by Franca Storm
“Jeff—”
“Believe me; I didn’t want it to come to this. You’re my best employee; always have been. That’s why I tried to wait it out these last couple of weeks. But the bar is losing too much money. I’m sorry. Maybe when this blows over, we can—”
I shot to my feet, incensed. “Forget it.”
“Brad, I really am sorry.”
I slammed my hands down on the table. “Years, Jeff. That’s what I’ve given this place.”
I needed to get out of there ASAP, because I could feel my blood boiling; my temper kicking into overdrive. I was right on the edge of doing something I knew I’d regret.
And so, without another word, I stormed to the exit, slamming the door loudly for good measure on my way out.
I couldn’t believe it.
I’d always known that Jeff was a businessman first. He’d always been ruthless when making decisions, but I’d just never imagined he’d screw me over like that.
I’d given the bar so much. I’d killed myself stepping up for him by working double shifts, taking on management duties and shit. And this is how he repays me? He couldn’t even wait out the town boycott on the bar. It wouldn’t last forever and I knew the bar’s books as well as he did. It could survive it.
Even walking the few feet across the road to my truck, I could feel judgmental eyes on me, watching me and disapproving of me. Fuck! That’s it!
I couldn’t hold back. I returned their glares tenfold, forcing them to look away.
Before I could stop myself, I slammed my fist into the side of my truck and let out an irate roar that had a couple of well-known busybodies hurrying past me.
I couldn’t take it anymore.
I’d had my fill of this shit show.
It was destroying my life.
I’d just been fired.
Fortunately, I had enough savings to survive for a while, but still. That wouldn’t last forever.
Didn’t Ollie get it? It was my fucking life, not some fucking childish game!
He’d actually made it impossible for me to remain in Marsden.
Fuck. It’s over for me. I’m done here.
Chapter 25
~Sophie~
I rubbed my gloved hands together as I walked into Miller’s Tavern.
I was grateful for the immediate warmth. Brr! It was bitterly cold outside and the weather report had warned of a full-on snow storm coming Marsden’s way.
As I made my way to the bar, I was surprised to see that the place was packed. It was weird, considering how quiet it had been lately. I pulled off my gloves and stuffed them in the pockets of my baby-blue wool coat. I unbuttoned it, already feeling stifled by the heat from the busy bar, and settled myself onto one of the wooden stools.
I spotted Tiff frantically rushing to serve the crowds of people, some up at the bar around me and the rest seated at their tables, waiting on their drinks and food. I decided to wait until she was done, before I announced my presence. She didn’t need the distraction. She was already run off her feet as it was.
Where is Brad? He’d told me he was working a double shift. I’d been working at the bookstore all day and then I’d headed to mine and Ollie’s place to shower and to pick up a change of clothes, knowing that Ollie would still be at work, so I wouldn’t have to worry about running into his judgmental ass.
It was about an hour and a half until closing and I’d come in to surprise Brad, figuring I’d take him out afterwards to cheer him up.
Despite his attempts to hide it, I’d seen how stressed he’d been lately over all the crap with Ollie. I planned to take his mind off it, even for a little while.
Tiff handed a couple of rowdy guys their drinks and then stomped to the back, her heels clacking angrily on the floor. She was unusually stressed out. Normally, her and Brad were a well-oiled machine. It didn’t matter how busy it got, they never freaked out. What the hell is going on?
“The top shelf!” she yelled through the open door that led to the back stock room.
A second later, someone emerged.
I was shocked to see that it wasn’t Brad.
Instead, Roy Williams hurried out after Tiff, trailing after her like a confused puppy, clutching a bottle of vodka in his right hand. Tiff slammed a couple of glasses onto the countertop and hissed something at him. Instructions, I assumed. I couldn’t hear over the noise of the busy bar. He ran his fingers anxiously through his spiky gelled hair as he took her words in. I caught her gaze lingering on his impressive biceps that were straining against his snug ribbed white t-shirt. His black jeans were an equally snug fit. Roy knew he had the goods and he reveled in showing off the fruits of his labor. The guy had always worked out in high school when he’d been the star quarterback on the football team and that clearly hadn’t changed.
But, as far as I was concerned, he had nothing on my guy. Brad beat him on all counts: muscle-tone, size and good looks. Roy was too much of a straight-up pretty boy. Like Jake, I mused with distaste. While Brad had that rough-around-the-edges all man thing going for him. Mmm. Just the thought of him was turning me on. Wow. I needed to get a grip. Yeah…a grip of him. Where the hell was he?
I waited for God knew how long until things calmed down.
“Hey babe,” Tiff said, suddenly, snapping me out of my thoughts that had kept me occupied. Mostly dirty scenarios of me and Brad together. “How long have you been here?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “A little under half an hour.”
“Shit. I’m so sorry. It’s crazy in here tonight. What can I get you?”
“Just the usual.”
She nodded and a few seconds later, I was sipping at a pint of the house beer.
“So, what’s up?” she asked, leaning against the bar tiredly.
“Just waiting on Brad. I came here to surprise him.”
Her brow furrowed. “He didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
She looked really uncomfortable and she hesitated.
“What, Tiff?” I pressed, my adrenaline spiking from the look in her eyes. Oh my God. What is it?
“Jeff…uh…he fired Brad this morning.”
I choked on my beer. “What?” I managed between coughs. “I don’t understand. Brad is his rock. Why would he…how could he fire him?”
“Because of the boycott.”
“Boycott? It’s just a few people being ridiculous.”
“I agree, but I guess Jeff didn’t see it that way. You know he just sees dollar signs.”
“Oh my God,” I breathed, pushing my stool back.
She lowered her voice and leaned closer. “Jeff’s losing his fucking mind, firing Brad on a Friday—one of the busiest nights—and then hiring Roy to replace him without giving me a chance to train him properly first. The guy is running around like a chicken who’s lost its damn head.”
“This is all my fault. I need to go. I have to—” I mumbled in a panic.
She gripped my arm suddenly. “No. This is your fucking brother’s fault.”
The animosity in her tone surprised me. That, combined with her checking Roy out so blatantly, told me that something was wrong between her and Ollie. “I thought you two were—”
“What? Together?” She scoffed. “That’s done with, babe.”
“What?”
Pain flickered in her eyes briefly, before she managed to collect herself and fake a smile in typical Tiff fashion. She never liked to let anyone see her emotion. Not even me, her best friend. “I can’t be with someone who looks down on me all the time.”
I blinked hard at her words. “Looks down on you? How?”
She breathed a heavy sigh. “Because I’ve…been around. He thinks I’m a slut and he won’t…never mind…forget it.”
“Tiff, you can talk to me.”
She smiled. “I will. I need to.” She gestured to the packed bar. “Just not here, you know? I’m trying to keep my shit together.”
“You guys ended it today, huh?”
>
She nodded sadly.
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too. We’ll talk later, babe.”
“Okay.”
Before I could say another word, she headed over to Roy who was struggling to mix a couple of drinks.
I had to find Brad. I could only imagine what a state he was in. He’d worked at the bar for years. How the hell was he gonna make ends meet? With the heat he was taking from the town, it wasn’t like anyone else would be willing to hire him. Even Brad’s biggest fans, Doris and Gloria, who were usually always on his side, hadn’t backed him.
No one would go against my brother.
If it came down to a choice between Ollie and anyone else in town, Ollie would always win. He was revered for being the responsible, dependable guy, for raising his little sister and taking the weight of his parents’ death on his shoulders. He could do no wrong.
The thing was, he was wrong doing what he was to Brad.
Brad had treated me so well. He’d been so sweet, so kind, and so gentle with me. I’d tried so hard to explain that to Ollie that night when he’d found out. But he’d just seen red. All he kept seeing was his best friend being with his little sister—the betrayal there. Urgh. It was such ridiculous guy mentality.
I could barely contain my rapidly rising anger as I slid my gloves back on and pushed through the exit.
I couldn’t believe Brad had lied to me again. Well, it hadn’t been an outright lie like last time when he’d disappeared after his fight with Crazy Claire’s husband. He’d just omitted the fact that he’d been fired. Lying by omission. Yeah, what a great step up that is. Argh!
If we’d met for lunch earlier, I would’ve been able to tell right away that something was off with him. His face often gave him away. I’d known him for long enough to be able to call it when something was up with him. But I’d been so busy at his mom’s bookstore and I hadn’t even had time to take a lunch. A couple of tour buses had passed through town and a flood of people had invaded The Avid Reader. Brad had texted, saying he’d been busy, too, and couldn’t meet anyway. Although, to his credit, he hadn’t outright lied then either. He hadn’t mentioned how his day had been going. He’d told me he’d been scheduled to work a double shift at the bar when he’d driven me to work earlier and that’d been true at that particular time. But, still, as soon as he’d left the bar after getting fired, he could’ve told me
It was late evening and I had no idea where the hell he even was.
As I stepped out from under the cover of the canopy of Miller’s Tavern, an ice-cold blizzard almost knocked me off my feet. Wow. It was really coming down. For once the weather guy had got it right about the bad snowstorm coming our way. Seeing as though I didn’t have a ride, it was clearly gonna be one hell of a difficult walk home. The streets were already covered in a thin veil of snow. I looked up at the sky. It was coming down hard. I mentally kicked myself for not caring more about the weather warning. I didn’t even have a damn hat on.
I shrugged to myself and headed across the town square to make my way home, walking as quickly as I could, which was a struggle given the power of the blizzard swirling around me and trying to push me every which way.
It just served to piss me off even more. Before I could stop myself, I had my phone out and I was dialing Brad.
“Hey darlin’,” he answered, upbeat.
I was caught off guard by his chipper tone, given the fact that he’d been fired just a few hours earlier. Very odd. I must’ve hesitated longer than I realized with responding, because he pressed, “Soph? You there?”
“Where are you?” I snapped.
“On my way back into town.”
“What?” Back into town? Where the hell has he been then?
“I’ll explain when I get back. Just stay inside and wait for me. It’s getting bad outside.”
“I’m just leaving the bar.”
“What? My mom told me she dropped you at my place after your shift earlier.”
“That was hours ago, Brad.”
“Why the bar?”
“I came to surprise you.”
There was a long pause on his end, before he managed, “Oh.”
“That’s right. I know Jeff fired you.”
“Listen—”
“You said no more secrets!”
“I swear it wasn’t a secret.”
“You didn’t tell me,” I pointed out. “How could it not be a secret? You lied. Again.”
“No. I have a surprise for you.”
That floored me. “A surprise?” I asked, not sure what the hell he was getting at.
He was excited as he said, “Yeah. I’ll tell you everything when I get back. I’m almost at the border now.”
As pissed as I was, he’d been through so much crap lately that I couldn’t help taking pity on him. I’d cool it for now and let him explain when he got back. “Okay.”
“Thanks, darlin’. Don’t walk home in the storm.”
“I don’t have much choice.”
“Call Ollie.”
“What?” I asked, not sure I’d actually heard him correctly.
“You heard me.”
“You are telling me to call my brother, after everything—”
“That shit doesn’t matter when it comes to your safety,” he said, forcefully.
“Fine. I will.”
“Good. You have the key I gave you to our place?”
Our place? Had that just been a slip of the tongue, or had he actually meant to call his house, ours? “Brad—”
He chuckled, obviously picking up on my surprise. “When I get back,” he said.
I found myself grinning like a damn school girl. “When you get back,” I agreed.
We hung up and I stuffed my phone deep into my coat pocket.
Like hell, I was gonna call my brother for a ride. I didn’t want to be anywhere near that jerk. Besides, I was in a hell of a mood. I hated being put in the corner and kept out of the loop with anything and, despite Brad’s reassurances, I was still pissed that he’d put me in that position, whether it was unintentional or not. I wouldn’t be responsible for my own actions if I came face-to-face with my brother right now.
And so, I ignored Brad’s orders and continued my walk home.
***
By the time I turned onto my street, I was like a walking icicle. I couldn’t name a part of my body that wasn’t numb from the brutal cold. My wool coat was hidden beneath a thick layer of snow that was incapable of melting due to the freezing temperature. And that was being exacerbated by the damn blizzard whipping down the street. I just hoped I could make it to Brad’s house before he arrived home, so he didn’t see me and blast me with his I-told-you-so lecture.
I eyed mine and Ollie’s house. It was a reflex and nothing more. I had no intention of going inside and no inclination to see the asshole.
Until I saw the car.
A black BMW parked next to Ollie’s truck, right outside our house.
I stopped walking involuntarily and stood, unable to move, for a good few seconds. I sputtered as snow flew into my open mouth, while I stared at the hauntingly familiar car. Despite the fact that most of it was blanketed with a few inches of snow like the rest of the street, I would know it anywhere. And the license plate was burned into my memory.
“No, no, no.”
My initial fear was quickly usurped by my fierce incredulity that he’d dared to come. To my hometown. My sanctuary.
The next thing I knew, I was storming towards the house.
I almost ripped the gate off its hinges as I barged into the yard.
I flew up the porch steps, taking them two at a time.
I didn’t even bother to knock. The door was always unlocked when Ollie was home.
I pushed through it and stomped down the hallway.
I heard voices coming from the kitchen and headed in there, not breaking my angry stride even for a second. I was on a mission.
My heavy footsteps alerted
them to my presence and by the time I entered the kitchen, the two of them were looking my way in surprise as they both sat at the kitchen table, looking like they were the best of friends. Just that sight alone churned my stomach.
“Jake,” I seethed.
Either he didn’t pick up on my tone, or he just chose to ignore it, because he simply smiled sweetly and said, “Baby.”
“Get out!”
Ollie shot to his feet and approached me. “Soph, relax. I know we’re not on the best of terms right now, but just hear him out.”
“Hear him out?”
“Yeah,” he said, rubbing my arm reassuringly. “He told me what happened.”
I eyed Jake. I highly doubt that.
He’d be writhing on the floor with a broken face if he’d told my brother the real truth of what had happened between us. “Really? Did you?” I demanded, ignoring Ollie’s reassurances and focusing on Jake.
But Ollie stepped in before Jake could get a word out. “He told me you freaked out and took off. It’s okay, Soph. I get it. You’re young. Brad was clouding your judgment.” His eyes flashed. “He was your first,” he ground out with utter distaste. “Jake told me. I didn’t know. Of course you’d be hung up on him like you are right now. It’s to be expected. When women first—”
“Stop!” I said, holding up my hands. There was no way I was gonna stand there talking about my first time with my brother, of all people. If I hadn’t been so pissed, I would have been unbelievably humiliated.
As it was, nothing could transcend my rage.
“Give us a second,” Ollie said politely to Jake.
Jake nodded.
Ollie drew me out of the kitchen and into the adjoining living room. He took my arm and led me over to the other side of the room so we were out of Jake’s earshot.
His eyes sparkled with excitement as he told me in hushed tones, “He came here to ask my permission, Soph.”
“What?” I choked out. How is this happening? What the hell is going on?
“He’s the real deal, Sophie. The type of man who you can make a good life with. He comes from a wealthy, well-respected family. He’s educated and working towards becoming a lawyer. He can take you places and set you up for life.”