Page 96 of Whenever You Call

“Nope.”

“Live around here?”

“Yep.”

“Good.” He placed the whisky bottle on the back shelf before he turned back to me and leaned against the bar top again. “Then I don’t have to worry about you driving home. Something tells me another one of those,” he pointed to my glass, “and you’re a goner.”

“I’m a goner already.”

“Woman trouble?”

“Get that a lot, huh?”

“Comes with the territory.” Leaning down, he copied my pose, his forearms resting on the bar. “What is it? First love, second love? Fucked-up love, forbidden love, fallen in love with your best friend’s mom, love?”

“Damn. That shit happens?”

He shrugged. “I’ve seen it all. Love comes in every form, fucking up the best of men.”

“What makes you think that’s my problem?”

He raised a brow and smirked.

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever.” Taking another sip of my drink, I relished the burn that hit the back of my throat before it sank into my chest like a warm blanket. Licking the remnants off my bottom lip, I twirled the glass around between my finger and thumb. “Is this where you give me some worldly advice?”

“Who, me?” He laughed. “Do I look like I have a clue what the fuck I’m doing?”

“Trust me to get a faulty barman.”

“Oh, you have no idea.” He reached up to slap me on the shoulder before he stood tall again, reached for a cloth, and turned to walk away. But then he stopped and scowled to himself before he turned back to me and flicked the cloth onto the bar between us. “But if I wasn’t faulty, and if I did have any advice to give, it would probably be this: whatever you’re looking for isn’t in the bottom of that glass. If you know where it is, go and find it. Everything else is just you wasting time, making yourself miserable.”

He walked away, throwing the cloth between both hands as he made his way to the other side of the bar to serve a loved-up couple that had just walked in.

How did I know they were in love? It oozed out of them. The way they glanced at each other, the subtle eye contact, the gentle touches, and the huge grins that couldn’t be tamed. They looked like they had it all, and I thought back to the other women I’d had in my life and how I’d never once acted like that or looked at them that way because I’d never been invested.

I’d never wanted more.

The thought of having something like that with Hannah punched me in the gut, and every feeling of desire I’d ever tried to push down rose up within me, screaming in my ears,What the hell are you sitting around here sulking for? She’s back in Los Angeles. Go and find her. Make her realize what you want. Make her see how sorry you are. Show her, her goddamn worth because no one else has ever been brave enough to do that for her before.

I could be better than Cole. Fuck it, I already was, but that didn’t mean I was right for Hannah, no matter how much I wanted to be the guy she called on every occasion. Good news or bad. Life or death. Being the man by her side to hold her up and support her through everything was a fantasy out of my reach, but just the idea of waking up beside her every day and seeing those pale green eyes staring up into mine…

“Jesus, I’m fucked,” I mumbled against the rim of the glass of whisky. It only took another quick glance of the loved-up couple in my peripheral vision to realize I wanted that, and I wanted it with nobody else but Hannah Moore.

The weight of my phone in my pocket suddenly felt like a brick, the noise around me now too loud. Draining my drink, I slid money across the bar and got the hell out of there, not responding to the barman as he shot me a, “Good luck, man,” on the way out.

I stepped onto the sidewalk moments later and shoved my hands deep into the pockets of my jeans before making my way home. It wasn’t far, and the cool night air was in danger of sobering me up when I needed it to keep me buzzed because once I was back in that condo of mine, I had a call to make.

No more time wasted.

No more secrets and lies.

I was sick of being without her.

Stepping inside my block, I made my way up the stairs and down the hall toward my room, my head down as my heart raced over what I was about to do.

Confess.

Tell her everything.

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