Whether they know this guy or not, I don’t know. Some men just love a fight.
I’m one.
Jett ducks in time then punches the guy in the stomach.
I use the force of one of the guy’s bodies running toward me to shove him nose-first into the bar counter. He grunts as blood gushes out the crack in his bridge and his nostrils. His buddy punches me in the gut. I recover and elbow him in the chin, sending his teeth chattering and his jaw offline. He’s not gonna give up easily so he tries to grab me but I dip out of reach and punch him in his ribs three times.
Jett’s knocking the bear silly with agile, strong punches the guy can’t get ahead of, not for lack of trying. My brother is a trained boxer, went semi-pro before The Ciphers. As the guy crashes into a table and takes it down, Jett turns to me and sends a front kick to the broken-nose fucker who was coming at my back without my knowledge. The guy makes another loud and painful grunt as the wind vanishes from his lungs. An uppercut later and the guy I’m fighting has to go to the hospital for his jaw. He probably should have quit after I jammed it the first time. Now he’s going to be drinking out of a straw. But maybe he likes smoothies.
I took a couple hits, nothing lasting.
Gwen calls over, “Cops are comin,’ boys!”
Jett shakes his head and walks to the mess he left behind. “I’m guessin’ your brother is Dwight?”
Bloodied and delirious, the bear barely nods.
“We’re helpin’ him, you dumb shit. Stay out of our way and you might still HAVE a brother.” Jett shakes his head in disgust and looks at me. “Let’s go.”
I throw down some cash for Gwen, take a long, quick glug of beer, and stroll out after my older brother. Just like old times.
DREW
I ’ve been stressed out all morning. His plane comes in today, but I don’t know when. Nothing I do can help me concentrate on these proposals. I’ve completed the initial cataloging of what worked and what didn’t work for the company. And now it’s my job to see if I can’t find any nuances I missed that might help them in future negotiations. I’d been doing a great job at it, quite frankly.
Until today.
Every time the office door opens and I hear male voices, I freeze and forget to breathe. I’m not a fan of Hank, but the others are nice. Some are quiet and keep to themselves. Juan is in here the most so he and I have had some nice conversations since I first started working here.
But if he talked to me today, I wouldn’t remember any of it.
I hear the doors open just after lunch break, where I opted to stay and work. Don walks up to my desk and hands me a take-out bag. “Got you a burger.”
“Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
“Ya gotta eat.”
If I can keep it down.
“You’re very sweet.” He walks by and Juan comes crashing through the doors with Matt on his ass.
“Give me that!”
“Make me,” Juan laughs, running by my desk. They race around and Matt finally pins Juan, who’s much smaller in size, and takes back the crumpled bag.
I ask, “What’s in it?” smiling in confusion.
Juan yells, “Porn!”
Matt mutters, “Asshole,” glancing to me and quickly away. Apparently it is porn.
They head outside to the trucks so they can return to the site now that break is over. My phone vibrates and I lift it up, knowing it’s him.
Can you come over tonight?
Frowning because I didn’t expect to hear from Bernie, I realize Jake hasn’t texted this morning. I guess he’s not going to, now that it’s after one o’clock.
Oh, Bernie. I just spent a difficult afternoon with you three days ago. What do you want from me?
And yet, there is always the hope that today will be the day she’s ready to clean up. Every time I see her, it’s because I want to be there when she needs a ride to rehab…and the support of a good friend who only wants her happy.
I start to type, but a deep voice interrupts me.
“Hi Drew.”
My thumbs freeze on the keyboard. I look up and lock eyes with Jake Cocker, handsomer than I remember, and dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt that makes his eyelashes look darker. He’s boring into my soul with a look that is both determined and irritated.
“Jake,” I croak.
Drew honey, this is gonna be harder than you thought!
“Why haven’t you returned my calls? Or texts?”
I blink a couple times and set the phone down, trying to gather my scattered wits. “Straight to the point, I guess.”
“Yep.”
“Because I didn’t want to.”
“Look at me.”
“No, Jake.”
“Drew. Fucking look at me.”