Seb glowered at his employee. “Hannah, you work here, you shouldn’t be getting shitfaced in the place that employs you.”
She held her arms out. “I’m off the clock, Sebby. You can’t tell me what to do. Besides, Brady, Brad-Brad’s been serving me all night.”
“Of course, he is. That dumb ass can never say no to you,” Seb grumbled. “Well, I’m telling you that you both are cut off starting now. Order a damn coffee and sober the fuck up, Hannah.” He stormed off, most likely to tell off his brother.
Hannah stuck out her tongue at his retreating back. “That guy really is a stick in the mud. Come on, let's get the others and go somewhere else.” She took my hand and started leading me back to our table.
“Where are we going to go? This is the only bar in Southport.” I said, stumbling over my feet. I really was having a hard time staying upright.
“Oh yeah.” Hannah considered our options for a moment. She then checked her phone. “I know, let’s go get booze from the grocery store and go back to my place.”
“That sounds like a plan!” I said a little too loudly. “I’m going to pee before we leave,” I announced, though Hannah was already heading to the table, leaving me behind.
I went woozily to the back of the bar to the tiny hallway where the bathrooms were located, found the right door, and went in and did my thing. As I exited, someone came out of the men’s room just as I entered the hallway. His head was down, and he didn’t see me coming around the corner. And I was too drunk to stop myself from colliding into him hard enough to make the man fall back a step.
He reached out to grab me as I almost toppled over. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you…”
His voice faded and I finally looked up at him and nearly threw up on his shoes.
“Skylar.”
Of course, it was Robert fucking Jenkins. Just my luck when I was trying to forget him, he appeared.
The way he said my name made me want to scream. And cry. And push him into the bathroom and screw his brains out.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded as if he were doing something wrong.
Robert pushed his glasses up his nose. Ugh, why did he have to be so adorable?
“I was working late and decided to stop in to get a drink. I didn’t know you were here.”
“Oh, you were ‘working late’ huh?” I drunkenly made quote marks with my fingers. I sounded sloppy. I’d be embarrassed when I remembered this in the morning.
Robert’s brows drew together. “Yes, I was working late. No air quotes required.”
“Sorry, didn’t know if that was a euphemism for something.” I rolled my eyes when really I just wanted to cry.
“You’re wasted,” he observed shortly.
I attempted to put my hand on my hip and missed, so I crossed my arms over my chest instead. “What of it? You got something to say about it?” I was being belligerent and nasty. I wanted to shut up, but I couldn’t. I was hurting. And the source of all that pain was standing less than two feet in front of me looking gorgeous and I wanted to lick his face.
He sighed. “I don’t want to fight with you. Especially when you’re like this. Can I walk you back to your table?”
“I can make it back just fine. I don’t need some big, fat liar to help me with anything.”
Stop it, Skylar!
Robert looked as if I had slapped him. “I’m sorry, I’ll get out of your way.”
“You do that really well, don’t you?” I shouted at his retreating back.
He paused and turned back around. “What the hell does that mean?”
“You’ve been awfully quiet this past week,” I huffed. “Seems you couldn’t wait to get away from me.” I was being ridiculous. I knew I was being ridiculous. Why couldn’t I stop?
“Skylar, I’ve been trying to give you space. My god, you have no idea how many times I’ve picked up the phone to call you. To text you. I’ve had to stop myself from driving out to your house a dozen times a day.” He ran a hand through his disheveled hair. “I’m a fucking mess. Can’t you see that?”
My throat was so tight I couldn’t breathe. I wanted to run to him, tell him I was being a prideful moron. That I needed him so badly I could hardly stand it.
But I didn’t.
“I’m doing what I thought you wanted me to do. But if I was wrong, please tell me.” His eyes met mine. “Please, Sky. Tell me I’m wrong.” He was pleading with me. Begging me to let him back in.
But my mouth wouldn’t move. And when I didn’t say anything, something in his face crumpled. He dropped his head. “I understand.” Then he turned and walked straight for the door, not stopping to say anything to our mutual friends still drinking nearby.
I was done. All of my drunken bravadoes dissipated like a popped soap bubble. I stumbled back out to the bar and grabbed Meg’s arm. She looked up at me in alarm when she saw my face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, getting to her feet.
“I just saw him.” I was having a hard time keeping it together. I didn’t have to explain who he was.
“Oh no. Where is he?” Meg looked around the bar.
“He left. Meg, it was awful,” I cried, covering my face with my hands. “I need to get out of here. I can’t be here anymore.”
Web and Whitney, realizing I was upset, immediately gathered around me.
“What’s wrong, Murphy? Tell me,” Web demanded.
Meg wrapped an arm around me. “I’m going to get her out of her. Tell Lena and the girls Sky isn’t feeling well.”
Whitney’s face was pinched with concern. “I can drive you guys. I haven’t been drinking.”
Meg shook her head. “That’s okay. It’s not far and I think Skylar could use the fresh air.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. It was all I could get out.
“Let’s go back to my place. Tyler will be in bed. We can eat brownies and watch a bunch of episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. How does that sound?” Meg was trying so hard. I didn’t want to tell her that all I wanted to do was to crawl into bed and sleep the next few months away. I wanted to wake up when I didn’t hurt so much.
Instead, I nodded. “Sounds good.”
So, I let my best friend take care of me while my heart shattered to pieces.
Chapter Sixteen
Robert
Life sucked.
I was miserable.
I wanted to hit something really badly and I wasn’t a violent kind of guy. But that was before Skylar Murphy had blown my whole world apart.
And I only had myself to blame for how things turned out.
I berated myself constantly for keeping such a huge thing from her. How in the end I let Tiffany win. But I couldn’t blame this on her. This was all on me.
It had been two weeks since Skylar had kicked me out of her house. Two, long, hellish weeks. I couldn’t focus. I couldn’t get my head around work. All I wanted to do was see Skylar. Be with Skylar. Losing her had ruined me.
I knew Adam and Jeremy were worried about me. They talked in hushed whispers that quickly stopped once I entered a room. I knew when I was the source of conversation. But I didn’t care. I didn’t care about anything except how much pain I was feeling.
But after I had been given a warning by Judge Rinder for questioning his ruling in a deposition, they must have decided to intercede.
“Grab your coat, we’re getting out of here,” Adam announced, coming into my office. I hadn’t really been doing anything but staring at my laptop screen for the past hour. My phone had been ringing but I hadn’t answered it. It wasn’t Skylar, so I didn’t really care who it was.
“I have work to do,” I responded dismissively, not even bothering to look at him.
“You haven’t done any actual work in weeks. Decate and I are picking up all your slack. So, get your ass in gear and follow up now,” Jeremy piped up.
I glared at him. “Oh, so now you’re worried about me not keeping up my end of things? Where was this amazin
g work ethic for all those years Adam and I carried your ass?”
“Okay, okay, enough of this. Jeremy, we talked about this, stop being so fucking combative.” Adam stepped in front of Jeremy and gave us both a stern look.
Jeremy sighed. “Sorry, man. We’re just worried about you.”
“Well, you don’t need to be. I’m fine.” I turned back to my laptop. “If you don’t mind, I’d better do some actual work since it seems my time is being accounted for.”
My laptop lid slammed shut and I looked up at Adam, ready to deck him. “What. The. Actual. Fuck?”
“Get on your feet, Jenkins. We’re taking a little drive.”
I was tempted to argue again, but then the fight left me. Feeling slightly defeated, I stood up and followed my partners out of the building. Adam locked the door and told the receptionist we wouldn’t be back today.
“I have three client calls this afternoon,” I argued.
“Yeah, they’ve been rescheduled,” Jeremy said, pressing the button on his key fob to unlock the door of his car. “Get in.”
Adam climbed in the back and I got in the passenger seat.
“So where are we going?” I asked with little interest. I knew I was moping. I was probably being really annoying, but I couldn’t summon the energy to care.
Jeremy produced a joint from his shirt pocket. “First we’re going to smoke this. Then we’re going to play a round of golf and while we’re playing golf, you’re going to tell Adam and me what in the hell happened with you and Skylar.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“We know it has something to do with Tiffany Hardwell,” Adam added from the backseat.
I turned in my seat. “What the hell do you know?”
Adam held his hands up in surrender. “Not much, man, only what Sky told Meg. That you used to date Tiffany Hardwell and you were being secretive about stuff. Sky’s a tough nut to crack and she has a very black and white approach to life. I know for a fact there’s more to this story than Meg’s been told, and I also know there are two sides. Jer and I want to hear yours.”
“I can’t—”
“We’re not just partners, Jenkins, we’re friends. Good friends. You can trust us. We’re here for you. Plus, it’s really weird having you slink around the office looking like someone has died. It’s depressing,” Jeremy said, handing me the joint. “There’s a lighter in the glove box.”
“I think we’re going to need a lot more than one joint,” I muttered, flicking the lighter and sucking in a lungful of smoke.
“Then it’s good I have three of these suckers,” Jeremy grinned as I coughed so hard my eyes watered.
By the time we reached the country club where we usually played golf, we were all high as hell. I was feeling floaty and a lot better than I had in two weeks. That floaty feeling also made it easier to say things I otherwise wouldn’t share.
“I’ve been keeping stuff from everyone,” I admitted once we were on the links. Adam was teeing up while Jeremy and I watched. We were practically the only ones on the course, which gave us a sense of privacy.
“Come on now, what you could possibly be keeping from us?” Jeremy scoffed.
“I’ve never told you guys how I made all that money to pay for my brother’s residential facility,” I started.
Adam hit the golf ball and we watched it arc nicely and land on the green. Jeremy was up next. “Honestly, I’ve never really thought about it.” He tugged on his glove.
“When we were in law school I worked part-time as an exotic dancer at The Landing Strip.”
Jeremy’s shot went wide, and he turned around, his eyes bugging out of his head. “You what?”
“That’s the strip club right?” Adam asked, a little slow to the party.
“Yep, that’s the place,” I told him.
“And you’re saying you worked there? As a dancer?” Adam went on.
“Jesus Christ, Decate, yes that’s what he’s saying,” Jeremy snapped. “I have to say that is not what I expected you to say.”
“Yeah, well that’s not all of it. That’s where I met Tiffany and then I went to work for her.” I took a deep breath. Here it goes. “As an escort.”
Adam started coughing and Jeremy had to pound him on the back with his fist.
“You were an escort? As in you were paid to go out with women?” Adam really was having a hard time with this.
“Wait, so did you…?” Jeremy made a gesture to simulate sex.
“Yes, Wyatt, I was paid to have sex with women.”
Both of them stared at me for a long time, clearly processing what I had just told them.
Jeremy was the first one to speak. “Well, more power to ya, man. I mean, you’re about the last dude I expected to work as a paid escort, but you do have a kickin’ bod.”
“I can’t imagine Sky getting pissed about something you did in your past. That’s not her style,” Adam interjected.
“It wasn’t that she got pissed about. It’s because I was still working. I um, well, I had a website up until a couple of weeks ago. I was still stripping for cash. And Tiffany told Skylar about it. She was upset because I never told her. She doesn’t like secrets. She made that clear from the beginning, yet I still kept such a huge thing from her.” I wasn’t sure how they were going to take that. I had been keeping my double life a secret for so long out of fear of people’s reactions. It seemed I had greatly underestimated my friends.
Jeremy let out a whoop. “I knew you weren’t as boring as you let on. You’re like a sexy Clark Kent, Jenkins. Lawyer by day, naughty sex toy at night. I love it.”
“Secrets are definitely a deal-breaker for Sky,” Adam said thoughtfully. “Have you tried talking to her since all this came out?”
I teed up and smacked the golf ball, sending it into the sandpit. The three of us walked to our balls. “No. I figured she’d want space. She threw me out of her house.”
We waited for Jeremy to find his ball in the trees. “That’s your first mistake, Rob. You never give them space. Well maybe at first, but if you care about her, then you fight for her. Don’t let this slip away so easily,” Adam advised.
“But what am I supposed to do? She made her feelings about me pretty damn clear.” Despite my hesitance, Adam’s words were starting to light a fire inside me.
“You buy her flowers, you leave her mushy letters, you let her know you’re willing to do whatever it takes to win her back. It doesn’t have to be grand gestures, the little stuff matters just as much,” Jeremy chimed in, surprising me with his rationale.
“Wyatt’s right. And if your mood and general shittiness these past two weeks are anything to go by, you need to let Skylar know how you feel. She’ll fight you, probably pretty hard if I know Murphy, but I also know that under all that gruffness is a gooey heart. That dickwad Mac really messed with her trust, so she’s going to be jumpy about that,” Adam explained. “But if I know my friend, she’ll see reason. And she knows you’re not like Mac.”
“What if she rejects me again?” I had to ask, giving voice to my worst fear.
“Then she rejects you, but at least you will know that you tried your hardest,” Jeremy shrugged. “I don’t expect a friend of mine to give up like a little bitch though.” He whacked his ball and it landed closer to the green this time. “Can we stop talking about all this lovey-dovey shit and focus on the game? My buzz is wearing off too, tell me you brought the joint with you.”
I pulled it out of my pocket and handed it to him.
Adam and I shared a look and then we all continued our game.
**
I drove out to Skylar’s house, ready to put the plan “fight for the woman I love” into action. It helped that I was still a little buzzed from the afternoon of weed and golf.
I didn’t pay attention to the fact that her car wasn’t in the driveway when I arrived. I was too focused on what I was going to say, which went something like “please take me back. I’m a shell withou
t you,” or some other kind of romantic nonsense that I felt, nonetheless.
I knocked on the door and waited.
I realized Edgar wasn’t barking.
I cupped my hands around my eyes and peered through the wavy glass around the door.
“Can I help you?”
I whipped around to see old Mr. Sheehan standing at the base of the porch stairs holding Edgar’s leash. Edgar’s tail was wagging like crazy, clearly happy to see me.
“I’m looking for Skylar,” I said, feeling like a creep looking through her window like that.
Mr. Sheehan frowned. “You’re that fella that used to come over all the time. Haven’t seen you in a few weeks.”
“Yeah, that’s me.” I looked behind me at the empty house. “You don’t have any idea when she’ll be back do you?”
Edgar was tugging on his leash, trying to get to me. “Seems our friend here is wanting to see you.” Mr. Sheehan unhooked the leash from Edgar’s collar and the dog came bounding over, hopping at my feet. I went down on my haunches and scratched him behind his ears in the way I knew he liked. I knew Mr. Sheehan was watching me closely.
“I’ve missed you too, boy,” I cooed softly to Edgar.
“I believe dogs are a good judge of character,” Mr. Sheehan said after a beat. “So, I don’t mind telling you that Skylar dropped Edgar down at my place a couple of hours ago. Asked me to look after him because she didn’t know how long she’d be. She’s over at her parents’ place. Seems they’re having another one of their ruckuses.”
“Oh. Okay. Thank you for letting me know. I think I’ll just hang out here until she gets back, so I can take Edgar off your hands if you’d like,” I offered, sitting down on the porch steps. Edgar flopped down beside me, resting his head on my knee.
Mr. Sheehan smiled a little. He had one of those weathered, cracked faces that looked as if it would shatter into pieces if he grinned. “He looks pretty comfortable there with you.” He scratched his arm seeming contemplative. “She’s a good girl, our Skylar.”
“She is,” I agreed, not knowing where this was going.
“I’ve known her since she was this big.” He held out his hand to knee height. “She was always a terror on the diamond. The best little slugger I had ever seen in all my years of coaching little league.” He stopped, seeming to think about his words before he said them. “She’s been dealt a tough hand with those parents of hers. Being the only kid too, she’s had to bear the brunt of their shit for years. That kind of upbringing makes you a bit hard on the outside if you know what I’m saying.”
Say You're Mine: An Enemies to Lovers Romance (Southport Love Stories Book 4) Page 22
