Page 75 of His Bittersweet Regret

“What the fuck?” Jimmy stood there in the space between the kitchen and living room, fury clear on his face. “I’m sorry, Opal. I told you earlier that he was a good guy, but apparently a lot of shit has changed around here since I’ve been gone. More than I was aware of,” my brother added at the end with a pointed look toward me.

“It’s okay, Jimmy. I’ve learned that you never really know a person. Not truly. Besides, people change, so even if you did get to a point where you know them well, things happen that change the way they think and handle situations.”

“Still, I thought you were in good hands. Had I known my old friend had grown to become a slimy bastard, I wouldn’t have left you there with him.”

“Had I known that in advance, I would have never gone on the date with him,” she admitted. “Hindsight is a bitch like that.” Her comment made me wonder if she regretted our relationship. She must have felt my intense stare because her eyes searched mine out and then she smiled.

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t wish you away like that. If for no other reason, than I could never wish Austin away.”

I didn’t get a chance to respond because Opal left the room and went to sit with the twins and Ryker who were still playing with Austin. His sleep schedule was probably going to be screwed seven ways to Sunday, but there was no way I’d break up the moment my two brothers got to meet my son and Opal was willingly sitting in the house I bought for us.

“You going to pull your head out of your ass and stop waiting around for her to come back to you now?” Jimmy asked me. I turned my attention back to him.

“She’s here, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, brother, she is. You’re a lucky bastard if she gives you another chance. Don’t waste it.”

That was something I never planned to do again. I just had to figure out a way to get her to want to come back to me and stay.

29

Opal

The warm feeling that encompassed me while watching all of the Kennedy boys engaging with my son was something I couldn’t stop thinking about. It had been a week since that night. I’d stayed for another hour, until Austin grew cranky and tired, and then asked Ryker to take me home. He promised the others that he’d be back for them once he dropped me off.

When we got to the apartment, Joe was sitting outside my door waiting on me. He was none too happy to see that it was Ryker dropping me off.

“Did you trade one brother in for the younger model?” He asked snidely.

I ignored him as I unlocked my door. Ryker didn’t though. By the time I turned around, after hearing the sound of flesh meeting flesh, it was to see Joe standing there holding his busted nose.

“I don’t care how pissed you are that you fucked up the only chance she was liable to give you. That doesn’t give you reason to disrespect Opal. Don’t give a fuck what you insinuate about me, but you say one more out of line thing about here and that nose won’t be your only problem tonight.”

Joe shook it off while using his shirt to staunch the flow of blood. “You’re right,” he told Ryker in a nasally voice before turning to me. “I’m sorry. The kid is right. I’m angry with myself, not you. I was just surprised to see one of them dropping you off.”

“He saw me walking home and picked me up.”

“That was hours ago,” Joe insisted.

“Yes, because we went by Marsh’s place, so I could check on Austin first.” It was none of his business who else had been there or why we really went by Marsh’s place. It wasn’t even any of his business how I got home. Still, I was too tired for conflict.

“I see. Look, Opal, I think you got the wrong idea back there at the restaurant.”

“Nope. I got the gist of what was going on. I sincerely hope that you apologize to that woman and do something nice to make it up to her. She didn’t deserve that. You had to know she worked there,” I added, because it was something I’d been thinking about since I started my walk home.

“Actually, I didn’t. She apparently got fired from her last job when she didn’t show up for a few days.” He looked guilty as he mentioned that part, and I guessed that it was because she hadn’t dealt well with their breakup.

“You’re right, though. I didn’t handle things the correct way. I never should have asked you out again while she and I still had something going on. We were never in a monogamous relationship. I promise you, I didn’t lie when I said we were just hooking up and hanging out.”

“Isn’t that how all relationships start, in a way?” I told him. “That girl caught feelings for you, and the longer you continued hooking up and hanging out, the more hope she had that you would make things official with her. She couldn’t help the way she felt any more than you could.”

“Where does that leave us?” He asked.

“It leaves us nowhere, Joe. You went about things the wrong way. I’m not inclined to wait around for that to happen to me when something better comes along.”

“Opal, don’t punish me for what Marsh did.”

“I’m not. You just showed me exactly who you are and what I can expect.”

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