“Seth?” Micah’s voice came from the stairs. He had his girlfriend Tasha by the hand, and the girl was dressed and staring wide eyed at me.
“I’m looking for Britany. She’s gone too fucking far this time.”
“She’s not here. She caught a ride home about an hour ago. Are you okay?”
“No, I’m not fucking okay. I’m sick of always being in people’s mouths. No one really knows me, yet everyone thinks they know everything about me.”
“Whoa, slow down. Is this about Layla?”
“It’s not Layla’s fault.” I released a long breath. “Forget it. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Well, we’re going out for some breakfast, so don’t murder anyone while I’m gone, okay? And if there’s any beer, feel free to drink it up.”
“Sounds good.” I would have a drink and clear my head and figure out a way to work this out. Avery had gone off because she was heartbroken, but once she listened to the truth and figured out that she’d been wrong, things could go back to the way they’d been. Couldn’t they?
It had to. I loved her. I held the side of my face where she’d hit me. I recalled raising my fist and the look she gave me. She didn’t even flinch, and while I would have never hit her, I knew it shocked her to see me do that.
Raising my fist had been a knee-jerk reaction. I was an abused child, one who had learned to fight back. It was still no excuse, and now she’d probably never see me the same way again.
I found a red cup and walked over to the keg to get a drink, but it was empty.
When I found Britany, she was going to make this shit right. I had a bone to pick with that girl, and I was going to get to the bottom of what happened if it killed me. She had no right to make up shit just to hurt Avery. I couldn’t imagine how I would have reacted in the same situation. I would have been looking to kill somebody.
Just when I had committed myself to someone wholeheartedly, my past came up to pull me under, but I wasn’t going to let it get in the way of what I wanted. And that was Avery.
I left the empty keg and Omega House and hurried across town to a little bar that, by that time, was serving.
When I went inside, I pulled up a seat at the bar and ordered a beer. I was so pissed off at myself and the world, and I didn’t see my mood improving anytime soon unless Avery came to her senses, but the cold one was a nice start.
My feelings about her were so conflicted. I loved her, I truly did, and the way I knew was because instead of being mad at her, I was concerned for her. I didn’t like the way she looked when I left and hated knowing she was hurting because of me. Sure, I hadn’t done anything, but because of me, this had happened. That was enough.
I tried to call her, but she didn’t pick up. I hoped she had called someone to look after her, and the only reason I didn’t call Clara myself was because I didn’t know if Avery was still upset with her too.
I had drunk three beers by the time Will Tanner showed up. I saw his smile in the mirror behind the bar as he pulled up a seat beside me. “You look like you had a rough night.”
“Yeah, more like a rough morning.” I wasn’t planning to confide in him about my problems. I still wasn’t sure he didn’t have a thing for Avery.
“Too bad. I hate that you missed that killer party last night. It was so wild. You should have been there, man. Everyone was asking about you.” He looked at the bartender. “I’ll have what he’s having.”
“But I wasn’t there. And I didn’t want to be.” Not that anyone would believe me. Once the rumor mill got wind that Avery and I were broken up, they’d have the story turned around to where I was there, partying as usual. After everything that happened with Avery, I didn’t want to be anywhere but alone.
“What’s gotten into you lately, man? Just because you’re seeing Avery doesn’t mean you have to ghost everyone else in your life. Although I have to say, I’m kind of glad you weren’t around last night.”
“Oh? Why’s that? Did you finally get to be the belle of the ball?” The guy craved attention and had been known to cause a lot of trouble to get it.
He chuckled. “It was a whole lot easier to get Britany’s attention. That’s for sure.” He grinned, wagging his eyes as if he had scored big with her.
I stiffened, the drink in my mouth turned stale as it slid down my throat. “You were with Britany Burns?”
“Yeah,” he said with a shrug. “She took some convincing. She had to get you out of her system first. Man, was she hung up, but don’t worry. I banged that out of her.”
“She asked me to come to the party, you know? But I didn’t.”
“Yeah, I told her to invite you and that you wouldn’t show up. I told her you were with Avery now and to give it up, but she bet me she could change that. She lost. I won. The rest is history. I just dropped her off at home.”
“What do you mean she lost? Aside from sleeping with you?” The jab was too easy not to take. Will had a way of setting himself up. And I had a feeling he was about to set himself up for an ass beating.
“Funny,” he said before taking another drink. He shook his head as he swallowed. “No, she said she could break you up. I told her to give it her best
