Sweet Forty-Two(17)

“It’s fine. It’s over. Seriously, leave me the hell alone. Lissa, you have tables. Take mine or send them home. I need a few minutes.” I turned toward the window and rested my forehead against the lukewarm glass.

Ten seconds later, amidst unintelligible whispers, I heard the chain swing free, and the door open and close. I jumped when I heard it latch again.

“It’s just me,” Ember whispered.

“I told you to leave.” I crossed my arms in front of me as she leaned her back against the door.

“I will ... as soon as I know Dex has left the bar and parking lot. I don’t think anyone called the cops, which is good news for CJ, but bad news for you.” She studied her cuticles as she spoke, looking like she was fighting something inside with the steep downward angle of her eyebrows.

“Where is CJ? I’m going to kick his ass.” Wherever it was, I’d hoped it was far from Dex.

Ember shrugged, finally looking me in the eyes. “Bo and Regan took him outside. I think there’s been enough ass-kicking for the night.”

She took a deep breath, pried her back away from the door and walked toward me in the annoyingly casual way that was meant to make it look like she wasn’t really approaching me. Kind of like she was at a tag sale, her fingertips skimming the surface of the desk and the back of the couch as she got closer.

“How often does that happen?” she asked when she was about five feet from me.

“Excuse me?”

“How often does he get in your face like that?”

“It wasn’t—”

“It wasn’t what?”

“My personal life is none of your damn business. I don’t need you looking at me like some battered wife.”

“Okay, then who’s Brandon?”

Fuck CJ.

“Also none of your business.” I wasn’t going to discuss my bastard of an ex-boyfriend with her. I hadn’t intended on discussing it with anyone, let alone all of E’s.

I knew CJ knew the weight behind every word Dex had spoken. But his interpretation of the bruise on my wrist, mixed with Dex’s attitude, led him to spill the Brandon secret everywhere. It’s the lesser of two evil secrets, G. I had to chant that in my head on repeat.

Ember cleared her throat. “I’ve known CJ a long time—”

“Not as long as I have.”

Ember rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’ve known him long enough to know that he basically doesn’t give a shit about anyone. Except you.”

I cleared my throat to keep the vice at bay. “Yeah, so?”

My eyes burned like hell, but I wasn’t about to give in to tears. CJ betrayed my trust.

Before she could respond, a loud knock rattled the door.

“Ember, you in there? It’s Bo ... and Regan.”

“Can they come in?” Ember tucked some hair behind her ear.

I shrugged. “I guess. I’ve got to get back to work anyway.” I started for the door, but Ember held up her arm.

“Just wait until we can be sure he’s gone, okay?”

I conceded, leaning back against the door. This was the wrong kind of attention. All wrong. It could have been worse, though. I had to repeat that in my head. Some secrets were so deep I could hardly feel their roots in my veins when I was in mixed company.

That’s a lie. They were always there. The secrets. Snacking on my soul.

Ember slowly slid the chain out of place and let her arm fall loosely at her side as she stepped back. “Is he gone?” She looked between Bo and Regan as she re-latched the door behind them.

“He is,” Regan answered. “I double checked with Lissa. His friends dragged him out. He was pretty drunk.”

“That doesn’t matter, Regan,” Ember snapped.

Bo hesitantly placed his hands on her shoulders, lifting a finger to her chin when she wouldn’t look at him right away. “He knows, Ember. He was just saying...”

“Sorry.” She sighed. “Where’s CJ?”

Regan stuffed his hands in his pockets. “My car. The sooner I get him home, the better.”

I stared at Regan’s tattered Converses. Old, not purchased that way. “No one called the cops, right?”

His weight shifted to his left foot. “Right. If you don’t want to be alone tonight, you can come stay—”

“No.”

“Georgia,” Bo spoke in the same nursery rhyme volume Ember had pestered me with since she followed me back here, “Lissa said for us to tell you that you can go home for the night. Use the back door...”

“What?” I looked around at three apparently concerned faces. “Like I’m a refugee? Christ, nothing happened.”

Ember opened her mouth to speak.

“No,” I stopped her. “Nothing happened. Dex is gone. And, I intend to finish out the rest of my shift so I can earn my money. Some of us don’t have rich parents who put us up in North Cove.” I brushed past her for the door.

“No,” she scoffed in the most irritatingly sarcastic exhale, “some of us are forced to live in La Jolla instead.”

I stopped in my tracks, my hand resting on the doorknob as I exhaled slowly through my nose. I scanned three sets of eyes before resting on Ember’s perfectly green irises.