Page 111 of Conquering Conner

Same nose.

Same jaw.

Same everything.

“Do you really think Cari is coming back?” I look at the hammer on the table between us before aiming my gaze at his face. “Do you really think she loves you or was it just about fucking with you?”

I watch a muscle in his jaw twitch, pulsating every time he clenches his teeth, like he’s chewing on nails. I think he might hit me. Maybe with the hammer, and that’s okay. I kinda want him to.

Finally, the tension in his jaw relaxes enough for him to unhinge it. “Cari loves me and she’s coming back.” He gives me a haphazard shrug. “Ask me again in five minutes and I’ll probably give you a different answer.”

“I hope she does,” I say, and I mean it, even though the thought of it fills me with an envy so thick and poisonous, it feels like venom, coursing through my veins.

“Either way, I wouldn’t change what happened.” He shakes his head, sliding out of his seat to stand over me. “The last six-months have shown me some uncomfortable truths. Things about myself I didn’t really want to face.” He picks up his hammer. Instead of hitting me with it, he slides it into the loop on his tool belt. “What happened with Cari made them impossible to ignore. She made me realize that it’s okay to be who I am, even if it means I’m not perfect.”

I reach for the glass I pushed away and grin at him because even though this is where I steered it, this conversation is suddenly too much. Too close. “Sounds like a lot of hard fuckin’ work, Cap’n.” I take a long drink, gulping whiskey like it’s water.

“It is.” He wraps his knuckles on the table, casting a long look at the bottle I have line up. “It’s hard and it hurts, and I hate myself half the fucking time, but I get to be me and that makes it worth it.” He cuts me a look that tells me he knows. He knows everything, and he feels sorry for me. “Don’t drown,” he says before heading back upstairs. “And don’t burn down my bar.”

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