Page 44 of Use Me
When I made it to the bar, I strolled right up to the wood top, took a seat and ordered a seven and seven. It wasn’t a beer night. I needed the extra alcohol content whiskey would provide. I needed to forget. It was crazy how I felt as though I was in the same bar, trying to forget some woman. Though this time, I was actually upset about it. Upset that Ashtyn’s lips might touch this guy. Her mouth might touch other parts of him, or he might get a taste of her. The whole situation made me angry. In hindsight, I should have just told her I wanted her date to be with me and only me.
“Bad game for the Blackhawks.” Tommy set my drink in front of me. I handed my credit card to him. He stuck it in the cup by the register, knowing I was keeping my tab open.
“Sure was,” I agreed.
“You think they’re going all the way this season?”
I shrugged then took a sip of my drink. For once I didn’t want to talk about hockey. In fact, I didn’t want to talk about anything which was weird because I didn’t want to be home alone either. I just wanted the alcohol to get into my system and put me at ease. “They have a good chance.”
He nodded and went to help another patron while I gulped a few sips trying to better my mood. I was at the bottom of my glass when someone stood next to me. I turned and my day got worse.
“You’ve got to be fucking shitting me!” I groaned through gritted teeth.
“Just hear me out.”
I stood, anger flooding my blood. Today was not the day. “There’s nothing to talk about, Bridgette. Just fucking leave me alone. It’s over.”
“We have a problem here?” Tommy asked, standing directly behind the bar from us.
“If you don’t leave, I will have Tommy call the cops,” I warned. A part of me wanted that to happen, but the other part could never do this to her. I just wanted her to leave me alone so I could move on. Move on to who was the question.
“The cops don’t need to get involved,” Bridgette pleaded. “I just saw you were alone and figured you broke up with Ashtyn.”
“Apparently they do because you won’t leave me alone.” I didn’t bother to correct her about Ashtyn. There was no point.
“Because I love you and I want to make us work.”
“You love me so much that you had to fuck another guy in my bed?”
I saw Tommy out of the corner of my eye reach for the phone that was behind the bar. I shook my head slightly in his direction, and he set the handset back down.
“I made a mistake,” Bridgette whined. “Please.”
“Also you straight up told me that you were only with me so you could meet a hockey player. You think I’m stupid enough to take you back?”
“I lied about that. I wanted to hurt you because—”
“Because you got caught and you were the one heartbroken?”
“I’m sorry. I made a mistake.”
I stepped closer to her and got within inches of her body. My blood was on fire. I was done. So done. “I don’t give a fuck, and if I see your face one more time, even by a random accident, I will get a restraining order so fucking fast.”
A tear slid down her cheek. “You won’t give me another chance?”
“No. Now please leave. We’re done. You made that choice when you thought it would be okay for some other dude’s dick to be inside you.” What was funny was that was the best thing Bridgette could have done for me. I didn’t know it then, but looking back, she was just there going through the motions of life with me.
Bridgette stared at me for a moment, and then she stormed off and out of the bar. Hopefully out of my life forever.
“Hawks lost, and you have girl problems? Let me get you another.”
I chuckled without sound as I watched Tommy grab the whiskey bottle. I sat back down and ran my hand through my finger-length hair. “I’m not even sure how it could get any worse.”
Then as if life was laughing at me,hewalked in laughing with his friends. Flashbacks of being a freshman entered my mind. He moved closer, and even though it had been almost twenty years since I’d seen him, I could pick out Corey Fucking Pritchett in a lineup. He still had that cocky smirk that showed his fucking dimple I wanted to stick a cigarette in. Though now, I was bigger and stronger. I wasn’t the toughest guy around, but looking at him walk in the door, I could tell that I was finally bigger than him. Except he wasn’t alone, and I was.
He and his two friends walked toward the bar, and I turned back to Tommy, not wanting to make eye contact with Corey. I took two large gulps of the new seven and seven Tommy had made for me and willed it to work faster. Just as I was about to take another sip—a sip that would get me closer to finishing my drink so I could leave—I heard his voice. The voice that traumatized me as a kid.
“Well, shit. As I live and breathe, boys, it’s Rhys Cole!”
