Page 83 of Waiting for Friday Night

“Aaah, now the privacy thing makes more sense. Can’t be alone with her if your family is all up in your space.”

“Exactly. Outside of seeing Shania I don’t have a reason to be alone with her without tipping off everyone that we’re seeing each other.”

Brian halted mid sip. He and Cyril exchanged glances before he looked at Quinton with wide, curious eyes. “Wait, you are seeing each other?”

“We’re just chilling right now. One day at a time, but damn, can I get a day?”

The three laughed and the conversation moved to the woman Brian was seeing. Brian didn’t date women in Peachtree Cove because he didn’t want the entire town in his business. He also didn’t date seriously. Just a fling here or there.

“I’m not looking for anything serious,” he’d said once. “I did the marriage thing and that didn’t work out. Not going down that road again.”

They were wrapping up their drinks and getting ready to call it a night when Khris entered the bar. Quinton’s stomach clenched. He hated that he still had a visceral reaction whenever he saw Khris. Life would be easier if he could push the trauma of the years under Khris’s bullying out the window and ignore it for the rest of his life.

Quinton stood. “Time for me to go, fellas.”

“Let me finish this and we can leave together,” Brian said, pointing to the beer in front of him.

He wanted to say no, but he also hated the urge to flee the building. He was not going to give Khris that kind of power over him. “I’ll wait.”

Khris spotted him and quickly made a beeline to Quinton and his friends. “Quinton, I was hoping to run into you.”

“I’m just about to leave,” Quinton said. He gave Brian and his beer a pointed look. His friend, thankfully, didn’t play dumb and lifted the glass to his mouth.

“You still don’t want to sit down and chat with an old friend?” Khris said, trying to sound wounded.

“We’re not old friends,” Quinton said firmly. “The mayor isn’t here or anyone else that I need to play nice in front of. Let’s stop playing around.”

The smile left Khris’s face. Good, he needed to drop the act, too. “Look, Quinton, I was an asshole as a kid. I get that. I’ve worked through my issues. You know, therapy is beneficial.”

“Good for you.” Quinton did not care at all about Khris’s journey to enlightenment.

“But part of my growth is to face what I did in the past. I want to apologize for the way I treated you back in school.”

Quinton looked back at Khris. Not feeling an ounce of forgiveness inside him for the guy who’d made his life a living hell, but also not wanting to drag this out longer than it needed to be. “Apology accepted. Now we can both move on.”

“Can’t we talk?”

“About what? You apologized, I accepted. End of story. We’re never going to be friends, Khris.”

“Why not? I said I’m sorry. That was a long time ago.”

“You broke my damn leg.” Quinton scowled. “Your friends held me down and you stomped on me until my leg broke. I can accept your apology, but it doesn’t mean we have to be friends.”

Brian and Cyril both stiffened with Quinton’s words. He hadn’t spoken loud enough for the rest of the bar to hear. He understood Khris was there to give the town something it wanted, but he wasn’t going to pretend in front of his friends. Khris had been more than an asshole; he’d been a bully and an abuser. Quinton wasn’t going to act like that never happened.

“Look, I was jealous. I had a lot going on.”

“Jealous? That’s your excuse?” Quinton shook his head and waved off his words.

“My dad kept comparing me to you,” Khris said quickly. “I didn’t know how to take it. Especially after—”

Quinton held up a hand. “Look, I don’t care about whatever you got going on with your dad. That was your issue. You decided to take it out on me. Now we’re adults. I’m not going to bother you about that because you’re here to judge the town. Not to reconcile or bury your demons with me. Let’s just keep it at that.”

“But—”

Quinton looked at Brian. “You ready?”

His friend hadn’t finished his beer, but he stood. “Yeah. Let’s go.”

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