He had the nerve to look confused. “I’m just talking to a customer.”
“Talking?” she echoed in disbelief. “You’re hitting on that woman!”
Reed paused. Then he twisted the knife harder. “Yeah. I guess I am.”
A volatile wave of emotion slammed into her chest. She was horrified and humiliated to feel tears stinging her eyes, and she blinked wildly to keep them at bay. “What’s going on, Reed?” she whispered. “What is this?”
It was early enough in the night that the music was at a normal level, and she knew he heard her anguished plea.
He responded with a light shrug. “I think this is the fling running its course, babe.”
Her heart plummeted to the pit of her stomach like a sack of bricks. “Are you serious?”
Another pause. Then he nodded.
Darcy was speechless. She stared at him, trying desperately to understand what was happening. She’d come here to tell this man she loved him, and now he was telling her it was over?
“It was bound to happen, Darce. I mean, you said so yourself, this was never going to lead to a relationship.”
His tone was so nonchalant she almost picked up an empty glass from the counter and hurled it at his smug, unfeeling face.
“I think it’s time we both moved on to greener and better pastures,” Reed said with another infuriating shrug.
And then, right in front of her wide eyes, he had the nerve to tilt his head in the brunette’s direction and shoot Darcy a wink.
As if they were two bros talking about scoring a hot lay for the evening.
“Are you kidding me?”
This time the incredulous shout came not from Darcy, but from Skyler, who appeared behind them just in time to catch Reed’s last remark and thoughtless grin.
Reed looked annoyed again. “What now?”
The younger woman charged forward and wrapped a protective arm around Darcy’s shoulders. “You’re a real bastard, Reed, you know that?” Skyler sounded livid as she glowered at him.
“Hell. This is why flings are such stupidly terrible ideas.” Reed sighed as he addressed Darcy. “Look, we had our fun, okay? Now it’s time to call it a day and have fun with other people.”
With that, he strode off in the direction of the brunette.
He didn’t look back. Not even once.
Darcy made a valiant effort not to cry, biting her lip so hard the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
“Oh my God,” Skyler murmured. “I can’t believe…” She gave Darcy’s shoulder a comforting squeeze. “I’m so sorry, Darce. I want you to forget every single word I said back at your place. He’s not worth it. I promise you, he’s not worth it.”
Her entire body had gone numb. Her gaze stayed fixed on Reed, who was once again leaning over the counter, a devilish grin playing on his lips as he flirted with another woman. When he reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind the brunette’s ear, Darcy’s heart officially shattered into a million pieces.
“Will you drive me home?” she blurted out.
Sympathy swam in Skyler’s eyes. “Oh, Darce.”
“Please, Sky.” She gritted her teeth so hard her molars ached. “Just take me home.”
With a nod, Skyler tightened her grip around her shoulders and quietly led her away from the bar.
Chapter Sixteen
A dark cloud loomed over him. No, wait. Make that two dark clouds.
Reed squinted from his perch on the couch, his head spinning like a carousel as he tried to bring his eyes into focus. The two figures above him slowly merged into one, as his double vision snapped back to normal. Christ. It felt like someone was pounding his temples with a chisel. How much had he had to drink last night?
A lot.
No kidding, he almost snapped at the sardonic inner voice. But even the act of thinking it made his head hurt, and a wave of nausea swept over him in response.
“Get up.”
The icy command was uttered by a familiar voice, and though it hadn’t been loud, to his aching head it sounded like a banshee’s shriek.
“Lower your voice,” he groaned, reaching up to rub his throbbing temples.
AJ didn’t sound at all sympathetic. “Jesus Christ, man. Did you drink all that? In one sitting?”
Reed’s gaze shifted to the coffee table, which boasted two empty pints of whiskey and a half-finished fifth of scotch. It was all the alcohol he’d had in the house, and the liquor cabinet had been the first thing he’d opened when he’d come home last night. His goal had been to drink Darcy Grant right out of his heart, and it looked like he’d succeeded. With the drinking part, at least. But exorcising Darcy from his heart?
He’d failed miserably.
The shame of what he’d done to her, combined with the agony of knowing he’d lost her, fused together and somehow turned into a sharp dose of anger, directed at the man hovering over him.
“You told me to prove it to her,” Reed accused.
AJ blinked in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“Darcy. You told me to prove to her that I’d changed, to show her that I was someone she could fall for. Why the fuck did you say that?” Groaning, Reed heaved himself off the couch and onto his feet. His entire body immediately swayed, the floor beneath him and the walls around him spinning wildly. “Shit. I’m gonna hurl.”
Before he threw up all over himself—or AJ—he managed to lurch into the hall bathroom. On his knees, he emptied three bottles’ worth of alcohol into the toilet, then draped himself over the bowl, dry heaving until the vicious contractions of his stomach finally ceased.
He heard footsteps, cursing when AJ appeared in the open doorway. His friend wore a look of sheer disgust, mingled with a flicker of bewilderment.
“I have no idea what you’re babbling about,” AJ announced. “All I know is that you left us in the lurch on Friday night, and you didn’t bother showing up for work today, either.”
“Today? What time is it?” Reed said weakly.
AJ scowled. “It’s eight.”
“AM or PM?”
“PM, goddamn it!”
Shit. He’d been passed out on the couch for…his brain valiantly tried to do the math. He’d started drinking around ten on Friday…crashed around two…so that meant… eighteen hours. He’d been in an alcohol-induced coma for eighteen frickin’ hours.
The guilt rose fast, making him gag again, but there was nothing left to throw up.
“And don’t get me started on what you did to Darcy,” AJ was fuming from the door.
Like he could ever forget. Reed’s cheek still stung from where Skyler had slapped it. Gage’s girlfriend had driven right back to Sin after she’d left with Darcy, and like a mama lioness, she’d ripped into Reed good, so furious with him that Gage had been forced to step in and pry her off his friend.
That was when Reed had hightailed it out of the club, but he didn’t remember much after that.
“I did the only thing I could do to save my dignity,” he mumbled to AJ. “And you…screw you, man.”
“Screw me?” AJ echoed in disbelief.
Reed managed to stagger to his feet. “Yeah, screw you. I did what you said—I showed her. I showed her everything, every goddamn part of me, and you know what? She still didn’t want me.” He stumbled to the sink, where he rinsed out his mouth and splashed cold water on his face, then spoke again without looking at his friend. “Give me a minute to shower, and then I’ll head over to the club.”