"I wish I didn't leave that night, but I had to Val. You don't understand."
__________
It's been twenty years since Valerie Rhodes saw the love of her life. One night changed everything for her. Until she...
My body feels instant relief. "They deserve to rot in there."
His lips curve into a small smile, showing me the dimples a lady from the coffee shop mentioned earlier. His smile was contagious and hard to not smile back to.
"So tell me this," I start, changing the subject completely. "Shouldn't you want to never see Elijah again? Why is it the other way around?"
"Clever."
A few more people enter the bar, filling up the place quicker than expected. Their opening night isn't so bad after all as people start to cram against us by the bar stools, making it hard for us to hear each other.
Grant's voice gets a little louder when he tries to speak over the crowd. "I wanted revenge after what happened to me and everyone else there, so when I escaped I found him and you can say things didn't end so well."
"What did you do?"
"Pressed charges against him."
"You WHAT?" I shout, making everyone look my way. I quickly lowered my head in embarrassment.
He shrugs. "He needed to pay for what he did."
"But, in that case, why didn't you press charges against your dad as well?"
"One thing you should know about Elijah is that when I'm in his life, he will do anything in his power to destroy me. It's always been like that since we were kids,"
"When Benny died, I blamed him. We all did because he was supposed to be there with him that night, but instead, he was with you."
The guilt that I once felt has slowly returned. Not only do I feel terrible for what happened, but now he is putting more sorrow onto me than I ever had before.
I stare down at my thumbs again, but his next few words pull my eyes back toward his.
"Now that I know you, Valerie, I would have stayed with you also."
"Why do you say that?"
He tilts his head, smiling. "Something is mesmerizing about you. I didn't pay much attention to Elijah when he told me about the girl he met and possibly loved. I just did what I do best and ignore him. Maybe I should have listened."
A bashful smile takes over my mouth. I hesitantly bite my bottom lip. "Yeah, maybe you should have."
My phone interrupts us, vibrating against the bar counter. I quickly glance and see Elijah's name run across the screen. Grant eyes me before quickly grabbing my phone.
"Hey," I shout, but he doesn't listen.
"What's up bro," he gives his best happy-go-lucky voice. "How are things with your girlfriend? Oh, wait. She left you to come find me."
"It's not like that," I whisper yell to him, crossing my arms.
"If you touch her Grant, I swear to God." Elijah's voice comes through the speaker, letting me hear how pissed off and angry he is.
He chuckles loudly. "Well, does touching her thigh count?"
What a dick!
I try to reach across and grab my phone from his hands, but he leans back like a kid who doesn't want to share. "Give me my damn phone!"
"Gotta go, she needs me again."
He ends the call, handing me my phone gently. I snatch it aggressively and shove it back into my purse.
"What the fuck was that?" I yell, not caring who looks at me crazy this time.
"Nothing against you, I just like pushing his buttons."
I give him an evil glare, standing up from the stool. "Well, you're pushing buttons with my boyfr- my friend, my Elijah."
He quirks up a brow, confused at what the hell came out of my mouth. "You don't even know what he is to you."
"Yes I do," I say breathlessly from yelling so much. "He means a lot to me."
"Well," he stands up from the stool and gazes down at my face. I smell his cologne... leather and gunpowder. His shaggy hair falls softly into his eyes. He reaches out to brush it the opposite way. "If you were mine, I would make sure you knew you were my girlfriend."
My chest rises and falls at his words. For a second I thought he was going to run his finger against my cheek as he watched a piece of my hair fall onto my eyes. "Well, too bad I'm not yours."
His tongue hides behind his teeth for a minute before running it across his bottom lip. He notices my breathing change drastically. "Yeah," he pulls his tongue back inside his mouth. My eyes gradually look back up to meet his. I can't believe I was staring for so long.
"Too bad."
• • •
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