Page 37 of B-ry
Bryan actually laughed and shook his head.
“Gwen only told me so that I would know for when you came in and she’s not here.”
“Dale, I think you should close it. You’re only making it worse,” I said with a small laugh of my own even though I had no idea what was going on.
He came over and set a large cup down on the counter in front of Bryan.
I shook my head realizing that I hadn’t even rung it up.
“Here’s your black coffee.”
The way Dale said it made me think there was something else in there.
Without thinking, I snatched it up before Bryan could.
I debated on taking a sip but was suddenly afraid. But as it neared my face I smelled it.
“Vanilla?!” I said in a shocked whisper.
“What can I say? I like bitter things when they taste really sweet.”
Oh, yes, my cheeks heated immediately. That tone. Those words. They were not lost on me.
He dropped a twenty dollar bill on the counter, picked up his coffee, and walked out.
“Your face is all red,” Dale said, a hint of laughter in his tone.
“Shut it,” I said and then laughed. He knew I didn’t mean it.
“Uhhh huh.”
Luckily, he didn’t say anything more about it.
As the day went on, I couldn’t help but replay Bryan’s words over and over in my head. The fact that he did it right there in front of people, made me pause more than once. Okay, sure, the comment wasn’t really all that blatant. But with the look he gave me and the tone he had used, there was no way that everyone around hadn’t picked up on it. I found myself smiling and shaking my head more than once.
Chris came by just as I was about to clock out. He asked if I wanted to go grab some tacos and though I hated that he said he was paying, I couldn’t say no when he gave me the pouty face.
“How’s Ingram?” I asked after we got settled at our table.
“Good. I think that place is really helping her.”
“Okay, I don’t want to be nosy, but I have no clue what is going on with that. I am kind of notinlike you guys are and I sometimes feel like I don’t know what everyone else does. But I also get what it’s like to be talked about behind your back. So, this is me not asking.”
I know I was blatantly throwing out hints that I wanted to know. I was also willing and ready to accept that he might not talk about it.
I should have been used to it. The getting shut out part. I swore if I heardclub businessone more time I was going to scream. Like, come on. What is so important and edgy or whatever that you have to keep it locked up that tightly? It wasn’t like I was going to go blab everything to someone. I didn’t even have asomeoneto run my mouth to. All my friends were ones that were woven into the club anyway. Well, except for Dale, he was kind of a friend. A work friend, maybe? Anyway, my point was, I thought it was the stupidest thing. And maybe I felt a little left out. Which I kind of hated. It also hurt a little, to know that I wasn’t that important to a certain someone. That he didn’t think he could share stuff with me because I wasn’t anything to him.
But whatever.
I wasn’t going to think of Bryan right now. Or the dumb club. I was hanging out with Chris and I very much loved my Chris time.
“Don’t feel bad. The club didn’t know about Ky and Ingram’s past until she was kidnapped. And he told me a little before that.”
“Oh,” I said feeling a little better.
“She was raised in a cult, basically. So was Ky,” Chris said and I could tell he was feeling their pain right then. That was what I loved about him, if you were hurting, he hurt right along with you. “Ky left when he was seventeen, leaving Ingram behind. Long story, but she refused to go with him. She finally wised up after she was pregnant and escaped as well.”
There wasn’t much I could say to that. The whole sheltered thing made sense now. My heart broke for her. I couldn’t believe that all of that had happened to her. I could sense there was more but I didn’t press.
