Page 46 of Give Me Forever Love

I smile over at him as we stand on the curb staring up at my future. I put my arm around his shoulders.

Life is about to be badass.

I rub my five o’clock shadow and sniff. I’m fucking sad. That’s the only way to put it. My heart aches. I stare at the locked doors in front of me. Yellow tape across them, sayingdo not enter.

“Boss?” I hear and turn my head. Ben walks from the alleyway, and behind him is Simon. I called them up on my way over to see if they would meet me here.

“Hey,” I say, pushing off the truck. I shake both of their hands.

I hear Simon sigh. “So, it’s all over, huh?”

“Afraid so,” I reply. “We had a good run. You two got out okay? Everything is cleared?”

“Yeah,” Ben replies. “We’re both good. Thanks for making sure of that.”

I shake my head. “I’m the reason you were in that situation.”

“No. We followed you because we wanted to, Bryce,” Ben says.

I nod and adjust my hat. “Look, I want to thank you both. For everything. I couldn’t have run this place without you. I appreciate all you did to help keep it afloat.”

“Don’t mention it. You paid us well,” Simon says with a chuckle.

We all stand silent for a moment before I turn and reach inside the truck, grabbing two envelopes from the bench seat. My eyes dart around, but we’re in front of the truck so hopefully no one is watching us.

“Here,” I say. “You both deserve a piece of the profits from this place.”

Ben holds up his hand. “Nah, boss. This was your baby. You stayed here late every night working the books and thinking of ways to help promote it. You built this motherfucker. I’m not taking your money.”

Simon looks down, looking uncomfortable, clearly thinking the same. Both of these men will kill you with their bare hands and not think anything of it, but they have good hearts.

“I won’t accept that. This is for a fresh start. I want you to have it, and I’ll be goddamn insulted if you don’t take it.”

I reach out and grab Ben’s hand, placing the money in it before doing the same to Simon. “Let’s go in so you can clean your offices out. I’ve got to pack up the loft and my office, too.”

They slide their envelopes into the back of their pants, and I grab some boxes from the truck. We walk toward the doors, and I hand Ben the boxes before I yank off the tape and pull my keys out to unlock it.

We walk through the velvet red hallway, approaching the all-black sliding doors. They open, and nothing’s on except the security lights. The place is a mess, empty beer bottles and glasses line the bar top. With a heavy heart, we each make our way to the back and start packing up.

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Hours later, the offices have been packed up, my truck is loaded down, and a moving crew has come and gone, taking all the big stuff from the loft to a storage shed. Looking around the place before they took everything, I realized I never redecorated since I moved in there.

The framed band posters, the couch, and dark furniture, this was from the taste of a younger me. I remember moving in here, happy as fuck I was on my own. After so many years of taking care of my brother and always having someone watching over me, I was finally by myself.

No sad drunk reminding me that love makes you weak. No drug addict reminding me that I wasn’t first choice. No brother making me feel guilty for being a teenager, making my own choices, bad or good.

No Pops trying to mold me into the best man I can be. No Emily trying to make up for the years I didn’t have a stable mother. No Aunt Lou or Uncle Monnie there trying to talk to me about shit I didn’t want to talk about.

Alone.

Just me and I loved it so much.

I was free.

I’ve said my goodbyes to Ben and Simon. Wishing them the best in their new lives. It was a bittersweet moment.

“What now?” I ask Ben.

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