The Truth About Us

by Megan D. Martin

  “Borrow it? Girl, that dress was made for you! You can have it!” She took a deep drink, nearly draining half her cup. I giggled, and for once, instead of listening to my old grandmother of a brain, I drank from my Christmas tree concoction until there wasn’t a single drop left.

  “Get it, girl! That’s what I like to see!” Stacie laughed and finished up the rest of her drink. “Come on.” She grabbed my hand. “Let’s go get more!”

  And so I went, and the night went on much like that, with Stacie and I making celebratory toasts with each cup of gin and cranberry. Even though we didn’t have anything real to celebrate, it all started to feel like a celebration to me.

  “What’s up?” A deep voice asked close to my ear as I stood in line at the bar sometime later. I glanced over to find a guy around my age, maybe a year or two older, with light, slicked back hair and a dimple on his left cheek. It could have been the buzz in my head, but something inside me swooned at the sight of him.

  “Just hanging out with—” I motioned to Stacie, but realized she had moved away from the bar and was talking to some other guys. “Well, I was with my friend, but she seems to have made new friends.” I giggled, turning back to him.

  “Oh yeah?” He smiled, revealing straight teeth. “I’m here waiting for some friends, myself.”

  “Fun.” I moved up to the bar to order my drink.

  “Yeah. What are you drinking?”

  “Uh, gin and cranberry.”

  “Really?” he chuckled. “I’ve never tried that before.”

  “Well, you should. It’s my girl’s favorite, so I always drink it with her.”

  He ordered the drinks and while the bartender was off making them, he turned back to me and I caught a whiff of his musky cologne. I breathed deeply, trying to catch more.

  “But what’s your favorite?”

  I frowned. “What do you mean?”

  He leaned in closer, resting his elbow on the bar. “I mean, you said gin and cranberry was your friend’s favorite. What’s your favorite?”

  I blinked and giggled nervously. “Well, I don’t exactly have one.”

  “No?”

  “Nope, not much of drinker, to be honest.”

  He smiled again, and my heart sped up in my chest in the strangest way. “Fair enough.” He handed me my drink. “I’m Owen, by the way.”

  “Rowan.” I pointed at my chest.

  “Yeah, Owen and Rowan? We already sound like quite a pair.” He winked at me.

  And again, I giggled like schoolgirl. These Christmas tree drinks were really getting to me.

  “So what brings you out tonight?” Owen asked as we moved away from the bar.

  I shrugged. “Just out with my friend. Nothing too special.”

  “Same,” he nodded. “Mine are supposed to be here by now though. But they’ve both got high-maintenance girlfriends who take forever and a year to get ready.”

  I chuckled. “Yeah, I wish I cared enough to spend that much time getting ready,” I said, before I realized it sounded a little obnoxious.

  “Oh yeah?” Owen leaned back from the table we stood at and glanced down my body with unmistakably hooded eyes. I couldn’t tell their color in the dim light of the bar, but I guessed they were dark. Probably a darker hue than mine. “This didn’t take long to put together? I’m impressed.”

  “Are you?” I leaned in, my shoulder brushed against his tight t-shirt.

  He nodded. “Absolutely. Have you seen those make-up tutorials where women spend an hour on their make-up and end looking like a completely different person afterward? Those are my worst nightmare. You never know who’s really under that mask.”

  He finished his sentence right in the middle my taking a long sip from my cup, which I snorted into in an extremely unattractive way, causing me to choke on a piece of ice like some sort of idiot.

  “Woah, careful there, Rowan,” he laughed and patted my back.

  “I’m – fine.” I eked out between coughs. “I’m just wondering what you’re doing watching hour long make-up tutorials?” I winked.

  “Fair enough.” He let out a snort. “But someone has to take one for the team and prepare the ammunition. Don’t want to go into dating unprepared and wake up next to Predator the next morning.”

  I snorted. “Really? Has that happened before?”

  “You’d be surprised at just what could go wrong once the setting spray wears off.”

  “Is that so?” I laughed and took another drink, feeling warm and comfortable in my own skin for the first time in almost a year. It was the strangest sensation, really. I hadn’t realized it – that I hadn’t been myself since the breakup. But now, standing here with Owen, I realized that a part of me had been closed off since things had ended with Tyler, and all the horrible events that took place afterward.

  He nodded. “Not every woman has the blessing of being naturally beautiful like you.”

  The normal me, the typical Rowan, would have blushed and been embarrassed by such a comment. But, flirty, tipsy, comfortable Rowan rubbed a shoulder against Owen’s, making my bare skin tingle against the warm material of his shirt. “You think this is natural? Let me get a wash cloth and show you what I’m really working with.”

  He smiled at that and leaned in. “You know, mask or no mask, you’re the most gorgeous woman in this bar right now.”

  There was something sincere in his dark irises, or at least there seemed to be. It could have been the buzz from the alcohol, it could have been my deep desire to feel something more than just sadness all the time, but either way, I believed in that feeling. Before I could open my mouth to respond, someone just to my left in the rapidly crowding bar spoke.

  “Well, if it isn’t the Steel slut?”

  I turned from the sincere, dark gaze of Owen to lock eyes with Victor, Tyler’s best friend.

  My heart sank as I met Victor’s haughty glare. He eyed me with the same malice I’d experienced in the waiting room of Nusom Automotive a few days ago. I watched from the corner of my eye as Owen glanced around us, trying to pinpoint who Victor referred to, and I internally cringed, wishing Victor didn’t have the worst timing on the planet. I hadn’t run into him or Tyler at all since the breakup, but now, in the span of a week, I had seen him twice – this time against my choosing.

  “Oh, hi, Victor.” The words sounded pathetic as they came out of my mouth, and I hated myself in that moment.

  Stand up for yourself, Rowan. Tell Victor to go fuck himself.

  But I didn’t. I wouldn’t. That would cause a scene and attract attention, two things I hated. And whatever tiny little bold part of me that even considered railing at Victor in the moment died a painful and instant death when my gaze landed on the people surrounding him. Three people to be exact. One stood right next to Victor, the mousy-haired front desk girl from Nusom Automotive with the permanent frown etched into her mouth. The other two stood just behind Victor: the gorgeous blonde cheerleader, Evie, and Tyler.

  Fucking Tyler Nusom. The last person on the planet I wanted to run into after how the other day went – when I fucked up my confession of the truth and just looked like an idiot.

  “What’s up, guys?” Owen glanced between myself and Victor. “Do y’all know Rowan?”

  Then it hit me – it wasn’t just bad luck that I would run into Victor and Tyler just when I was starting to feel a little better about things for once. But, of course, Owen knew them. They were the friends with the high-maintenance girlfriends that caused them to be late all the time.

  I almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of this reality. Of course this was my fate. I couldn’t have a moment of happiness. No, that clearly was not allowed. The universe wouldn’t have it, not after all the lies and heartache I had caused.

  “Know this slut? Unfortunately.”

  “Woah, dude, chill.”

  My jaw dropped as Owen attempted to defend my honor.

  “There’s nothing to chill about. I’m sure the Steel slut was
just trying to make her move on you, so you’ll come work in Daddy’s shop too, since they can’t seem to keep any good workers these days. Especially since she can’t keep her legs closed.”

  I swallowed. “You work with them?” I directed my question of disbelief to Owen.

  A perplexed look covered his face. “Yeah, yeah, I’m a tech. I work for Tyler.” He motioned toward Tyler, whose green stare had affixed on me. He hadn’t said anything. Just stood there with the others. I could remember when I used to be able to read those green eyes, where I could tell his emotions, his feelings, his wants, his needs with just a glance. But now there was nothing but ice cold emptiness when he looked at me.

  I swallowed and nodded, picking up my cup from the table with trembling fingers. “Well, uh, it was nice to you meet you Owen.”

  Under normal circumstances I would haven’t interrupted, but I had to get the hell out of here.

  “Stace, come on. I’m sorry, but I need to leave.”

  But Stacie didn’t come on. She drunkenly half-introduced me to a guy whose name sounded like Chad, someone she knew from childhood, and promised it would only be a few more minutes before she went back to hard-core making out, forgetting that I ever existed. I sighed, glancing around in every direction but the one I had just come from. I did not want to come face-to-face with my own personal mob of haters. When my gaze landed on an exit sign just behind where Stacie and her friend were making out, I made a beeline for it.

  “I’ll be outside over here, Stace. Just come get me when you’re ready.” She didn’t acknowledge me, and if I had been in a better mood, I would have laughed. But as it was, I didn’t.

  I stepped outside, wishing for cool evening air to cleanse me of the hot pain that circulated in my system and was disappointed again. I found myself on an unfinished patio in the heat of a June Texas summer night. Two smokers leaned against the side of an unfinished patio cantina about twenty-feet away, but aside from them I was alone on the dimly lit patio.

  I breathed a sigh of relief and when I didn’t find a suitable seat, I slid down the uneven brick wall to sit on the ground. My head still buzzed, but not in the freeing, happy way it did before. Instead, I just felt tired and empty. I hadn’t dated anyone since things had ended with Tyler. In a way I didn’t feel like I deserved to, but more than that, I honestly never thought I would find someone who could even begin to compare to Tyler.

  He was one in a million. I knew that better than anyone. It was why I had to make the decision I did, and let him go. I had to do what was best for him, because at the end of the day, I knew he wouldn’t have been able to do it for himself. Why? Because of me. When Tyler and I had been together, he had loved me so much, maybe too much. To the point where he always put me first over himself, his feelings, his hopes, his dreams, everything. I had been a plague, ruining his life slowly, but he hadn’t seen it that way. Which was why I had to hurt him. It was the only way to save him.

  The door from the bar opened, shedding multicolored lights on the ground a few feet away.

  “Rowan?”

  I recognized Owen’s voice.

  For a moment I considered not answering. Maybe if I said nothing, he would just go back in and I could pretend I didn’t exist and that none of this had ever happened. But something else got the better of me.

  “Yeah, I’m right here.”

  Owen moved toward me, seemingly ten feet tall from my perch on the ground. “Are you all right?”

  I chuckled dryly. “I’m fine. Thanks.”

  “I don’t know what happened with Victor in there, but—”

  “I’m sure he’ll fill you in.” I cut him off.

  He shrugged and squatted down closer to eye level. “I don’t really care, to be honest. Victor’s kind of a douche anyway, but if you’re interested, I’d like to get your number. Maybe we could hang out sometime, without Victor.”

  Based on how I felt earlier, pretty, and at least marginally happy for the first time in a long time, I half expected my body to swoon at the idea that he still wanted my number after that horrible exhibition inside. I didn’t though. I still felt empty and sad, albeit, a little surprised.

  Give him your number, Rowan.

  No matter how blah I felt, I listened to the little voice in my head, and read off my number while he programmed it into his smart phone.

  “I really am sorry about what happened inside. You seem like a cool girl.” He gave me a smile, and the dim lights cast a shadow in his dimple.

  I managed a weak smile back. “Thanks, Owen.”

  “See you around, Rowan.” He went back inside and I let out a deep breath, feeling marginally better and realizing I needed to pee all at once. I swallowed the rest of my drink and decided instantly that I was going to pee, talk to Stace, and if she still wasn’t ready, I was going to call an uber and go home. I’d definitely had enough excitement for one night – one I didn’t plan to repeat for a long time.

  Upon exiting the bathroom I ran into a broad, muscular chest just outside the door.

  “Woah, gosh, I’m so sorr—” but my words died in my throat as I glanced up, meeting familiar green eyes. Angry eyes. “Tyler?”

  “What are you doing here?”

  I took a step back, but my back met the wall in the narrow hallway. “I just came out with my friend.”

  “Oh yeah? So you could try to scam on my technicians and lure them away? I’ve built a business that has a good reputation, Rowan. I don’t need you trying to poach them, and you can run and tell your daddy that too.”

  He was angry, his chest heaving, his hands fisted at his sides. I hadn’t been this close to Tyler since the day everything fell apart, and now he was just inches away, his broad chest clad in a black t-shirt that hugged his muscles. His face had a few days of dark scruff, his reddish-brown hair long on top, short on the sides, with a hard line down the part. He smelled like some sort of musky cologne that mixed with his own masculine scent – one I knew so well. An inky black tattoo peeked out from his shirtsleeve. It was new. The Tyler I knew had never had a tattoo.

  I blinked up at him, utterly astonished. I had never seen him like this, looking so put together, so fashionable and sexy. I mean, of course I had always been attracted to him, he’d always had this sort of raw, undeniable, masculinity. But there was something more about him now, as if he not only lived in his skin, but now he embraced it, like he knew himself. Like he grew and became something more than I had ever known. He continued to talk angrily at me, but I didn’t hear his words, my gaze flittering all over his form, in utter awe of him.

  I’d always been attracted to him, but now there was something more. Something inside my head begged me to clutch onto those thick biceps, to press my nose against his chest and inhale that musky scent. It could have been the alcohol – that was highly likely.

  “Are you even listening to me?”

  I glanced up at Tyler’s face. He had moved closer in his ranting, his chest just inches away from pressing against mine. His nearness made me incredibly aware of just how long it had been since I had been touched, romantically and sexually. The last time had been by him the day before everything fell apart. My skin sizzled at his close proximity, and my pussy grew wet between my thighs. I pressed them together in an effort to stop the feeling.

  “Rowan?”

  “Yes?” I met his gaze.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  I nodded, fighting against my baser instincts, the ones that wanted me to run my hands all over his body and see just how much he had changed, or if he was more like my Tyler than I knew.

  “So you admit it, then? You’re trying to poach my technicians for your dad?”

  I snorted, realizing that that’s what he had been ranting about. “Goodness, Tyler, do you know how ridiculous that sounds?”

  “Is it, Rowan? I know your father, and now I know just what kind of person you are. Neither of you will stop at anything to get what you want, no matter how much it hurts the peo
ple around you. You learned from the best – your dad – and I know he isn’t pleased about losing business to my shop.” He pressed one hand on the wall next to my head.

  I sighed. “I didn’t even know Owen worked for you until you guys showed up. I thought that was pretty obvious.”

  “How was that obvious? You’re literally in a bar hanging all over one of my best techs and I’m just supposed to think that’s just what – a happenstance?”

  “I get what you’re saying, Tyler, but I didn’t know. Really. He came up to me and bought me a drink. I’d never seen him in my life.” I chewed on my lip, wondering why I didn’t feel more outraged about what he was accusing me of – but instead I was utterly fascinated by him.

  Shouldn’t have downed the rest of that last drink.

  “Whatever. Like I’m likely to believe a single word that comes out of your mouth. You’re so full of bullshit it practically runs out of your ears.”

  And finally, his words permeated my brain to a point that I realized just how shitty he was actually treating me. I had been through a lot of crap in my life, especially when it came to our breakup, but I didn’t deserve to be hassled in the hallway outside the bathroom when I’d done nothing wrong.

  “You know what, believe whatever the hell you want, Tyler.” I shoved at his chest. He didn’t move. “You’re going to think whatever you want about me anyway. You always have, especially with your little minion out there to spew all your venom.” I gestured to the currently out of sight bar. “I bet it feels so good for you to come here and see me so you and your little friends can just pick me apart to feel better about yourselves. Why don’t you just leave me alone? I don’t want anything to do with you.” I tried to walk away, but he put his arm out, stopping me.

  “You don’t want anything to do with me? That doesn’t sound right, does it?” He leaned in even closer, so close I could smell the mint from his toothpaste and a hint of whiskey. “If I recall correctly, you were the one at my place of business a few days ago, begging for a meeting.”

  He wasn’t wrong. “But I didn’t come here to see you, Tyler, obviously. I just met Owen a bit ago. Ask him.” I shrugged and stared up into his eyes, feeling suddenly lost. I knew how we got here – how we became adversaries. I had created this hatred in him, this burning desire to destroy me at all costs, even if it meant letting Victor tear me down at every turn. It made Tyler feel good – I knew that. I understood it. I had banked on it when I ripped our lives apart. I just hadn’t realized how much it would hurt to come face-to-face with that hatred, that bitterness, and his cruel words.