Page 62 of Fighting for You
Just as I’m about to turn away, Brooks’ eyes land on me. They’re glassy from the alcohol, and they widen just a bit, but then his face settles back into a blank mask.
Of their own accord, my feet carry me closer to the booth. After a moment, the gazes of all the people sitting around the table land on me, and their chatter dies down. My eyes don’t stray from Brooks. The woman next to him—I distantly recall her name is Tiffany—says with a smile, “Hey! You’re Hayes’ little sister, right?”
I nod, biting my lip and still looking at Brooks. “What’s going on, Brooks?” I ask, trying to keep my voice from betraying the turmoil inside me.
He looks around the table, face still unreadable, before turning to me and slipping into his usual cocky persona. “Not much, just having a nice night out with my friends,” he says, pulling Tiffany closer into him.
I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. He’s acting like he barely knows me, and I’m not sure what I’ve done. What changed between the amazing night we spent together and now?
“We had plans,” I say.
“Aw, Brooks. Baby, I thought we were going to spend Christmas Eve like we did last year,” whines Tiffany into his neck, she’s clearly drunk or close to it. His eyes don’t leave me. “I wore that set you like…” she says too loudly for it not to be meant for my ears.
I can’t keep the tears back anymore. I nod, giving the table a watery smile, and turn on my heel, weaving through the maze of people and out the front door.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Brooks
Ican’t get Cary’s words out of my head.
“I thought you’d changed, apparently, I was wrong.”
He’s right. I haven’t changed. And I’d be doing Margot a favor if I disappeared from her life. Which is what I’ve been working up to for the last two days. I try not to look at her messages, but I always fail. She’s a magnetic pull I can’t resist. I’ve tried over and over, it never works.
But this time, I have to try for her. She deserves more. She deserves better. She’ll be happier when she finds someone else who can give her what she needs and wants.
I’ll miss her though, her pure as fuck heart—and the added bonus of that goddamn mouth of hers. Margot brings me to my knees in ways I never imagined possible.
I’m so in my head, I’m not keeping track of the conversation happening around me at the table. Josh is sitting beside me with his girlfriend pushed up against him like they can’t stand to have even the smallest amount of space between them. And Nat andher boyfriend are sitting across from me. Every time my phone lights up in front of me, I turn it over to see if it’s Margot. A part of me hopes she stands me up—unlikely since she’s the most decent person I know—then I won’t have to face her and act like a douche.
“You waiting on someone to text you or something?” Josh asks, looking from me to the phone in my hand.
“What? No. Just checking the time. Mind your fucking business.”
“Jesus, what crawled up your ass tonight?” he asks, leaning away from me as if being close may cause him imminent danger.
“I need another drink.” I walk over to the bar, waving down Shelley and showing her my empty. She gives me a nod but keeps talking to the man in front of her. Turning around to look out at the crowd in Louie’s, I lean my back against the bar as I wait. It was the wrong move because Tiffany walks in at the same moment my phone buzzes.
I quickly look down at the screen and see it’s Margot. I’m relieved and deflated all at once. I was really hoping she’d forgotten.
As Tiffany walks my way, I turn back around and say, “Make it a triple, Shell.”
Tiffany is a bitch, I knew this, but the second Margot walked in, she proved it tenfold.
I’m also a fucking asshole. But she didn’t need to add fuel to the fire. I was sabotaging myself just fine on my own. Apparently she had some fight with her boyfriend—Justin? James? Jordan?Whatever the hell his name is. I guess she felt the need to help fuck up my life too.
I should have told her to go away the second she sat down. I definitely shouldn’t have put my arm around her. I let Cary’s words get to me. Instead of proving him wrong, I leaned into them. Everyone thinks the worst of me, so what’s the point in trying to do better—be better? Cary and Thea don’t want me with Margot. Hayes sure as fuck won’t want me with Margot. Up until last week, Margot didn’t want me with her either. She turned me down multiple times. The only person who didn’t treat me like a piece of shit about it was Ripley.
But I was kidding myself thinking I could be a boyfriend to her. I couldn’t even last three fucking days.
We were doomed before we even started; I couldn’t even wear date-appropriate clothes. And I know she said she was just messing with me, but it was obvious I went overboard with the cheese. Part of me wondered if the blow job was just to save the date from being a complete nightmare.
The moment I see the tears in her eyes, everything comes to a screeching halt.
What the fuck is wrong with me? I caused this. I made this perfect woman cry.
Fuck. I thought she’d get pissed, tell me I’m an asshole and exactly who she thought I was. I never thought she’d cry over me. I never wanted to be someone who made her cry. I’m no better than her deadbeat father. I knew it would fucking hurt, but I didn’t realize it would gut me to know I caused it. The image of tears pouring from those beautiful green eyes makes me regret every decision I’ve made for the last forty-eight hours.
