Page 47 of Tangling Hearts

I look up at the T.V. “Oh yeah. I couldn’t make it. How’d it go? Wait – is that why you were helping them? You were banging the owner?”

He winces, but if I said anything other than banging, I wouldn’t have sounded like myself.

After a beat, he says, “Yeah,” and orders another. One drink after that, he finally opens up.

“Mark and I went into this new place–the place I told you about, Le Barré–and we met Annie. I don’t know. She got me, man. She dug in deeper than anyone has and you know me, I’m not the kind who gets locked in, but I was thinking things…” he stops, and slowly shakes his head, his mouth tight. “She went to college with us. Do you remember Annie O’Brien? She was a Goth chick.”

Put on the spot, I make the face people make when they’re trying to remember something. I opt for ignorance. “Nah, I didn’t pay much attention to those freaks.”

Brendan stares at me, processing this. He looks away and swirls his new glass. “I guess I didn’t either. But I met her right after college. Fucked her friend Corinne and from what I’m gathering from Corinne running into us the other night, and the things she said to me and Annie, Annie had a thing for me back then or something. I guess it ruined their friendship, but I don’t know the whole story. The thing is, she knew it was me this whole time we’ve been seeing each other. She didn’t tell me. And I asked her! I asked her I think a couple times that first night, the night we got shot.”

“She got shot, too?”

“What?” He looks at me. “Oh. No. I meant the night I got shot.” He takes a sip and licks his lips, asking himself more than me, “Why would she do that?”

“Women are fucking stupid, that’s why,” I scoff, remembering Rebecca trying to look under my shirt. If she’d have seen what I was hiding, my life would have been over. I was this close to losing my freedom just because she wouldn’t listen. “Trust me, never let them in and you’re golden.”

Grimly, Brendan says, “That’s what I’ve always told myself.”

“And you were right.”

I bring my glass up to tap his, but it takes him a second to meet me halfway. I need to hit the nail in deeper. Having that bitch around is only going to endanger me, because the hatred I feel for her is so palpable that who knows what I’ll do if I ever see her again? Brendan and I have been burying the hatchet and while I still hate his fucking guts, I’ve played it cool this many years, I think I can keep going if I’m not provoked.

“Wait, was Annie the one who had the long black hair and blue eyes? Like vampire-bright?” He turns to me. If he were a dog, his ears would be perked up high. He nods. I milk it for all it’s worth. “It’s no wonder she lied to you, man. If it’s the girl I’m thinking of, she hated us. She gave us the evil-eye all the time. She told me one night that we were going to pay for how we treated women, and I just laughed at her, because what’s she gonna do? So, she found a way, huh? Man, you must feel pretty dumb.”

His lips tighten. He downs his Scotch and stands up. “Let’s go.”

I down mine, too, and motion to the bartender to close us out. As the pen hits the paper, I say to Brendan over my shoulder, “Hey, sorry man. Didn’t mean to piss you off more.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He walks away and leaves me to follow him with a smirk on my face.

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