Page 48 of The Drummer's Heart

She followed me as I exited the garage and headed to my car.

“Atticus, don’t be stupid.”

I ignored her, turning on the engine and taking off. As much as I hated to upset her, I couldn’t help it. I needed him to know that if I wasn’t going to have her, he certainly wasn’t either.

Since I knew Julian’s car, I figured I’d drive around town to see if I spotted it.

It took me a few hours of scouring Monksville, but I finally located his Range Rover parked outside a local bar around happy hour.

I parked and stormed inside.

He was seated in the corner, watching a game on the TV mounted to the wall.

He jumped in his seat as I pulled out the chair across from him and made myself comfortable.

“Surprised to see me?” I cracked. “You shouldn’t be. You knew coming here would risk getting your ass beat, yet you chose to come anyway.”

“Come on.” He rolled his eyes. “Really? You’re following me around now?”

“Actually, I just want to talk.”

“You mentioned beating my ass a second ago. Now you want to talk?”

“I don’t want to upset her any more than I already have, so no, I won’t be attacking you. You can thank Nicole for that. But please, by all means, come for me first and give me an excuse.Then I’ll have a perfectly legitimate reason to knock your teeth out in the name of self-defense.”

Maybe I’d knock his teeth out either way. But first, I needed a drink. I’d definitely be taking advantage of my three-drink maximum today.

I headed to the bar and ordered a beer. Before I could return to the table, a woman recognized me and asked for a photo. Forcing a smile, I appeased her before settling back in the seat across from Julian. I had to give him credit for not leaving.

I took a long sip and set my glass down. “What can I do to get you to stay away from Nicole?”

“Why should I? She’s your ex-wife,exbeing the operative word. You have this unfounded belief that she somehow still belongs to you. She doesn’t. After you and she broke up, she chose to be with me. You can’t seem to understand that.”

“She only chose you after you manipulated the situation. You knew what had happened, and you were conveniently right there to pick up the pieces—pieces you had no right to.”

“Whether you think the timing of my relationship with her was convenient or not isn’t the point. She and I developed something real. It didn’t happen overnight. You weren’t there, and you have no idea what she and I built. You’re only seeing what you want to see. You’re also forgetting that Nicole is a grown-ass woman and can do whatever the hell she wants with her life. She doesn’t need you to dictate who she falls in love with.”

“In love withyou? She broke up with you!”

“Yeah, well, I think that was a mistake.”

“You’re telling her how she’s supposed to feel?” I slammed my glass on the table. “A mistake on what basis?”

“I don’t think what happened in our relationship is any of your business. No relationship is perfect. It takes real work.Unlike, you know, being a musician who’s not even around to put effort into things.”

I sucked in a breath. He’d hit a nerve. He seemed to know exactly what to say to get to me. The likelihood of this talk ending well was diminishing by the second.

I rolled up my sleeves. “You know what? Thiswasa bad idea. I thought I could talk to you and not want to smash your face in, but I was wrong.”

“I’d love to see you do that because it would solidify for Nicole what a nutcase you are.”

“You’re a piece of shit, Julian. I can’t believe we were ever friends. You can think whatever you want about yourself, but the truth is, it takes a real shitty human being to move in on his friend’s wife.”

“Again, she’s not your wife. And she wasn’t when I started dating her.”

I leaned in. “She’ll always be my wife. And if you know her as well as you seem to think you do, you’d see in her eyes who she belongs to. Just mention my name around her and you’ll see what I mean.”

“Don’t be so sure she would ever go back to you. Do I need to remind youwhyshe ran to me in the first place?” He glanced down at my beer and raised his chin. “Why don’t you have another drink? Make some great decisions…”

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