Page 70 of On the Double

But that wasn’t the worst of it. And now that I could admit that to myself, I had another harsh truth to face. “I um…that’s not all.”

“Fuck,” Lock sighed. “There’s always something else.”

I scratched my jawline, feeling like I was suddenly covered in spiders or something. Maybe it was hives. “I may have…questioned her life choices.”

Lock nodded, then turned away from me and went back to his workout. Brock started up the treadmill again, laughing to himself.

“What? That’s it? No one’s got any sage advice?”

“I don’t think there’s any advice any of us could give you that would save the sinking ship,” Brock said.

“There’s gotta be something.”

Lock put down his weights and turned to me. “Do you like this woman?”

“This isn’t about whether?—”

“Now’s not the time for you to play this whole single-man game. Do you like her or not?”

I rolled my eyes, begrudgingly admitting that I did. “Yes.”

“Then you have to make a choice. Either you stop being a fucking asshole and apologize to her, or you walk away and admit that you’re fucking wrong.”

“She works at a fucking grocery store!”

“In the middle of a small town,” Lock pointed out. “Not everyone under the sun becomes a lawyer or a teacher. Some people do menial work. Some people enjoy the simple life.”

“She doesn’t like it!” I practically yelled. “She’s got no fucking ambition. She’s been to school twice and didn’t graduate either time!”

Lock got up and in my face. “And who are you to judge her? You don’t even want to fucking date her. All she is to you is someone to take home and fuck.”

The reality of his words struck hard. Why did I care? And if I didn’t really care about her, why was I judging her so harshly over her life choices?

I stumbled back a step, feeling like I’d been hit by lightning. Slumping down on the bench, I ran my hand over my head, feeling like absolute shit. “I really fucked this up.”

“No shit,” he snapped. “Listen, I don’t give you shit over your choices in the dating department. If you want to go around and fuck every woman in your path, you do it. But don’t come to me for advice about screwing over women and how to come up smelling like roses when you’re shitting all over the place.”

He stormed out of the room, leaving me only with Brock. Sighing, I looked up at him. “Do you want to yell at me too?”

He chuckled at me. “Nope, I think he covered it. Though, I am intrigued now why Lock is so fucking determined to put you in your place. What does he know that I don’t?”

A whole hell of a lot that I didn’t want to get into right now. I shoved to my feet and clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks for the ass-kicking.”

“I didn’t really have anything to do with it.”

I needed a fucking shower and a handbook on the proper way to grovel. But I wasn’t sure anyone would be able to tell me how to get back in the good graces of a woman like Harper.

I stoodoutside the grocery store, staring at it for the second time in a matter of days. I wasn’t sure what I was going to say or how I was going to fix the clusterfuck I’d gotten myself into. The only thing I knew was that I had to do it sooner rather than later.

I knew from my own experience with my parents that the longeryou let a problem fester, the harder it was to forgive. I wasn’t even sure why I wanted forgiveness from Harper. It wasn’t like I could ever have a relationship with her, but I hated thinking she was mad at me.

Sighing, I made my way inside and waded through the sea of customers until I saw her standing by her register. Despite the smile on her face, I instantly knew she wasn’t happy. The smile didn’t reach her eyes and her stiff posture let on that she was faking all of it, holding in the anger she no doubt still felt for the horrible things I said to her earlier.

“Fuck, you’re such an asshole,” I muttered, making my way over to her.

When I approached, she caught me out of the corner of her eye, shooting me an irritated look.

“Can I talk to you?”

---