Page 72 of Love Rewritten

“You did good. You did the right thing,” Olivia says with immeasurable reassurance in her voice.

Abby takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. Abby nods as she tucks herself into my side, the tears from her cheek soaking into my shirt.

“I’m going to get everyone's statements separately in a moment, but he’ll get booked tonight, okay? You won’t have to deal with him for a while. I’m not sure for how long, but at least for tonight.”

Abby nods again as Olivia pulls out her notepad. They separate us even though stepping away from her feels like splitting my heart in two. Abby goes with Olivia, and I go with Dan, the other officer from the hospital. I tell him everything from my perspective and everything Sam told me up until they got here. Abby and Olivia are still talking when he and I finish up. They’ve made themselves comfortable on one of the benches outside the bar.

It’s nice to know Abby’s able to connect with at least one officer, that she isn’t afraid of reaching out to her.

After what feels like a million questions, the police finish up, reassuring us that he’ll be booked for the night before they leave. The bar service basically stopped the entire time they were here. I could see everyone, both customers and employees gathered at the window to watch, fully forgetting they had food and drinks to tend to.

When we make our way back inside, Bill approaches me first. “You can head home if you want. We’ll be fine for the night. I already called someone else in.”

A relief if I’ve ever heard one. “Thank you so much. I think I’ll take you up on that.”

He smiles before saying, “Everyone back to work,” and disappearing into the back.

“Go grab your stuff. I’ll be right back. I need to deal with something and then we can go.” Abby nods and returns to the booth she was sitting in. Aubrey stands behind the bar, a look of pure shock and maybe a little fear on her face. I point to her. “You. Outside. Now.”

She nods rapidly before leading the way back to where we were talking before.

The back door has barely closed before the words spill from my mouth with so much rage that I force myself to reel it in a little after. “What the actualfuck,Aubrey!”

She takes a step back. “I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“No idea? I have a hard time believing that.” I force my hands into fists at my sides to keep them steady.

“Honestly. I didn’t.”

“Then tell me exactly how we ended up in this situation. I heard from Sam. I want to hear it from you.”

She closes her eyes and takes a shaky breath before starting. “Okay. Okay. That night we went to the new bar? I didn’t go home right away. I stayed back. Talked to Sam. I knew you two were fighting over Abby. I thought it was just a normal two guys fighting over a girl situation. I didn’t realize it was this bad. Truly.” She pauses though I’m not sure what she’s expecting from me. When I don’t say anything, she continues. “We got to talking, and he told me you stole Abby right out from under him. It pissed me off because I thought we had something going between us. But when Abby came into the picture, you just dropped me like I didn’t matter anymore.”

I hang my head, knowing I was probably a little harsh about it, but it doesn’t matter at this point. She crossed a line. “So how exactly did we end up here, like this?” I ask, splaying my arms wide.

“I texted Sam and let him know you were quitting, and it might be the last chance I have of getting you back. I had to try, Dal.”

“No. You didn’t. Do you have any idea what he’s done to her? Any idea why the fucking cops showed up so quickly?” She shakes her. “She’s fighting him in court on Thursday for domestic violence. He's abusive, Aubrey. He put her in the fucking hospital. She could have died that day. Died. And you just willingly brought him here, for what? A chance to date me? I told you multiple times that I’m happy with Abby and that you and I will never work. That hasn’t changed since the day I broke things off between us. Not that there would have been a chance in the first place, but now you’ve certainly lost it.” I debate on bringing up this mornings conversation with Abby, but it's not worth it. It doesn't matter anymore.

She opens her mouth to say something, but I cut her off by holding a hand up. “And any sort of friendship between us? Done.”

She shuts her mouth, and I can see her throat bob as her eyes well up in tears. “I’m sorry, Dal. Really.”

“It’s too late. You shouldn’t have stuck your nose in other people's business. I’ll get someone to cover my last shift tomorrow, but this is it. Anything between us ends here.” And with that, I turn to leave. I head back through to find Abby waiting by the door, scrolling through her phone.

Initially, she smiles, but it falls to a frown when she sees the frustration on my face. I can’t even muster up a half-assed smile right now, but I take her hand and try to give it a reassuring squeeze before heading out the door.

It's been five days. Five days since I last drank. Five days since I was fully honest with Abby. Five days since Sam showed up unannounced. Five days since anything has gone wrong.

I’d like to keep it that way. However, with today being the big court date, I’m not sure we will get that option.

They ended up holding Sam until the hearing today since it was so close, and he purposely violated his orders. That meant we had five days of freedom where we didn’t feel like we had to watch our backs every time we left the apartment.

I was more than thrilled to be leaving Landry’s for good now. Training at the hospital is exactly what I expected. Everyone has been very welcoming and the amount of enjoyment I’ve gotten in only three days has already surpassed my entire time at Landry’s.

Today’s enjoyment will be far different. I’d like to have a chance to relax this morning before all hell breaks loose. It’s around eight when her alarm goes off. I’ve been awake for a few hours, not able to sleep with everything about to happen. Abby slinks out of the bedroom, her usual purple blanket draped over her shoulders.

“Get dressed. We’re going for a ride.”

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