Strings of the Heart (Runaway Train #3)(44)

I shook my head. “Sometimes you’re just too close to a situation to truly see things the way they should be.”

“How could I screw her over like that?”

“Don’t you dare say that! You could never, ever do anything to hurt Ellie.” Reaching over, I cupped his cheek with my hand. “I’m not going to let you sit here and beat yourself up, okay?”

With a weary smile, he replied, “Okay.”

“You’ve got one of the biggest hearts I know, Rhys. There isn’t a malicious bone in your body. You would walk barefoot through a field of glass to make sure Ellie was happy.”

“I suppose.”

When he stared mournfully out at the water, I clapped my hands together. “You, sir, are in desperate need of a drink.” Holding my dress in place with one hand, I rose to my feet. “Come on. Let’s be cliché and drink away our troubles.”

Rhys stared up at me for a moment before a grin spread across his face. “You’re so f**king right. If there was ever a night to get plastered, it’s tonight.”

While I boosted myself onto one of the stools, Rhys walked around the side of the bar. “What sounds good?” I asked.

“I think the better question is, what is going to get us shitfaced the fastest?”

I giggled. “And if you get shitfaced, how will I get home?”

Rhys shrugged. “Guess you’ll just have to stay here.”

His reply caused me to gasp. “H-Here?” I stammered.

“Besides the f**king monstrosity main house, I’m pretty sure there’s room in the carriage house for you.”

“Oh,” I murmured, trying not to hide my disappointment.

As Rhys plopped a bottle of tequila down on the bar, he winked. “Of course, my bed is pretty big, and I wouldn’t mind sharing it.”

My mouth dropped open as I tried processing what he had just said. Like a typical guy, he’d been able to go from emotionally broken to teasing sex-fiend in less than two minutes. I don’t know how guys could inflict such whiplash with their feelings. But was Rhys’s joke just something to lighten the mood? Or was this really it—a proposition to be with him? Deciding not to let him get one on me, I replied, “I’d be happy to share your bed.”

Rhys’s dark eyes twinkled. “I think you’d change your mind pretty quick after you heard me snore.”

I laughed. “I hog the covers, so we’re even.”

“Two horrible bedmates, huh?”

“Yep,” I replied, although secretly I wouldn’t have cared as long as I got to share his bed.

Taking out two shot glasses from under the bar, Rhys sat them in front of me. “Think you’ve got it in you to do some hardcore shots?”

“I will if you will,” I dared.

“Oh, I will,” he replied. He unscrewed the lid on a bottle I wasn’t familiar with. When he glanced up, he must’ve noticed my questioning look. “This,” he began before waving the bottle, “is pure white tequila from the agave fields outside of Guadalajara.”

“Sounds intense.”

Rhys grinned. “Trust me, it is. They barely put in a capful of this shit when they make a margarita.”

“How did you come to get it?”

“AJ’s family has killer connections, so he always brings us back some when he goes to visit.”

“I see.”

As Rhys picked up his shot glass, I frowned. “No limes or salt?”

Glancing at me over the rim of the glass, Rhys said, “You’re not totally hardcore then.”

“If you don’t have any, that’s okay.”

Rhys sat down the shot glass. He held up one finger to me before walking to the end of the bar and bending over. Leaning up on my stool, I saw that he was rooting around in a small refrigerator. When he stood up, I saw two limes in his hands. As he started back to me, he started juggling them. “I didn’t know you were a man of many talents.”

“Oh yeah, I totally wanted to run away with the circus when I was a kid.”

I giggled. “Seriously?”

He cocked a brow at me. “You’ve met my parents. Anything, including the circus, would have been better.”

My smile faded as I once again felt the intensity of his pain. When I started to say something to him, Rhys shook his head. “No more of that or we’ll have to down the entire bottle. Then I’m pretty sure we’d end up with alcohol poisoning.”

After cutting the limes, he brought out a salt shaker. He placed it all before me before he walked around the side of the bar. He took a seat on the stool beside me. “I think we’re good to go now.”

“Thanks for humoring me with the salt and lime,” I said.

“It’s nothing. Besides, I owed you.”

Furrowing my brows, I asked, “How did you owe me?”

Not meeting my eyes, Rhys ran a finger along the wooden groove in the bar. “You stayed tonight.”

“Of course I did.”

His gaze flickered from the bar to me. “You didn’t have to though. After seeing what happened with Ellie and all the f**ked up shit that is my family, you could’ve bailed. Hell, you probably should have.”

I shook my head. “What happened tonight was horrible. My heart aches for Ellie and for you. But it could never make me care about you less.”