Page 5 of Abigail
Straw’s face flushes a deep shade of red. Embarrassment hitting him like a ton of bricks as Emma hits the nail on the head. He doesn’t likenothaving a real relationship. He wants what Hawk, Ace, Wallace, and Deadeye have all found, but he knows it isn’t in the cards for him. So it more than a little pisses him off that they are pointing it out.
“Look ladies, I appreciate your concern,” Straw begins trying to keep the anger out of his voice. After all, he respects both women very much. “But you need to leave it alone.” Both women’s faces scrunch up into a scowl. They glance at each other and he knows without a doubt they aren’t going to leave it alone. So before they can start in on him again, he goes on the offensive, and he is brutal.
“You need to stay out of my personal life. It’s none of your damn business. And Curtis” -he makes air quotes as he draws out his name- “should have kept his damn mouth shut. He was whining about missing you, Emma. I was sick of hearing about it, so I told him a bunch of shit to make him feel better. Like how jealous I was of him. How lucky he is that he found you and I wished I could find a good woman, too, but I didn’t mean it. I don’t ever want to be tied down like that, same woman night after night. I like to mix it up. After all, variety is the spice of life, you know.” Straw pauses for a breath and seeing the hurt on the women’s faces, he needs to get out of here fast. “Now, where’s the damn cooler? I need to get back outside.”
Straw regrets his outburst as soon as it is out of his mouth. Emma jerks back as if he has slapped her. Her big eyes welling with tears. She turns her back on him and he can hear she breath catch as she tries not to cry. Charlotte’s face turns beet red and hard as stone. She looks like she is ready to tear his head off his shoulders with her bare hands. He has no doubt she might just do that very thing without any difficulty. If he is honest with himself, he deserves it, but he isn’t being honest. Not with himself and certainly not with the women standing in front of him.
Fuck! Why did I say that shit?He turns to walk away. He needs to get away before he says or does something worse than he’s already done. He only makes it a few steps before his conscience makes him stop. He drops his head as he stands there wishing with everything in him that he could take it all back. He had lied after all. He did mean what he’d said to Wallace, and he knows he wouldn’t be bored having the same woman night after night. Especially if she were anything like these two good women, but he won’t admit it to them. Nope, not going to happen. It’s better this way. They need to leave this alone and if he shows remorse over his outburst, they will never let it go. He isn’t meant to have that kind of goodness. No need to torture himself thinking otherwise. He proceeds to leave the kitchen.
“Robert,” Charlotte calls after him. Her voice much softer than her face had been. He chooses to ignore her and keeps walking; the cooler be damned. Hawk or one of the other pussy-whipped ones can get the cooler. He needs fresh air and beer. Not necessarily in that order. The sliding glass door bangs as he slams it shut. Everyone in the backyard turns to stare at him.
Just great!Now everyone knows that something has happened and will have to know all the messy details. When Hawk and Wallace find out what a monumental dick he’s been to their women, they will be pissed and on his case. Definitely time for some alcohol. Forget the beer, he needs liquor and in a hurry.
Straw can feel all eyes on him as he heads for the make-shift bar the couple has set up in the backyard. He doesn’t give a shit at the moment. He keeps his head up with his eyes on the prize. A bottle of his favorite Kentucky bourbon. Woodford Reserve Double Oaked, just what the doctor ordered. Tank is playing bartender today and he knows Straw better than anyone here. He won’t give him shit. Tank understands Straw. Having firsthand knowledge of how Straw’s early life had been, he doesn’t judge. He’ll just dole him out the drink he so desperately needs to get through the rest of the day.
“Give me three fingers of Woodford,” Straw demands as he reaches the bar. Tank’s head jerks up in surprise at his tone, but when their eyes meet, he just turns and grabs the bottle and a glass. He pours the drink as requested over a few cubes of ice. He sits the drink in front of Straw, then stands back and crosses his arms to wait. Straw wants to hate him for it, but at the same time, he is grateful for his good friend. Straw takes a large sip, savoring the burn as it slides down his throat. He sits in silence as he practically inhales the rest of the glass. He slaps the glass down, nearly sending the ice flying out all over the bar. He motions for another. Tank eyes him a beat before filling his glass.
Straw is about to down his fourth glass when Tank’s hand lands on his wrist halting his upward motion. Straw meets his intense gaze. The men stare one another down for a long moment.
“You going to tell me what the hell this is all about?” Tank’s deep baritone voice demands as he gestures toward the bourbon bottle. Straw shakes his head, knowing he is only delaying the inevitable. “And why Wallace is now looking like he’s about to come over here and kick your ass?” Straw glances over his shoulder and sure enough, Wallace is definitely pissed the fuck off, but thankfully he isn’t headed this way, at least not yet.Fuck!The day is going from bad to worse. Tank continues to stand there glaring at him. Straw isn’t looking at him, but he can feel the weight of it. Finally he can’t take it anymore.
Straw raises the glass to his lips half expecting Tank to stop him again, but to his surprise he is allowed to take another drink. Guilt weighing on him, he raises his eyes to meet Tank’s. He knows Tank can read him like a book. The men have been friends for more than twenty years. Straw can’t bullshit Tank and get away with it. “Fuck, Tank,” Straw blusters. “Let me be. I just need to be drunk, okay?”
“No,” is the curt reply. Tank’s stance indicates he isn’t going to let it go, which only pisses Straw off all the more.
“No?” Straw asks incredulously. The liquor is beginning to blur his judgement. Had he not had so much to drink so fast he wouldn’t pick a fight with the burly man. Tank has beat his ass more times than Straw cares to count, but his alcohol addled brain is a little foggy on those details at the moment.
“What the fuck you think you goin’ to do? Make me tell you?” Straw slurs as he raises the near empty glass again and downs the rest of the fire water. He reaches for the bottle, not waiting to see if Tank will let it go and fill it again. Just as his hand closes around the neck of the bottle, Tank takes it from his hand, placing it behind him and out of Straw’s reach.
Rage flows through Straw. He jumps to his feet with the full intention of decking Tank. However, he really can’t handle liquor as well as he likes to think he can. The world spins way too fast and is tilting off its axis. Before his ass hits the ground, Tank has taken hold of his arm and begins leading him toward the house.
“Dammit, Straw!” Tank hisses in his ear. “What the fuck’s wrong with you? You know these gatherings aren’t for tying one on. There are women and children here. Our friends’ children.” His voice hard with his disapproval.
Straw starts to try and fight Tank off, but he realizes he isn’t nearly drunk enough to think he can win a fight against Tank. He stumbles along beside his friend, turned warden, not realizing the spectacle he’s making of himself. Mercury and Hack head their way to help assist Tank in wrangling the wayward man. Straw’s date is looking on in disbelief.
Inside the house, Tank leads him through the sunroom toward the hallway that will bring them to the stairs. Straw’s stumbling and bumping into furniture makes a lot of noise. They almost make it to the staircase when Charlotte and Emma emerge from the kitchen to see what is causing all the racket. A gasp from Emma causes Straw to raise his drunken head in a wildly dramatic fashion. When his eyes meet Charlotte’s, he is nearly sobered. She pierces his heart with her gaze. No, it’s his soul. She can see right through the carefully built walls he’s erected to make everyone think he is the happy, carefree playboy. Charlotte knows better. In reality, he is still the sad, lonely kid who lost his only stable caregiver much too soon. The lost little boy his mother never loved enough to get clean. The boy who had tried desperately to find a little girl from his past who had barely been a blip on the radar, but had touched his soul and nearly driven him mad in his need to find her.
“Straw, we know you better than you realize and that’s why you are angry and getting wasted at a family gathering. Maybe we shouldn’t be trying to interfere, but it’s only because we care about you and you know it,” Charlotte scolds him.
“Yes, ma’am,” Straw raises his eyes to look at Emma. “You’re right about everything. I’m so sorry, Emma. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. It’s just…” A huge sigh escapes him. “I know y’all mean well, but I can’t have what you guys have so don’t try to fix me. I’m not fixable.” His words slurring in his drunken state.
He hates seeing the hurt in their eyes. It is best that he’s nipped this shit in the bud. He knows when they set their minds to something it will take an act of Congress to get them to back off and he doesn’t have it in him to fight off a full-scale assault by the small group of women who have become family to him.
Tank and Mercury haul his drunk ass up the stairs and put him to bed in a guest room to sleep it off. Tank assures Straw he will get the barfly home safely, but Straw’s too drunk to care. Hours later, Straw wakes to a silent house and a pounding headache. He gets out of the bed and after taking care of business in the guest bathroom, he heads downstairs. He almost makes it to the front door before he hears footsteps. Pausing, he turns to see Hawk coming down the stairs, a scowl on his face.
“You straight?” Hawk asks as he approaches Straw.
“Yeah,” Straw answers. “Look, I’m sorry…” Straw is cut off by Hawk holding up a hand.
“Save it. I’m not in the mood to hear it right now.” Hawk’s voice is low, but harsh. “Neither of us are in a condition to have this conversation, but you know that I’m here for you when you’re ready to talk your shit out.” Straw nods. Hawk is always available to help his men no matter what they need.
“Come on. I’ll drive you home. I need to get back and help Charlotte with the kids. Those beasts will be up at the ass crack of dawn,” Hawk says affectionately. The men head out the door and into the night, not speaking of Straw’s fuck up on the drive.
CHAPTERFIVE
Abigail is running late. Ellie woke up with a sore throat this morning. It is gone after some Tylenol, but Abi is worried that she might be getting another cold. Ellie has a tendency to catch everything that goes around. Abi’s boss is going to be pissed. It’s only the second time she has been late in the year she has worked here, but the man is a complete jerk. He demands perfection out of his employees while he blatantly breaks the rules, repeatedly, when his boss isn’t around.
Abi drops Ellie off at pre-school, but it takes longer than normal as she wants to speak with Ellie’s teacher about her sore throat. Then she gets caught in traffic due to an accident on the interstate, so she is late. She enters the hotel’s employee entrance, hurrying toward the locker room. She puts her things away and clocks in. Brent spots her as soon as she comes into the employee break room. He is on his feet getting in her face as soon as she enters the room.
