Page 7 of Forever Fighting
“I’m sorry, Miss, we’re—oh. Hey, Brae. I didn’t realize it was you. What can I…” She trails off when she notices my face, so I’m positive I look like ass as I always do after I cry. At least my tears have stopped. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, you know, just a shitty day. Can I get your strongest martini ever?”
She studies me for a beat, then says, “Sure. Of course. I have a bourbon that’s a hundred and twenty proof.”
“Sounds delicious. Add a splash of sweet vermouth and some bitters to that, along with a cherry, would ya?”
“You got it.”
“Thanks.”
She’s still giving me that questioning, unsure look, but I don’t care as long as she serves me alcohol. Right now, I’d drink antifreeze if it served my purpose, though maybe I should serve that to my ex-fiancé. Speaking of…
My phone vibrates in my purse. I don’t bother checking it. I know it’s him. The same way I also know this is the moment when everything starts to fall apart for me.
3
ROMAN
“Chef, Braelyn is sitting at the bar and looks like she’s been crying,” Sport, one of my weeknight bartenders, tells me, popping her head into the kitchen.
“She’s here now?” I twist my wrist, check my GMT-Master II, and frown. It’s not even five yet, and she had a twelve-hour shift today. I know because she was going to be off for the next two days and wanted my help tomorrow with some last-minute wedding stuff, including final say on my tux. “Wait. Did you say she’s beencrying?”
Braelyn doesn’t cry. Hardly ever. The only time I ever saw her cry was when she came into the hospital and saw me for the first time after Nash died, and then again at the funeral. But that’s it.
“Yep. I made her a Manhattan with the Elijah Craig Barrel Proof we just got in.”
I curse under my breath. She’ll be drunk in no time.
Without a word to anyone, I leave the kitchen and head through the empty restaurant, going straight for the brunette who has her back to me. She’s still in scrubs, her hair up in aponytail that looks loose, with some of her long curls tangled around each other. Alarm skitters through me, and I quicken my steps to a run until I’m by her side, turning her to me and taking her face in my hand so I can see her.
The moment our eyes meet, fresh tears form and instantly fall to her cheeks.
“What is it?” I whisper, my heart hammering so hard I can barely breathe.
Her face crumples and lands on my chest, and instinctively my arms wrap around her, holding her tightly as she cries into me. I pick her up off her seat, take her in my arms, and slide onto another stool so I can set her on my lap.
“Adam,” she manages, clinging to me. “He… I found him…”
“That motherfucker,” slips past my lips before I can stop it. She doesn’t even have to finish that. She could have told me he’s dead or something else horrible, but I know that’s not what this is. He cheated. The motherfucker cheated on my girl.
Honestly, I’m shocked.
Never in a million years would I have thought Adam would cheat on Braelyn.
“Yeah.” She gives a watery laugh and pulls back, wiping her face. She shifts on my lap and climbs off as she polishes off the end of her drink. “He’s all that and a bag of chips. I caught him and Corporate Barbie in my bed. In my favorite sheets, no less.”
“He’s still at your place?”
She shrugs. “I guess. Why?”
I stand, cracking my knuckles. “I’m going to beat him to death.” Fury pumping through my veins sets my feet in motion, but Braelyn stops me, pulling on the back of my coat.
“Don’t go. Please. I just… I need you right now.”
And just like that, my blood cools, and my heart melts, and I twist to take her pinky, squeezing it to let her know that she has me. She always has me.
“Come on. I’ll take you home. To my home.”
