Page 113 of Forever Fighting
I fold my arms, far from impressed. “Good for you. Answer me.”
“It’s a good thing you didn’t say yes to the show, though I would have enjoyed canceling you before you even began.”
I narrow my eyes. “What show? The one your girlfriend wanted me to do?”
“Not my girlfriend. She’s a vindictive, backstabbing whore. Sort of like you.” He points at me, and I’m lost.
“Adam, what is this bullshit?”
“I’m here for a bachelor party since I didn’t get to go to mine.” His smile stays glued to his lips, but there’s something extra about him I’m trying to figure out.
I glance around at the other guys who have gone quiet since I entered the room, their eyes dancing back and forth between Adam and me. I know two of them. They were supposed to attend Adam’s bachelor party. They’re guys he went to college with that I never liked much. Adam has a lot of douchey friends and looking at him now, thinking about who he is, I realize if it weren’t for his friendship with Nash and his ‘sticking by me’ after the incident, I never would have bothered with him.
“That’s great, but why are you and your friends assaulting my employees, generally being assholes, and griping about food you clearly finished?” I gesture to the two massive Fred Flintstone-sized bones void of meat on the otherwise empty plates.
He wipes his mouth with his napkin and tosses it on the table. “Because we can, and you’ll take care of it. You owe me a hell of a lot more than that.”
I didn’t get to hit him after he hurt Braelyn.
I was still stuck on the he’s my friend train and wasn’t quite sure what to do with him, but now I’m regretting that I didn’t break his nose or his jaw or his orbital bone. Jaw is the worst of those three. Trust me. Nothing like needing your jaw wired shut or limiting your ability to talk or eat.
That would drive him wild.
Motherfucker lives for those.
Except I got the girl, and he’s busy making a fool out of himself because he’s got nothing left except his ridiculous pride, which clearly isn’t serving him well.
“You’re right. I will take care of it. Eliza, can you call the police?” I ask my manager.
“As you know, we have a zero-tolerance policy on sexualassault, harassment, or disorderly conduct here. I’m positive their waitress would like to press charges. We’ll also be able to tack on theft since they’re trying to steal their meals after they’ve eaten them. Considering the cost of their steaks, the charges will be felony grand larceny.”
“Whoa! Hold up now!” Jason, one of Adam’s college buddies, cries out. “That’s not necessary.”
“I beg to differ,” I tell him.
“Wait. Hold on, man,” one of them says, his hands up in the air. “I didn’t agree to any of this.”
“You didn’t stop your friend either,” I counter dryly.
“Shit.” Another friend starts to nervously shift and lean across the table in Adam’s direction. “This is not how I want to spend my bachelor party. Laura will kill me if I get arrested. Let’s just pay the bill and get out of here.”
“Yeah,” they all agree. “No harm, man. We’ll pay and be on our way.”
Adam looks murderous.
“And my waitress?” I ask coolly without removing my eyes from him.
“Adam, fucking apologize to the woman so we can get out of here,” another friend who clearly wants no part of this jumps in.
So Adam was the dick who got handsy with their waitress. What a piece of shit.
“It got him in here, didn’t it? That was the point.”
I honestly have zero patience for this. “You waited till the end of the night, till shortly before we close to do this? You wanted to see me, so you assaulted a woman instead of being a man and coming to talk to me? What a sad little sack of shit you are,” I say to him. “You cheat on your fiancée, and over a month later, you throw a temper tantrum in a public restaurant and bring your friends along for your ride of shame? What did you think I’d do? Just roll over and take it because wewere friends until I got the girl you were dumb enough to let go of? Did you think I’d throw a punch and you could sue me?”
His jaw locks, and yep, I can see it. That’s exactly what he thought.
“Grow up, Adam. Learn how to be a man and take responsibility for your actions.” Jesus. I can’t believe I just said it that way. “And fuck you for making me sound like my grandfathers.” I point at him, followed by his crew. “My manager is going to charge someone’s card right now for the full dinner amount, and I expect a generous tip for your waitress along with an apology. That said, if she wants to press charges for people putting their hands on her without her permission, that’s her right, and I’ll support it.”
