Her hair brushes her shoulder and falls down her back as she takes a break to look out onto the street. Her pouty lips are turned down. They always are. There’s a sadness that’s always followed Addison. It’s only a matter of whether or not she’s trying to hide it, but it’s always there.
Her green eyes are deep and even from this distance they seem to darken. Her hand moves to the back of her neck, massaging away a dull ache from sitting there for hours now. With each breath, her chest rises and falls and I’m mesmerized by her. By all of her.
More so by what she does to me.
The hate and anger I felt toward her years ago has numbed into something else each minute I sit here.
Curiosity maybe.
“Just get the package from Marcus. You’ve been gone long enough and we could use you here.”
“I don’t know if I want to come back,” I tell him honestly and flatly.
“It’s not a matter of want,” he replies but his words come out hollow and with no authority although he wishes he had it. “We’re your blood.” He plays the only card he has that can get me to do his bidding.
“You never fail to remind me.”
My phone vibrates with a message and I’m more than happy to end this call.
“I’ve got to go.” My phone vibrates again. “I’ll update you when I can.” I don’t wait for him to acknowledge what I’ve said, let alone tell me goodbye. I’ve never been close to my brothers. Not like they are toward each other. I’m the black sheep, I suppose.
I crack my neck as my phone vibrates for a third time. Before checking it I glance back at Addison only to see she’s gone, although her laptop is still there. My heart stills and my body tenses until I see her by the counter, ordering something else.
Annoyance rises in me as I realize how much pull she has over me in this moment. I’ve turned back into what I hate. My teeth grit as I pull up my texts and that annoyance grows to an agitation that makes me grip the edge of the table to keep me from doing something stupid.
Three messages, each from Jake.
Marcus isn’t coming tonight. He said there are complications.
I have your girl’s number though if you want it.
And I think she’s coming here tonight.
Jake wants to die. That’s the only explanation. He literally wants me to kill his ass.
My glare moves from the cell phone in my hand back to the coffee shop across the street. Addison’s cardigan dangles loosely around her as she moves back to her spot. Her jeans are tight and I can just imagine how they’d feel against my hands as I ripped them off of her. It’d be difficult, but I would fucking love it.
“Do you …” I hear a small, hesitant voice next to me and I have to school my expression before I can look back at the waitress.
She’s an older woman, with soft lines around her eyes. A stray lock of dark hair with a line of silver running through it falls from her bun and into her face as she offers me a smile and holds up a pot of coffee. “You’re all out this time,” she says, like it’s a reason to have another.
“Sure,” I say and smile politely as she fills the cup.
The hot coffee steams and I stare at it as she leaves me be.
So Addison is giving her number out.
I wonder if she would have given it to me. I replay that scene in my head and instead of leaving, I slip in beside her.
I don’t deserve Addison. That’s a given.
But I’ll be damned if I let some asshole like Jake get his hands on her.
Chapter Seven
Addison
It took three days to actually go through with it and go back to Iron Heart Brewery.
Three days and this feeling in my gut that won’t leave.
Three days of fiddling with images in Photoshop and hating each and every one because I can’t focus.
And worst of all, three nights of not sleeping.
Every night I keep dreaming of the bar and every time the scene ends differently. It starts out how I’d have liked for it to have gone. With him giving me the time of day. With him offering to get me a drink. But then it turns dark and wicked. Daniel grabs me. Or worse. I hear Tyler tell me to stay away.
And I wake up shaken.
I feel just like I did that winter I ran away.
And I hate it. I hate Daniel even more for making it all come back. And if I can find that asshole I’m going to tell him exactly how he makes me feel. Not just the way he made me feel the other night, but also the way I felt all those years ago.
Part of me wants to run. But I already did that. I can’t keep running forever.
I open the heavy glass door to the bar with the buzz of the late traffic behind me. This is an old town, but on weekends everyone is out and about.
I’m immediately hit with the aroma of pale ale lingering in the air and the chatter of everyone in here. The air outside was crisp, but only two steps in and the warmth lets me slip off my cardigan.
“Addison,” Jake says my name from his place behind the bar. It carries over the hubbub and a man seated on a stool by him turns to look back at me.
Jake’s smile is broad and welcoming as he gestures to an open seat at the bar.
For a small moment I forget the churning in my gut. I think that’s what really happened these past couple of years. I slowly forgot. And if that isn’t a tragedy, I don’t know what is.
“You alright?” Jake asks with his forehead creased and a frown on his lips.
“Sorry,” I tell him and shake my head as I fold the cardigan over the barstool and then slip on top of it, resting my elbows on the bar. “Been a long few days.”
“What’s bothering you?” he asks while passing a beer down the bar to an old man with salt and pepper hair and bushy eyebrows that are colored just the same.
The man waves him a thanks without breaking his conversation. Something about a football game coming up.
Letting out an easy sigh, I pull the hair away from my face and into a small ponytail although I don’t have a band, so it falls down my back as I talk. “Oh, you know. Just moving and getting settled.” I smile easily as I lie to him. “So, how’s it been going for you?”
Even as I ask him I’m almost painfully aware of how I couldn’t care less. I’m eager for information and that’s all I want. I rest my chin in my hand and lean forward, pretending to give him my full attention even though my mind’s on all the questions on the tip of my tongue.
How often does Daniel come here?
Do you think he’ll be here tonight?
Do you know where I can find him if he doesn’t come?
Instead I smile and laugh politely when I’m supposed to; all the while Jake chitchats about the bar and points to the pictures on the wall. Occasionally he answers his phone and texts or gets someone a beer.
Although it’s crowded and I’m having a real conversation for the first time since three nights ago, I’ve never felt more alone.
“So we go around from place to place, collecting all of them we can find,” Jake wraps up something he said that I was only half listening to and then takes a seat on his side of the bar.
“What’s really bothering you?” he asks and it catches me off guard. My simper slips, and my heart skips a beat.