“That’s his problem for not doing what he needs to do to get rid of her.”
After spending two hours playing dodgeball, volley ball and doing backflips into the foam put, Jess recommends we cap the evening off with a drink.
“I have seriously had too much to drink,” Miranda says an hour and a half after arriving at Skyles. “Why do I always do this on weeknights?” She giggles and sways on her barstool.
“Saying you’re drunk means you’re not yet drunk,” Jess says and swallows a shot.
“If I’m not drunk yet, I will be in seven minutes.” Miranda says.
“Seven minutes?” Abby laughs and we all join in. “That was random.”
“If you’re drunk in seven minutes then I’ll be drunk in three,” I toss back a shot of Jack.
“Trust me,” Joe says from across the bar, “You girls are all drunk.”
I turn to Joe who looks back at me with the bluest of blue eyes. I can’t tell if it’s concern or lust I see in them. My gaze moves to his lips. They’re nice. I bet he’s a good kisser.
“Why don’t you have a girlfriend, Joe?” I ask.
“The curse of the good guy.” He wipes up drops of spilled liquor before me.
“You are a good guy,” I agree and lean forward on the bar, resting on my elbows. “But you’re a hot good guy. Women go crazy for that shit.”
He flushes. “Oh yeah?”
“Ssssure,” I slur.
“I think women would rather go out with guys like your boyfriend than a workaholic like me.”
“That’s not true.” Is it?
“You wouldn’t go out with me,” he reminds me.
Miranda, Jess, and Abby stare at us in complete silence, but I try to ignore them. “Only because you’re too old for me.”
Joe stops cleaning and looks deep into my eyes. “I’m not too old for you.”
“You’re like, thirty.”
“Twenty nine,” he corrects me with a gorgeous, radiant smile. “And you’re a grown woman, Sophie.”
“Maybe I should’ve gone out with you.”
“You still can.” He winks. It’s hot, but not as hot as when Rooter does it.
This is my cue for some serious flirting, but with Jess and Abby around I need to be careful. “I have a boyfriend.” I miss Rooter.
“I’ll tell you what,” he leans in close, “when you’ve had enough of him, I’ll be here waiting for my chance.”
“Really?”
“Sophie, you’re the perfect girl. Beautiful, smart, kind. I’d be the luckiest guy on earth if you’d go out with me.”
“Hot and sweet.” I poke his cheek. Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.
“Are you flirting with me?”
“No. I have a boyfriend.”
“Speaking of, where is he tonight?”
“I don’t know.” I haven’t heard from him in hours. The last time we texted, he said he should be done around ten and that he’d call me. It’s going on eleven. I pick up my phone and check to see if I’ve missed his call. I haven’t.
“If you were my girl,” Joe says, “you wouldn’t have to sit around, checking your phone, waiting for me to call.”
“Damn,” Jess whispers into my ear. “If you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”
Another twenty minutes pass and I still haven’t heard from Rooter. I debate between calling and texting and calling wins because I want to hear his voice.
“I’ll be right back,” I say to the girls and take my phone outside where it’s quiet.
Rooter picks up on the third ring. “Hey, hold on a minute.” His voice is much too cool and there’s music and loud people in the background. A few moments later he’s back. “Hey, babe. What’s up?” His voice is barely more than a whisper.
“Where are you?”
“Are you drunk?” He sounds surprised.
“A little. When are you coming home? I missssss you.” That last shot is hitting me hard.
He chuckles, and it makes my pulse race. “I’ll be there in a half hour.”
“I’m not at home and we’re all drunk.”
He sighs. “Where are you? I’ll come get you.”
“I’m at,” And then I hear that skank’s voice.
“Rooter, what,” she says and then the phone goes quiet.
What the fuck? Did he hang up on me? I check the screen of my phone and see we’re still connected. “Rooter,” I scream into the phone. My blood boils.
Nothing.
“Rooter!” I hear shuffling and then he’s back again.
“Sophie—” He starts, but I cut him off.
“Are you with that bitch?” I seethe.
“Babe, listen—” I cut him off again.
“Fuck you!” I hold the phone to my mouth and scream at the top of my lungs. “I’m not listening to shit. You’re with her! You lied to me. It’s over. It’s fucking over!” I throw my phone as hard as I can into the parking lot, tear the door open and march back into the bar.
The moment Miranda sees the expression on my face she rushes over and grabs my hands. “What happened, Soph?”
“He fucking lied!”
The other patrons in the bar turn their attention to me and Jess and Abby dart over to us. Joe is right behind them.
“Let’s take this into my office,” he says and guides us toward the back of the bar.
Joe’s office isn’t what I’d expect. It’s large, and bright, and well furnished. He leads me to a couch to the right of his desk. The girls sit with me. My body is wracked by tremors. I’m too angry to cry. All I want to do is punch something. I ball my hands into fists on my lap. It’s amazing how sobering your boyfriend cheating on you can be.
“He’s with her. Right now! I called, and he acted all weird and then I heard her voice in the background.”
“Who?” Abby asks.
“Candace! The skank ass bitch he’s been fucking.” And then it dawns on me and I turn to Miranda. “Apparently, he’s been fucking her this entire time!”
“Tell me everything,” Miranda says.
“I went outside to call him because he was supposed to have called me by ten, but he didn’t. He didn’t sound right when he answered and there was music and voices in the background.
At this point I’m speed talking and gesturing with my hands like a crazy person. “He put me on hold. He asked if I was drunk and said he’d come get us. Then I heard that slut say his name! And then he must have covered the phone because I thought he hung up on me. When he came back, I asked him if he was with her and he had the nerve to say “Babe, listen” as if he thought he could explain his way out of the shit!”
“What a jerk,” Jess mutters.
“Holy shit!” Abby shrieks.
Miranda drapes her arm around my shoulder. “That’s it! That bitch is getting an ass kicking.”
“I’m the one who should get the ass kicking! I’m the,” I make air quotations, “other woman. All this time I thought she was going after my man when it was the other way around!”
“You didn’t know that,” Miranda says.
“Well, now I do and I’m done. I never want to see his ass again.”
“But he lives next door,” Abby reminds me and I cringe.
“He better stay the hell away from me.”
Refusing to allow us to drive drunk, Joe offers to drive each of us home. The absolute last place I want to be is at my house where Rooter will surely be waiting for me with his bullshit lies. Lies. It was all a lie. Why did he do that to me?
Ryan is still at work and won’t be home for another hour or two, so I can’t go there. Both Jess and Abby live with their parent’s and in my current condition, neither of those places are an option.
“You’re more than welcome to come to my house,” Joe offers. “No funny business, I promise.” He smiles.
I don’t hesitate to take him up on his offer. “That would be great, Joe.”
“I’ll take you to my place first so you don’t ri
sk running into him.”
I sit on Joe’s couch, massacring my nails for a half hour wondering what the hell Rooter will do when Joe and Miranda pull up and he sees I’m not there. Maybe he won’t think anything of it. Maybe he’ll assume I’m with Ryan and leave it at that.
He’s probably blowing up my phone, but I never went back for it after I hurled it across the parking lot. I was too upset to remember it. It’s probably smashed into oblivion anyways.
When the phone rings I jump a mile high. Joe’s voice comes through on the answering machine after the fourth ring. “Sophie, pick up!”
I hurry to the phone as fast as my wobbly legs will carry me. “Joe, what’s wrong?”
“He’s following me.”
I hold my palm to my forehead, fingers splayed. “What?”
“Miranda passed out in the car, so I had to help her into the house. When he saw you weren’t in the car, he lost it.”
“Shit!” I pace the room and drag my fingers through my hair. “I should’ve known he’d do this.”
“What do you want me to do? Should I call the cops and send them to the house before I get there?”
Fuck, fuck, fuck! “I don’t know what to do,” my voice quivers and I stomp my foot. I’m not prepared to deal with Rooter, but I don’t want to call the cops on him.
“What do you think he’ll do when we get there?”
He may be a cheating asshole, but I’m still confident he wouldn’t hurt me. Joe on the other hand, may not be as safe. “Let him follow you. I’ll deal with him when he gets here.”
“All right, but get ready, I’m only three blocks away,” he warns, and the phone goes dead.
The sound that used to bring me so much joy now sends waves of panic through my system when I hear Rooter pull up.
“Sophie,” Rooter shouts and the door opens.
He pushes past Joe into the house. My heart pounds and adrenaline surges through me. I slap him with all my strength the moment he stands before me. He grimaces and rubs his jaw.
“What are you doing here?” I shout.
“What are you doing here?” He barks and looks at Joe then back at me.
“Trying to stay the hell away from you!”
He throws his head back and laughs as though I’ve just told the funniest joke he’s ever heard. “That’s never going to happen. Let’s go.” He grabs my hand and tugs me toward the door. “Now.”
I yank my hand away and take several steps backward. “I’m not going anywhere with you! Go back to your skank.”
Rooter takes a deep breath and closes the distance between us. “Do you really want to do this here?”
“I don’t want to do it at all.” I point at the still open door where Joe is still standing, watching us in disbelief. “I want you to leave!”
“I’m not leaving without you.” His voice is ominous.
“Well, I’m not leaving!”
“Yes, you are.”
If I didn’t know Rooter the way I do, I’d be overcome with fear. As he stands before me, every muscle in his body is tense. His breathing is erratic, and he’s staring at me with wild eyes. But I’m not afraid so I stand my ground and cross my arms in defiance.
“No, I’m not!”
Rooter gives me an evil, eerie smile. “I’ll carry you out of here if I have to.”
“Touch me and Joe will call the cops.”
Rooter glares at Joe, who is standing by his open front door, and bellows. “Fuck the cops. Call them. We’ll be gone before they get here.”
“Just go, please.” My emotions switch from anger to blatantly overwhelmed and tears pour from my eyes.
Rooter reaches out for me but I step back when his hand makes contact with my arm. He no longer looks angry, but rather sad. His muscles relax a tiny bit and he sweeps a hand through his dark hair. When he speaks, his voice is pleading. “Sophie, it’s not what you think.”
I grab the back of my head with both bands and squeeze. “I’m so fucking sick and tired of you saying that! How dumb do you think I am?”
“I know what it seems like, damn it! But it really isn’t what you think!”
I cross my arms again and grip my biceps much too tightly. The pain is a welcome distraction. “I don’t care what it is, Rooter. I want this to be over.”
“Well, that isn’t happening.”
Why won’t he leave me alone? I wipe my tears with the back of my hand. “Why are you doing this? Is this some sick joke to you?”
“Baby, no. God no!” Rooter looks like I’ve struck him with a dagger and reaches out and touches my face.
“Stay away from me!” I smack his hand away and take yet another step backward. I’m running out of room. A few more steps and I’ll be pinned to the wall. “Just go!”
Rooter makes a steeple with this fingers covering his nose and his mouth. “Sophia,” he sighs and drops his hands, “you have two choices here. You can hear me out the easy way or you can hear me out the hard way.”
Chapter 24
Another Explanation
The hard way? I don’t even want to know what that means. “Rooter, don’t you understand that I’m tired of hearing you out when it comes to her?”
“Yes, I do. But I’m telling you, what happened tonight was completely innocent.”
“Innocent or not, you lied to me. You said you had club business, and you were with her!”
There’s nothing he can say to change that fact. He told me one thing and did another. And he did it with the very person we’ve been arguing over for the past few days.
I glance at Joe and think back to the words he said earlier. Maybe I’d be better off with a guy like him. He’s kind, funny, good looking, owns his own business, and lives in a nice house. He seems to live a nice, normal life and probably has zero drama. I bet I wouldn’t need to worry about psycho ex-sluts if I was with him. He did say he’d wait for me. At this rate, he might get his chance sooner than later.
As though he’s reading my mind, Rooter turns my face to his and orders Joe to give us a moment alone. Joe looks at me for approval and I nod prompting him to leave the room. This is humiliating. I can’t believe this is happening at Joe’s house of all places. I should’ve gone home. I cross my arms and glare at Rooter waiting for him to give me his lame ass excuse.
“Sophie, I didn’t lie. I was with the club. I was at our annual summer party.” Rooter looks down and rubs the back of his neck. His typical nervous gesture. “My mom throws it every year. I knew Candace would be there, so I tried to get out of it. But it’s something my family does for the members and with my rank in the club I had a responsibility to be there.”
Okay, so it’s not a completely lame ass excuse, but I’m not appeased. It doesn’t explain everything. “Why didn’t you tell me the truth?”
Rooter looks at me, pensive. “I wanted to, but with everything that’s gone down the past couple days with her, and you being pissed off at me…” He rubs his face with both hands. “I wanted to take you, but we both know what would’ve happened if I did. If I would’ve told you the truth about what was going on, it would’ve hurt you. I was protecting you.”
I understand what he’s saying and while his reasoning is better than I expected, it doesn’t make me feel much better. Because of Candace and her bullshit antics, I was the one lied to and left out. “So again, she wins.”
“What are you talking about?” He furrows his brow, confused. “Wins what?”
“No matter what, she’ll always be around because of her history with the club. She gets to be there and I don’t. I won’t be in a relationship with you like that.”
Rooter’s eyes go wide with panic. He reaches out and clutches my arms. “Sophie, this shit with her ends tonight. I’m putting a stop to it. I’ll tell her no more phone calls or texts. It’s done.”
I laugh, but instead of joyful, it’s sinister. “Like that’ll matter. She’s not going anywhere.”
“She’ll always have ties to the club, yes, b
ut not with me.”
“Yes, she will.” I pull away and shuffle to the large picture window. It’s pitch black outside so I can’t see anything. I close my eyes and bow my head. “She always will.”
“Sophie, I’m asking you to trust me.” Rooter comes up behind me and stands so close I can feel the heat that radiates from his body. His close proximity confuses me. It’s both upsetting and comforting. Part of me wants to wrap my arms around him and never let go while the other part wishes he’d leave and never return. “Trust me that nothing is going between her and me. Yes, I run into her from time to time and I probably always will, but it doesn’t mean anything. She’s just somebody I know.”
But she’s more than somebody he knows. She’s somebody he’s kissed and touched and had sex with. She knows him in ways I don’t.
“How can I trust you when you lie to me?”
“I didn’t lie.”
Infuriated, I spin around and jab my index finger into his chest. “You lied by omission!”
He takes a half step back in surprise. “Can’t you understand why I felt uncomfortable telling you?”
Yes. But it doesn’t make me any less angry. “It’s too much, Rooter. I can’t deal with this.” I try to step around him but he holds me firmly in place.
Rooter loses hold of his cool, controlled demeanor. His body tenses and he glares at me through narrowed eyes. “Well, you’ll have to deal with it because I’m not going anywhere.”
I ball my hands into fists and scream. “Fuck!”
“Babe,” he says the word gently, but his disposition remains fierce, “there’s nothing Candace can say or do to change the way I feel about you. You’re the one I want. The only one.”
I believe everything he has said. Especially the part that he isn’t going anywhere. I measure my options, but the only one I have—the only one he’s giving me—is to get over this right now and leave with him. But I’m not ready to get over it. Dammit! I am so pissed. But it doesn’t matter. I’ve lost this argument. I close my eyes and bite my bottom lip. His hands are still on my arms holding me in place. I inhale slowly.
“If I leave with you, I want you to take me home and leave me alone for the night.”
Rooter (Double H Romance) Page 19