Page 14 of Lips of an Angel

I dropped the armful of clothes onto the bed, collapsing onto the mattress next to them. My head fell into my hands, an attempt to stave off the tears I felt pricking the corners of my eyes. “It’s so much more than a breakup. I didn’t fuck up a relationship this time, Angel. I destroyed a family.”

I looked up at him when he tapped me on the shoulder. “You didn’t.Shedid.”

“If you say ‘I told you so’ one more time, I’ll tie your hands behind your back.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” he signed. He dug himself out of the bed, full of energy for the first time in weeks. “We have to open the bar.”

“I don’t feel like it,” I mumbled into my hands before they were pulled away from my face.

“You’re bartending tonight. You promised Ryder, remember?”

I groaned. Angel was right. I hadn’t worked in over a week, with Ryder covering my shifts.

I was passable behind the bar, but I was no Ryder. He was our manager, best bartender, and the closest thing to a third owner we had. He’d been there since the day we opened, having worked under the previous owner. He was too talented for us to let him go. Being single with no desire to change that, he didn’t mind working whenever asked. He was also the only one who could match my attitude with a smile on his face.

I looked at the piles around me, then at my empty closet. When had Kali taken over so much of my life that I literally had nothing without her?

“I need to go shopping first,” I said, somehow finding a pair of sweatpants and a shirt buried in the bottom of my dresser. “I’ll meet you down there when I get back.”

* * *

“Hold on—married?!”Jack said.

I grabbed a bottle of raspberry liqueur, struggling my way through another one of Ryder’s signature drinks, the Vampire’s Kiss. They were in high demand tonight, and happened to be my least favorite drink to make. Ryder’s default setting was nothing less than “extraordinary,” and that extended to the drinks he created. With fake blood, plastic fangs, and edible glitter, the cocktail was Ryder in a glass: excessive, but nice to look at.

“Out of everything I told you, that’swhat you latched onto? Not that she’s afelon?”

I rimmed the edge of the chilled glass with the fake blood, garnished it with a pair of plastic vampire fangs, and slid it to the blonde on the other side of the bar. Out of habit, I threw in a wink for free. Even under the dim neon lights I saw her face flush, and she made a show of wrapping her tongue around the straw and sucking down half the cocktail. Something wasdefinitelyup with me; her provocative move didn’t so much as stir my dick. Under normal circumstances, I would’ve heaped all sorts of attention on her.

Jack added fresh-squeezed margarita mix into the blender and clicked it on, deciding to shout over the musicandthe blender. “So, what’s your next move?”

Rolling my eyes, I asked one of the patrons to repeat their order of a Blue Lagoon. As I started making it, I turned to Jack. “I don’t know yet. I’m only now starting to get over my shock. No one could have seen this coming.”

Jack’s scoff perfectly slotted into the silence of the blender cutting off and the overhead music transitioning to the next song. With blue curaçao in my hand, I shot daggers at him. He slid the margarita to the customer and collected the tip they held out for him, tucking it into the waistband of what could only generously be calledshorts. “I’ve seen the people you leave here with. I find it hard to believe you were shocked by Kali.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I shouted as the music started back up.

“Raleigh, most of us run from red flags. You charge forward like a bull. When was the last time you dated anyone whowasn’ttoxic? Remember Billie?”

A shiver shot down my spine. Oh, I remembered Billie. I finished my pour and set the bottle down, reflecting on Jack’s words. Was he right? By the time I came up with a solid retort, he was busy with a customer.

I ignored Jack for the rest of the night. I focused on the drinks, lost myself in the music, and tried my best to let thoughts of Kali slip from my mind. I’d found myself faltering the last couple weeks, checking my phone out of habit, hoping to see her name.

In my thirty years, I didn’t consider any of my relationships serious. Yeah, there had been a few people I’d see regularly, but I didn’t think about settling down with any of them—including Kali.

But…

She tricked me. That was exactly it. I felt cheated, duped, swindled… fucking bamboozled. What bothered me most was all the people she’d taken down with her. She’d pulled the wool over the eyes of everyone around her: me, her husband, herkid. Pulling an innocent child into her infidelity made it so much more twisted—and now that child had lost everything.

I was halfway through making a round of Jägerbombs when it hit me.

That’s what I would do with the clothes.

I couldn’t do anything about the house or the car, but I could give that broken, hurting familysomething.

I was more than relieved when last call sounded. I pushed through the last round of customers and all but collapsed onto the countertop when the last person walked out the door. I remained quiet as we cleaned, so lost in my thoughts that even Jack didn’t pick up on it and didn’t pry. When we finished, I trudged down the hall toward the office where Angel would still be working. I rapped on the door three times, then waited for the two in return that served as my signal to enter. When I didn’t hear them, I tried again. Still nothing. I tried the knob and it turned, the door swinging open into a dark room.

Frowning, I spun and dragged myself up the stairs. My muscles ached, my shoes stuck to the floor and I smelled like… well, a bar. As I approached my bedroom, I spied dim light of my bedside lamp spilling through the cracked door. I peeked inside, finding an Angel-shaped lump under the blankets on my bed, surrounded by pillows on every side. I stayed still for a second, waiting to see if he would turn, but the blanket moved evenly with each breath.

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