Page 10 of Fourth Wall

“Yeah. Got something against it?” I half giggled.

“All right, firecracker. Let’s go to 7-Eleven.” He laughed, his voice filling the silent car with a bit of happiness. It was a sound I wish I could bottle up. After Kelsie and Kinsley’s sweet little giggles, I think Christian’s laughter was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. Probably because it was so rare.

7

Christian

We pulled into the 7-Eleven next to my house, and Maeve hopped right out of the car like she was a kid at a candy shop. What this woman could possibly need to make me stop was beyond me.

“When I was in college, I used to make my friends stop at 7-Eleven for cheese puffs and beer,” she responded as I trailed her, watching as her ass moved from side to side as she practically pranced around the store.

“Chelsea and Gianna?” I asked, knowing Tatum had just moved here.

“No. I didn’t know them until we worked at the brunch spot.” She stood flooded with the fluorescent lighting of the place in front of a large array of beer.

Shit, the men from five years ago would be panicking right now. Standing in front of an entire cooler full of beer, I would not have had the self-control to walk away from it. I would have joined Maeve in on her simple, carefree fun and then gone down a path I had no desire to go back. Instead, I’m ten years sober and more capable of knowing my limits. I walked away from Maeve and grabbed a bag of cheese puffs from the snack aisle when she returned with a 40oz beer.

“Want one?” she asked.

“Nah.” Instead, I grabbed an energy drink from the cooler and went to check out.

“You’re not going to drink with me?” she complained. She had no idea I was sober. It wasn’t something I shared often. Very few people knew I was sober.

When Julian rescued me that day in the bar, he saved my life in every single way. I was wrung out and didn’t have a direction. He gave me friendship and a purpose. I will never be a made man by blood, but I would give my blood to him.

“No,” I said quite matter-of-factly and then threw a twenty down before telling the high school kid behind the counter to keep the change.

“Come on, firecracker.” I gestured her outside the shop, where the lights were obnoxiously bright and the music far too cheery.

Maeve happily pranced, yet again, outside and immediately darted right.

“What the—” She had grabbed the bag straight out of my hand, and I chased her when I realized she had plopped herself on the curb on the side of the store.

“What are you doing?” I looked down at her while she stretched out her long legs and opened the 40oz bottle of beer.

“It’s part of the aesthetic.” She gestured to the curb next to her, where there were probably years of layered dog piss. “Come on, fancy-pants.” She stuck out her lower lip like she was pouting, and I was a fucking goner.

“Okay, weirdo.” I plopped next to her just as the crinkle of the cheese puff bag opened, and she shoved them in my lap.

“If you aren’t drinking, at least have one of these.” I looked down, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her I hated eating junk food, too. They reminded me too much of growing up with an addict mother who didn’t have enough money to feed me, except the crap she stole from hotel rooms, or whatever she could get from her pimps.

“Fine.” I grabbed one cheese puff and shoved it in my mouth, crunching extra hard for effect.

“Ugh, you’re making me feel like a loser drinking alone,” she grumbled as she took another swig of her beer while looking out at the back of the parking lot.

“I don’t drink,” I finally confessed after a beat.

“That’s not true. I’ve seen you go out.” She then looked up as if she was racking her brain to remember me drinking.

“I’ve gone out. I just never drink. I’m sober.” I didn’t know why I confessed it. I guess I didn’t want her to feel worse than she already did. Something tugged at my chest, and suddenly, I had no desire to be an asshole to her. She was going through a lot of shit tonight with her ex, and I just wanted to make her feel…comfortable.

“Oh.” As if my words were catching up with her. “I amsosorry.” Her piercing blue eyes, the color of the ocean on a clear day, looked at me like I had just told her the worst news of her life. I could see the tears start to well up, and I needed to fucking fix this fast. I couldn’t watch her cry again. She didn’t deserve it and not from me.

“I’m a horrible human being today. I must be getting my period soon or something. I yelled at you in the bathroom. I just called you a loser for not drinking when you’re a recovering alcoholic.” She looked down at the beer in her hand and then up at my face. Shock laced her features. “I’m throwing this out.” She attempted to get up, but I pulled her down, keeping her seated next to me on the piss-stained curb where she so desperately wanted to sit.

“Stop. If I can stand to be in a club with a bunch of drunk idiots, then I can sit with you as you drink a beer on what’s probably the shittiest night ever.” I offered her a small smile, hoping that would let her relax.

“I just had a bad drinking problem when I got out of the Marines.” Fuck. Why was I telling her this? I didn’t need to confess shit to her. “But really, it’s okay.”

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