Page 52 of Unhinged

I screech from surprise and fright. Unlike my fearless brother, I’m afraid of heights and being carried upside down by a man who despises me, I fear for my life.

“Put me down!”

Before I scream more, he takes me into a dark room, sets me down, and slams the door. He flips on the light, and I see beer boxes along the walls as I fall against one. The rage returns to his handsome face, and it terrifies me.

His barely average face.

He seethes, “I told you to leave.”

“How can I when you just trapped me in here? I wish you’d leave me alone.”

“Right. And if that damn lamp could grant wishes, I’d be a billionaire porn star, and I wouldn’t be here, seeing your face again without hazard pay or a noose. Not only are you working for my mother, now you’re here, in my aunt’s bar. You and Amos are like cockroaches I can’t get rid of.”

“I’ve stayed away from you tonight. I’m sorry for telling them about softball. Can I please go back to work?”

“For shit’s sake, you were dancing on a damn table!”

“So? It was fun.”

“This ain’t Coyote Ugly!”

Trying to remember if that’s a movie reference or if it’s a comment about my looks, I halfheartedly ask, “Jealous?”

“Hardly.”

“You saw Candi cut my shirt. I had no part in it.” A side thought then enters my mind as I notice his shirt. “How come you don’t have to wear a new shirt?”

“Amos can fuck off.”

“Oh. Can I go now?”

“So, how many guys are you planning to ruin tonight? Are you humping that entire table of college pricks?”

I again tease, “Jealous?”

“Shut up.” Greg averts his brown eyes long enough to arouse my suspicions and body, no matter how hard I fight it.

“Why in the hell do you care?”

“I’m sorry if that’s the impression I gave you.” I suck in my lips to hold back tears. Nope. Won’t cry anymore for him.

“They’re actually my age, unlike you, who acts like a stick in the mud old man.” I try to sidestep him, but he moves with me. And closer.

“And you’re a kid who is out of her element. This city, let alone this bar, ain’t big enough for both of us.”

“I’m here for Amos.”

“I don’t want that troll bastard here, either! Go home!”

“You can’t tell me what to do. Look. I know you don’t want me around, but I can’t just leave. If I had known Durham was your hometown, I wouldn’t have come here.”

“No, but you’ll come with every cocksucker that offers.”

“What the hell is wrong with you? You’re not the same man.”

“You blabbed to my mother!”

“I didn’t know it was her, either!”

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