Page 111 of The One I Want
“Whoa there,” Simon says, sliding up next to me as the bartender hands me my drink. “I don’t know who you think you are, but I’d like to remind you that Wes Taylor is shit at holding down liquor.”
I shoot him a glare. “Fuck you.”
“Fuck you too,” he says taking my drink out of my hand and slamming it back for himself. “What’s the matter with you? You’ve had a pissed off look all day.”
I order another drink because fuck him for doing that. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Well, that's not going to happen.” Simon grabs his drink, and the one I just ordered, and heads back to our table. I follow him, not because I want to talk, but because the fucker stole my drink.
“Boys, we have a problem here.”
“Did they run out of liquor?” Oliver said, his words more slurred than mine. “Because I need a refill soon.”
Shane looks at his empty glass then back to him. “Why are you drinking like prohibition is starting tomorrow?”
“Because Shannon broke up with me. This morning.”
We all look at him, waiting for the inevitable next part.
“Did you?” Simon asks.
Oliver hangs his head. “Maybe.”
Shane smacks up in the back of the head. “How do you ‘maybe’ propose?”
“When you propose during sex.”
We all stare at him. I think this is a first.
“Don’t you all say a fucking thing! Plus,” he stops mid-sentence to point over to me. “I’m not the one who broke up with the perfect woman because he’s scared or some shit.”
I feel my face getting red as all three of them shoot a look my way.
“You two broke up?” Shane asks.
I shake my head, suddenly feeling very ashamed. “We never said the words. But we had a huge fight. She hasn’t been at the house all week. How did you know?”
Oliver sits back, taking his empty glass with him. “Emerson came to talk to me this week. She needed a person but didn’t want to go to you or Betsy.”
“Thanks for doing that,” I say.
“How could you not tell us?” Simon asks. “And why did you break up with her?”
“We aren’t broken up.”
“Okay, then what did you do to make her go stay at Whitley’s for the week?”
“Who said it was me who did it?”
“Am I wrong?”
I shake my head. “She got an interview in Birmingham that she didn’t take. Because of me and the kids.”
“Okay,” Shane drawls. “I don’t see how that leads to where you are now.”
“Because,” I say, trying to figure out how to explain it. “She just dismissed it. Didn’t even consider it. Said she wasn’t interested in it.”
“Wow, a woman who loves me so much she’d turn down a job to stay with me. Yup, I can see how that’s a very unattractive quality in a partner.”
