Page 8 of Heart of Stone
He sat back and shrugged. “I didn’t see the damn things until after I dragged the fucking thing up here.”
“So, because you had to put out the effort to bring the couch up here, you’re just going to let it stay, even though it’s infested with fleas?”
“Guess so.”
“That’s where you and I are different, Fletch. I would have taken that couch right back out.” I hated it when my brother was right. I walked over and grabbed my coat off the television stand. The T.V. had been broken long ago in a drunken brawl after a poker game turned ugly, but the stand was still in the corner.
“Thought you were staying the night.” Fletch said.
“I’ll risk the ride home. Better than being eaten alive by fleas. Later.” I walked to the door.
“Remember, if you ever need some serious extra cash, we could use a guy like you.”
“Yeah.” I walked out. A guy like me, the statement swirled through my foggy head. I was pretty fucking tired of beinga guy like me.
FIVE
AMY
Slade came up behind me so quietly, I hadn’t heard him over the clamor in the bar. I swung around with my tray and nearly slammed into him.
He scooted back. “Damn, Street, watch what you’re doing.”
It had been three days since the broken vase incident. I hadn’t spoken to Hunter and I’d successfully avoided him, not an easy feat considering I lived exactly sixty-five steps from his front door. But tonight, my heart had done a quiet flip flop when he’d walked in the door with Slade. Lazy Daze was their usual beer place, and I knew I’d eventually have to see him. But it still took a good half hour to gather my wits after he slid into their usual booth.
“Why are you sneaking up on me like a cat on a mouse, Slade? What do you need?”
“Jeez, nice way to treat your paying customers.”
I laughed. “Paying? With the measly tips you shell out, I might even be able to buy a new bottle of nail polish in a week or two. If I save up.” I motioned to the carafe of wineon the counter. “Grab that, would ya? This tray is already full.”
He grabbed the wine and walked with me across the room. “I know things are kind of strained between you and the giant, unmovable rock sitting in the booth over there, but he’s not me. And I’m not him.”
“Your point?” I turned away from him and lowered the tray to the table. I placed the pitcher and glasses in front of the customers. I grabbed the wine from Slade and put it on the table.
Slade followed me. “I’m saying— just because you’re mad at him, doesn’t mean you have to be mad at me.”
I turned to him and pinched his cheek extra hard. He winced. “How can I ever be mad at you? You’re like a big, smelly stray dog.”
“Thanks. And smelly? I think not.” He kept pace with me as I hurried back to get more drinks.
“You’re still following me,” I said.
We got to the bar counter. I turned to face him. As hard as I’d tried to not let my attention fall on the booth where Hunter was sitting, I glimpsed him over Slade’s shoulder. He looked handsome and heartbreaking and angry, like always. The only difference tonight was that I hadn’t spoken to him at all, and he didn’t have his usual bevy of cock groping, Stone brother groupies hanging around him.
Slade almost always had that wry, amused look on his face that actually made him especially handsome. But an unusual serious expression met me this time. “He’s hurting, you know? He misses you.”
“Really? He told you that?”
“Not in those exact words?—”
I turned back around and waved him off, but he took hold of my hand. “Street, you know how he is. Anyhow, look at him. He doesn’t even have any chicks around him tonight.”
“That’s because he’s wearing that big, angry Hunter scowl, and everyone, even his horny regulars, are afraid to get near him. Slade, I’ve got a lot to do. Jack is still out with a bad back. And now that Jade is working on her real estate license and interning with that realtor, she’s only working two nights a week. I’ve still got orders to fill and I’m closing up alone. So go over there and sit with the big grump. I don’t have time to worry about him.” I picked up a glass and looked at Slade. Just like Hunter and Colt, it felt as if I’d known Slade forever. We’d all survived bad childhoods together. It made the bond between all of us something that was everlasting and impossible to break. Even now, with wanting to distance myself from Hunter for sanity’s sake, I still knew that he was a huge part of my life and of who I was as a person. And he always would be.
I pressed my hand against Slade’s cheek. He seemed genuinely upset about this rift between Hunter and me, and it only made him that much dearer to me. I kissed his face. “I just need to get out from under this, Slade. I need to stretch and find out who I am, without the massive shadow of Hunter Stone looming over me.”
He nodded. “Yeah, all right. Just don’t stretch too far O.K., Street?” He got up on his tiptoes and reached behind the counter for a bowl of pretzels. “I figure if I keep the beast fed, he won’t take his grumpiness out on me so much.”
