Page 43 of Bullet
“I don’t—”
“Can you get a ride home with Laura and your other friends?” Harry asked.
Despite the fact that I was trying my hardest to keep them back, tears gathered in the corners of my eyes. “Yeah, I can.”
“Okay. See ya.”
Harry stood up and I watched in pain and frustration as he walked away from me. When he was gone and I was convinced he wasn’t coming back, I pulled out my phone and called Laura.
“Hi,” she said, and the tone of her voice suggested she already knew things had gone south. “I’m guessing that conversation didn’t go so well.”
“Nope,” I responded. “Do you have room in your car?”
“Yeah, of course. Where are you?”
“I’m back by where we were all standing,” I said. “On a bench.”
“Okay, sit tight, I’m on my way.”
I watched all the other couples walking around as I sat, and it made me sick to my stomach. What was I doing? This was why I wanted to end things with Harry to begin with. The more time I spent with him, the more I liked him, but I wasn’t supposed to be liking him. Opening the flap of my purse, I reached in and fished out the picture of my dad. His smiling face sent a wave of emotions washing over me.
Was this really what he wanted? Would he be happy knowing what I was up to? If I told him I was falling for the guy who killed him, what would he say?
“Hey.” I quickly shoved the picture back into my bag as Laura approached and sat down on the bench next to me. My head dropped to her shoulder and hers fell onto my head. “We had enough cars that the people who rode with me could go with others, so we can leave whenever you’re ready.”
“Okay, thank you,” I replied.
“What happened? Why did you say that stuff? You know it’s not true. I’veneverseen you glow the way you have been these past few months since you met Harry. You’reobviouslyfalling for him. Why are you resisting it so much?”
I couldn’t tell her the truth, but even the truth didn’t feel totally like the truth anymore. “I don’t know.”
“What did I say about not running from it if it feels good? Does it feel good?”
“Yeah,” I said.
“Then what’s the problem?”
No words came out of my mouth. There were so many problems, I couldn’t quite put my finger on the one that was causing me the biggest issue. I’d have to figure out a way to patch things up with Harry and then once I did, I’d have to bring this thing to a head before the situation got any worse. I was so close to falling in love with him, that every additional day I spent with him risked me throwing everything away to just be with him for real.
And my dad and godfather deserved better than that.
“Can I bring him to your place?” I asked.
“I already told you that you can. I’ll leave and you can use your key to get in. I’ll go out with Cyd that night so you can have the place to yourself.”
“No,” I replied. “Well, yes, if things go well and you could make yourself busy, that’d be good, but I want you to be there at first. Have dinner with us. I want him to know I’m not embarrassed for him to know the people I care about.”
Laura smiled. “Deal.”
Chapter Sixteen
Bullet
Hoppa’s Taphouse had a happy, electric energy flowing through it as I rode my bike into the parking lot around eight o’clock. There were people spilling out of the bar and into the parking lot, and tons of couples were dancing, flirting, and enjoying themselves.
I hated it.
Frustration must have been emanating from me because everyone I got within fifteen feet of, stopped having fun and just stared at me quietly. In my mind, I was keeping my cool pretty well, but the second I pushed through the door to enter the bar, everyone nearby, including several of the members all stopped what they were doing to turn and look at me.
