Page 14 of After All The Wreckage
I didn’t respond.
“Go. Call him.”
River grabbed the glass from me, and I made my way toward the back, weaving my way through the crowd. The Prince Darian was dark and moody. Full of worn wood, copper, and old leather. Enormous roughhewn beams traveled from front to back, lowering the ceiling but adding a rustic coziness to the space. Booths ran along one wall, ending with a corner unit pushed up against the mullioned, stained-glass windows depicting a scene from a local fairytale about the prince the bar was named after.
We didn’t have a stage or room for a live band, but there was a tiny dance floor and enough space for a DJ who playedTuesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. The music the college kids liked was nothing I listened to. But then again, the little-known classic rock bands I preferred weren’t liked by many people. Except once upon a time by a teen girl who’d flirted around the edges of my life. Whose presence seemed to have haunted me since yesterday when I’d caught a glimpse of her all grown up.
As soon as I closed the office door behind me, I dialed Monte’s number. It went straight to voicemail. I texted again, but he didn’t reply. I was debating calling India or her parents when shouting in the corridor drew me into the hall.
A college-aged guy and a girl were arguing furiously.
“Everything okay here?” I demanded.
They both jumped.
“Fine,” the girl said. “Just a dumbass being jealous for no reason.”
She stomped back down the hall, and he followed her into the bar, nearly knocking Audrey and her tray over. Audrey’s white-blond hair streaked with blue and pink was up on top of her head in a messy bun, and her lean body was cased in leather from head to toe. She had almost as many tattoos as River, and when they stood next to each other, you could tell they fit. As if they were two pieces of the same whole. Hell, some of their tattoos even bled from one to the other.
“Watch it, jackass,” she exclaimed with no real heat. She and River were two of the calmest people I’d ever met. It was their serene energy that had stabilized me after Dad had died and Demi had taken off once again.
The Cherry Bay residents had come out in force after Dad had died, grieving his loss alongside us and wanting to help, but I’d only been able to stomach River’s and Audrey’s assistance. Maybe it was because they’d already been working at the bar for almost two decades, and I could pretend it wasn’t pity or charity I was accepting, even when my subconscious knew it wasn’t true.With Audrey’s mammoth art sculptures in high demand and River’s miniatures thriving online, they hardly needed the paltry money they made at the bar.
“You get a hold of him?” Audrey asked as I joined her.
I shook my head.
“He’s just a teen lost in the moment. I’m sure you remember being that way,” Audrey said with a wink.
It made my stomach churn for all sorts of new reasons. He was only thirteen. Too young for him or India to be even thinking about kissing, let alone more. I’d had the sex talk with him. It had come out when I’d insisted we move Ivy into the room Monte and I’d been sharing and give him his own.
Monte had protested the room change at first, saying if anyone needed space, it was me. I’d just stared at him, trying to figure out what that meant. When his cheeks had turned fiery, I realized he was talking about me bringing a woman home. I’d barely held in a scoff. There was no way I was bringing anyone back to our apartment.
I could barely remember the last time I’d had sex, kissed someone, or even thought about kissing someone. Even if I’d had the time for a hookup, it wouldn’t have been anything more. I wouldn’t have introduced someone into my siblings’ lives who wouldn’t stay, and I couldn’t think of adding anything permanent to the pile of responsibilities I already carried.
As if the gods were laughing at me, the crowd parted to reveal the spitfire I’d seen across the parking lot the day before. This close, I could feel the energy crackling around Rory, bright and furious, singeing the air and leaving the scent of lightning in its wake—burned ozone and danger.
Her hair was long and straight, falling well past her shoulder blades even in a ponytail. It left her high cheekbones exposed and accentuated her large, amber-colored eyes with the trail of green fire blazing around her pupils. She was dressed in a blacktank with a neckline low enough to show the swell of her breasts and tight black jeans that clung to slim hips and the perfect curve of an ass she shouldn’t be allowed to have. On her feet, she wore a pair of biker boots with chunky heels and rows of metal buckles and studs.
She looked like both hell on wheels and the sweetest of delights.
My body reacted violently to the image of her, making me feel like an asshole even though I knew she was no longer fifteen. She had to be twenty-two going on twenty-three, but it still didn’t feel right for my dick to be responding to her. Not after years of training myself to bury any thoughts except the platonic kind.
She was with Shay, and they were talking to two men who had an academic look about them in button-down shirts, sleeves rolled to their elbows. They weren’t who I’d ever expect my edgy, quick-witted Pipsqueak to end up with.
Except she sure as hell wasn’t mine.
I couldn’t afford to have anyone be mine at the moment. Especially not a feisty fireball who didn’t even live in Cherry Bay and was just visiting.
As I stood there staring, the noise of the bar all but disappeared around me, and I was overwhelmed again with the sense of an approaching storm. A premonition that Demi’s damn psychic abilities had forged into me. Abilities that were never wrong.
All I could hope was that the storm would be a real one with rain and winds and lightning rather than another traumatic event my family couldn’t sustain.
CHAPTER SIX
Rory
USED TO BE YOUNG
