny’s smile, and the promise I made him, haunting me.
“That fucking promise is going to ruin my life.”
But for Parker?
“I’ll walk straight through Hell, smiling the whole time.”
Great. Now I was talking to ghosts on top of everything else.
I leaned back on the couch, staring at the photo and taking comfort in the letters that sat next to me. I’d kept them locked up and hidden for so long. Afraid that someone would know my secret, that even I’d almost forgotten how they made me feel.