Page 25 of Sacrifice
I walk into the bar and Jordyn gives me a smile. I don’t return it. I don’t have it in me.
“What’s wrong with you?” she calls from behind the bar.
“Bring me a beer.”
I don’t look her way as I head to the corner table. The place isn’t very busy and I’m kind of disappointed. I wanted to blend into the scenery, not have to talk to anyone.
Will is sitting at the table alone, his arms stretched across the neighboring chair, watching television. He looks up and sees me and starts to speak but stops.
I pull back a chair and sit down.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he asks, sitting up. He wraps his hands around the bottle in front of him.
I laugh angrily. Before I can respond, a bottle is plopped in front of me.
“You all right?” Jordyn asks.
“I just asked him that.” Will takes a sip, eyeing me carefully.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re the moodiest son of a bitch I’ve ever met,” she says.
“You don’t mind that when you’re getting the cock.”
“Whatever.” She takes off, leaving Will and me alone.
I glance over my shoulder and spot Adam and Dane at the bar. They nod but seem to sense my mood and don’t get up.
I take a long pull of my beer.
“Is something actually wrong or are you just being an asshole for fun?” Will asks.
“I wish.”
“So?”
I lean back and rest my hands on the table. I consider whether to tell him or not. I think about all the things we’ve been through together. He was a part of so much craziness with Gage and me back in the day. Finally, I say, “Everleigh has cancer.”
The sound of that being said out loud is just mind-blowing. It obliterates a piece of the numbing sensation I’ve felt since finding out. It chips away a chunk of the possibility that maybe it’s not real.
Will’s eyes grow wide. “What?”
“Yeah.”
“Aw, fuck. Man, I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.”
“What is there to say?”
He clears his throat, and I can see him trying to come to terms with the news. “How’s Julia?”
“How do you fuckin’ think she is?”
“Dude, just askin’.”
I rub my forehead. I want to rip something in half, make something fuckingfeelwhat I’m feeling. It’s a sensation I haven’t felt in a while. It’s the same feeling I used to get as I stood on the mat and watched the guy across from me bounce up and down to psyche me out or, more likely, talk himself into walking across the mat. It’s the same overwhelming urge I’d get when some asshole would run his suck in the neighborhood and Gage wasn’t around to talk sense to anyone.
The problem with this is that Ilikethis feeling. It’s one feeling I know what to do with, how to manipulate. I just don’t have anything to be on the receiving end of my rage tonight.
