happens in my head as I feel her gentle fingertips. A strong Déjà vu feeling comes over me like this has happened before.
“Then I won’t let anyone touch me, Brendan, if that’s what you want.”
Struggling to remember, I stare at her. “There’s that familiar feeling again, like I’ve known you before, like this has happened before or something.”
She frowns and blinks up at me. My phone interrupts us and even though I would have ignored it, Annie pulls away and laughs. “Well, at least we had one night without an interruption.”
I grin, happier than I’ve been in a really long time. “We did have that! I guess that’s all we get.”
“Let’s go get some coffee.” She walks to her purse.
I pull out my phone, see Rebecca’s name and the words: I have something to tell you. Quickly I shove it back into my pocket. “How about we go see a movie? I can’t remember the last time I didn’t have to be at work on a weekday.”
“Ooooo! Let’s! Who was that?”
“No one I want to talk to.”
We walk to the exit and she looks up, tilting her face for a quick kiss, which I’m more than happy to make long and slow. When I pull away, she’s breathless and her eyelashes take a second to drift up. “Wow.”
I walk out so she can lock the door. When I turn my head, I catch her looking at my ass. “I saw that.”
“I’m only human.” She smirks. “Philz, right?”
“Yup. Let’s walk. No, don’t even think it. I need the exercise and it’s just a few streets over.”
She holds up her hands after adjusting her purse on her shoulder. “I wasn’t making a peep!”
Chapter Fourteen
Rebecca
Clothes, Toothpaste, Makeup: in suitcase. Lace Lingerie: in trash
I walk to the front desk and look around. The place has definitely lost its charm. There’s an average-looking guy in his early twenties, working the desk today and thank God for that. I’m so ashamed of myself for yelling at that poor girl. I slept like shit, and then couldn’t wake up at my normal 7:00 a.m. The only thing that’s got my feet moving now is the desire to get to the hospital to tell Brendan what I found out.
“Here’s the key. And can you please give this to the woman who was working last night?” I hand the guy a hundred dollar bill. “Please put this in an envelope and tell her I’m sorry.”
His eyebrows come up and together. “Will do.”
“Thank you.” Grabbing the handle again of my suitcase, I turn my heels around and adjust the strap of the purse on my shoulder. Stopping, I turn and face him again. “Oh. Who has the best coffee in the area?”
He doesn’t even have to think about it. “Philz. You need the address?”
I nod, remembering Brendan and I going there on many of my weekend visits. “No. I’ve been there before. Thank you.”
Carting a rolling suitcase down a staircase is always a humiliatingly awkward and uncomfortable experience. Doing it after you’ve been through what I have, makes it ten times worse. Each clunky step feels like a deeper descent into unhappiness. Lifting the suitcase into the back of my SUV and closing the door, I catch my reflection in the window. How did I get here? How can I make this better? Thinking back to that phone call from the hospital telling me Brendan had been shot, if I’d have known what I would be going through, I would not have come.
But here I fucking am.
So I climb in the car and head to the hospital by way of one short stop for a much needed latte. Maybe that will make me feel better.
Chapter Fifteen
Brendan
Finger: pointing to Knockout
“I’m going to talk to the guys here and see about getting them on board to help you.”
She looks at the neon sign hanging in the window that reads: NOPE.
“Does not bode well.”
I chuckle at the joke and give her hand a squeeze. “I’ve got your back. They’ll do it. I can be very persuasive.”
“Oh, I know. I got a great big dose of that when you talked me into letting you come clean up the bar, and look where that got you.”
“It got me here with you.” I hold her eyes for a second and she smiles. Suddenly, I remember an idea I had. “Oh - I thought of something, too. Take the charge out of what happened to the bar by naming drinks after it. What about The Gunshot?”
Annie’s face