Fight Me(52)

I search her eyes, looking for any sign that she understands what I’m telling her. She finally smiles a little smile and gives me a small “okay”.

“Just promise me that you will always tell me what you’re feeling and answer me honestly. Even if you think it’s something I don’t want to hear, please just always say it. Deal?”

“Deal.”

“Alright,” I say as I lean over and kiss her soft lips. “Let’s go get some pizza. I’m starving.”

Inside, we’re seated at a booth in the busy pizzeria. The lighting is bright and the décor is trendy. There are old road signs and local memorabilia hanging from every available wall space in the large open room. Our server looks a little frazzled as she hustles from booth to booth taking drink and pizza orders. When she finally makes it over to our booth, she takes one look at me and her whole demeanor changes. She instantly smiles and starts to bat her eyelashes. I used to love this reaction from ladies wherever I went. Now, it’s annoying as hell, and I don’t want Erin to bear witness to it.

“Hey, Jake. How have you been?”

“Uh, good. You?” I don’t really care, but I don’t want to be an ass. Plus, I recognize her a little but can’t place from where. That never works out so well in the long run.

“Oh, you know. Same ol’, same ol’. I haven’t seen you at Jack’s lately.” She turns her flirty face into one of concern. “I heard you got shot! Oh my gosh, I’m soooo glad you’re okay!” She runs her hand up my forearm to my bicep, stopping on top of the bandage. “Does it hurt?”

“Not too much anymore,” I say as I start to pull back, feeling all sorts of uncomfortable in the current situation - with her hand on me.

Pizza Girl has yet to even acknowledge Erin sitting right next to me. When I look over at Erin, she has a look on her face that clearly shows her disgust and shock in the server’s boldness. I reach over and link my fingers with hers.

“So, I’m off tomorrow night. I hear its Maddox’s bachelor party. Maybe you can give me a call after the party starts to wind down. I’d be happy to continue to entertain you,” she says and bats her eyelashes again at me.

I hear Erin’s audible gasp as she tries to pull back her hand. Oh, hell no! “Yeah, sorry- ” I look down at her name tag and see the name Jen – “Sorry, Jen. But I’ll only be going home tomorrow night or any other night with my girlfriend here. This is Erin.”

Jen seems to notice Erin sitting next to me for the first time and gives her a quick once over. I feel Erin pulling away from me and I pull her hand over to my leg, steeling my grip on her hand so she can’t pull away.

“Girlfriend?” she asks. “Well, I’m sure that’ll last a few more days. When you’re tired of the good girl librarian, give me a call, Jake. We always had a great time together.” And with that, Jen turns and walks away from our table.

Holy Shitballs! Could this possibly get any worse? I turn quickly to Erin, but she’s looking down and not making eye contact with me. I have no clue what to say.

“Erin, - ” I start but she interrupts.

“I’m not feeling so well, Jake. Can we just head out?”

“Of course. I’m not hungry anymore for pizza. Let’s go get something somewhere else.”

I grab Erin’s coat as we slide out of the booth. I try not to even look at Jen, but she’s standing near the server’s station by the entrance to the dining room. She’s clearly talking about me or Erin with another server. I reach down and grab a hold of Erin’s hand and lace my fingers through hers. She doesn’t pull away, but I can tell something’s different. She doesn’t respond the way she normally does when we hold hands.

Outside in the cool air, I feel like I can’t breathe. She’s obviously pissed, and rightfully so. I just don’t know how to fix this and make it right.

Once we’re settled in the truck, I turn to her and try to talk. “Okay, so obviously I know that girl, too. I’m sorry about what she said.”

“You can’t help the way some people react to me or us. You’ve slept with half this town, Jake. I just don’t know how to deal with that. Or, honestly, even if I can,” she whispers.

Panic starts to set in at the thought of losing Erin over my wayward past. “First off, I haven’t slept with half the town, Erin.” Her eyes crash into mine, eyebrow shooting straight to the roof of the truck. “And second, what the hell does that mean? You don’t know if you can deal with what?”