Hadley
“Hey, I’m sorry I had to pick you up so early. Rick is on my ass to do inventory before we open.”
I slid into the passenger seat and pulled my seat belt over my shoulder. “It’s okay. Ryker is still only talking to me in one-word answers, and that’s only when it’s necessary.”
Vanessa whistled and pulled out of the driveway. “Damn, that kid sure does know how to hold a grudge.”
That was an understatement. It had been three weeks since he had seen Tate and me together, and he had spoken maybe twenty words to me. He was there, but he acted like I wasn’t. I had tried to talk to him when he had come home the next morning, but he didn’t want to hear it, and I had no idea how to make him listen.
“His mom was the same way. I remember when we were growing up, and I had taken one of her shirts to wear on a date. She freaked the hell out, ripped it off me, and then didn’t talk to me for a week.”
“Jesus, you James’ are not to be fucked with.”
I laughed and rolled down my window. “Yeah, grudges are what we do.” I sighed and leaned my head back on the seat. “I just wish Ryker wasn’t so pissed at me.”
“Can I say something and have you not hate me?”
I rolled my head to look at her and smiled. “I really doubt you’re going to tell me anything I already haven’t told myself.” Vanessa had been giving me rides to and from work since I asked Tate to leave. Without her, I didn’t know what I would have done. My car was still a big ass paperweight, and my saving towards getting it fixed was like molasses in winter. It wasn’t happening quickly.
“You gotta make him listen to you, sweetie. You fucked up, but you didn’t intentionally mean to hurt him. You were trying to protect him.”
“But I still lied to him, V. Looking back, I should have just told him. I mean, he thought he was friends with Tate and the guys. I’m the last person he has who is there for him, and I fucked it up.”
Vanessa sighed. “Hadley, I think you are way too hard on yourself, and your nephew needs to step back and see that although you lied to him, you are human and you’re going to make mistakes.”
“Yeah, well, maybe someday he’ll talk to me. Until that day, I’m going to work my ass off and pray for the Publishers Clearing House to come knocking on my door because that is about the only way my piece of shit car is going to get fixed.” Life sucked. Straight up just sucked.
“You know Rick is always looking for girls to take the stage.”
I looked out the windshield and closed my eyes. “I know. I don’t know if you’re a good friend for reminding me or a horrible one for thinking I should.”
“Hey, there ain’t no shame in stepping on that stage. I did it for two years before I got a job at Sultry Knights.”
I chewed on my lip and twisted my hands in my lap. “I know there's no shame in it, it’s just not how I saw my life going.” I never knocked anyone for their choices, but I didn’t know if stripping was the right choice for me.
“I bet if you did it a couple of times, you’d make enough to get your car fixed, and you wouldn’t have to do it again.”
The girls who took the stage did make a ton more than I did. When I had first applied for the waitress position at the club, Rick had tried to talk me into stripping, but at that time, I wasn’t completely hopeless.
But today was a different story, and it felt like I had passed rock bottom and was headed straight for a cardboard box under the highway. “I’ll talk to Rick tonight.”
Getting the car fixed would maybe help with the whole Ryker situation. He would, of course, ask me how I got the money to fix the car, but he wouldn’t need to know.
If I was going to fuck up my life, might as well go all the way and add stripper to my resume.
*********
Tate
“Put some fucking clothes on and get your ass out here.”
I looked at the front door and shook my head. Thank god I had locked the door before collapsing on the couch.
“Tate, you pansied ass-fucker. Pull your panties out of your ass and open the fucking door.”
“Go away,” I called to Roman. I didn’t feel like going anywhere tonight. “It’s fucking Wednesday.”
I heard him laugh, and then he pounded on the door again. “You wanna tell me what the hell that has to do with anything?”
“Yeah, it means I’m not going out.”
“Fine, we don’t have to go out. Just let me the fuck in.”
I turned on the TV and cranked it up. I was fine with being alone and watching TV. I didn’t need Roman’s dumbass here.
“You know, you should really lock your back door. You never know who’s going to walk in.”
Fuck. I looked over my shoulder and watched Dante move to the fridge.
“Hey, fucker. Let me the hell in,” Roman called.
I got up from the couch and opened the front door. “So, you were supposed to distract me, and then Dante was supposed to come in the back?” I kicked the door shut behind Roman and collapsed on the couch.
“That was the plan, but the dumbass was supposed to let me in after he got in, not raid the damn fridge,” Roman shouted at Dante.
Dante flipped him off and continued rummaging in the fridge. “We’re gonna have to order pizza,” he determined with his head still in the fridge. “Bastard doesn’t have anything to eat besides ketchup and pickles.”
“Bring the pickles,” Roman drawled. He collapsed on the couch and kicked his feet up onto the coffee table. “I really need to get one of these,” he muttered looking around.
“You mean furniture?” I asked.
Dante handed the jar of pickles to Roman and sat down on the other end of the couch. “I think the only way for Roman to get furniture is from someone to domesticate and potty train him.”
“Y’all are a bunch of fuckers. Think you’re fucking funny, but from where I’m sitting, I’m not the one moping around after some chick who didn’t want to tell anyone about me.” Roman pulled a pickle out of the jar and pointed it at me. “Told you what you were doing was fucked up, but you didn’t listen to me.”
“You never told me that.”
Roman quirked his eyebrow and pursed his lips. “Huh, maybe I thought it but never told you.” He took a bite out of the pickle and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Either way, I was fucking right.”
I rolled my eyes and flipped through all the channels looking for something to watch. I paid a shit ton for cable every month, and I could never find anything good.
“Hey, go back to Chuck Norris,” Dante called. “Fucking badass,” he mumbled.
“Is this really what we’re going to do tonight?” Roman asked. “It’s fucking Wednesday night, we’re three good looking single guys, and we’re just gonna watch Chuck Norris and eat a jar of pickles?”
“You’re the only one eating pickles,” Dante pointed out. “I’m about to order a couple of pizzas and some chicken wings.”
“Well, I guess we’ll have some good food while we're lame.”
Dante leaned forward and rested his elbows on his legs. “I know what we can do.” He pointed a finger at me and smirked. “You can fucking tell us who you were dating. If it’s over, does it really matter if you tell us who it was?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore, Dante. She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
“You won’t tell him, I will,” Roman threatened.
Dante’s head twisted to look at Roman. “You know who he was dating?”
“Yeah. I fucking caught the two making out.”
“Shut the fuck up, Ro,” I growled. I was surprised he had kept his mouth shut for this long.
“Nah, I think if you had just told everyone, it never would have been an issue, and you wouldn’t be the sad sack of shit you are right now.”
I grabbed the beer I had sitting next to me and took a swig. “With friends like you, who needs enemies?” I drawled.
Roman rolled his eyes and set the jar of pickles on the coffee table. “He was dating Ryker’s aunt.”
“The old lady?” Dante asked. “She’s like ninety.”
Roman shook his head. “No, you fuckstick. Ryker’s aunt isn’t an old lady. She’s a waitress at the strip club.”
Dante looked confused as shit. “But how…why did…when were you…”
I took mercy on him and decided to just tell him. “Roman and I went to the strip club awhile back, and I saw her. Then when we went back to the club, with the girls, we started talking. Neither of us knew who the other was. By the time we figured it out, Hadley didn’t want to tell anyone because she didn’t want to hurt Ryker.”
“How the hell was it going to hurt, Ryker? The kid is sixteen, not six.”
I shook my head and popped open the footrest on the recliner. “I don’t know the full story, but he mentioned his mom when he saw Hadley and me together, and it tore Hadley apart.”
“You call her at all?” Roman asked.
“Yeah, I’ve tried a few times, but she doesn’t answer. The last I heard from her was she wanted me to leave.”
“That would explain why Ryker hasn’t been into the studio much. Kellan had mentioned that Ryker had called and said he wouldn’t be in for a bit.” Dante pulled out his phone. “You guys want anything special to eat?”
Roman grabbed a throw pillow and tossed it at Dante. “Do you ever think of anything besides food?”
Dante snatched the pillow out of the air and threw it on the floor. “Fuck you, I’m hungry. Besides, Tate said he fucked it up. What else is there to do?” Dante put the phone to his ear and wandered into the kitchen while he ordered wings and pizza.
“So, what are you going to do?” Roman asked.
“Eat pizza and watch TV.”
“I mean about Hadley, you jackass.”
I knew he meant Hadley, but I didn’t want to think about it. I had been racking my mind for weeks trying to figure out the way to talk to her without pissing her off even more, and I always came up blank. “Dante was right, there isn’t anything I can do.”
“Have you talked to Ryker?”
“And say what? I’m sorry I was messing around with your aunt behind your back, but can you put in a good word for me to help me get her back?” I had thought of talking to Ryker too, but I didn’t think that was going to help anything.
“He’s a cool kid, Tate. I’m sure if you just talk to him and let him know why you didn’t tell him about you and Hadley, he’ll get it.”
“And then what happens when Hadley finds out I talked to Ryker?” She would more than likely freak the hell out and for sure never talk to me again.
Roman shook his head and sat back. “You fuckers in love drive me God damn crazy. Kellan was the same damn way when he and Molly broke up, or whatever the fuck it was they did. Suck it up, talk to her, and get the damn girl back. You didn’t cheat on her, you didn’t kill anyone, and you didn’t tell her she was fat.”
“Uh…what…why…” I sputtered.
“Calling her fat is probably worse than cheating on her,” Roman reasoned.
I couldn’t really argue with that, although I’m sure they ranked right up there together.
Roman stood up and pulled his phone out of his pocket. “If you’re not going to do anything about it, I will.”
I watched as he swiped on his phone and put it to his ear. “Kel, it’s Roman. Get off your ol’ lady and talk to me for two seconds.”
How the hell was calling Kellan going to fix Hadley and me?
“Round up Molly and her friends. We need to head to the strip club tomorrow and get Tate’s chick back.”
I couldn’t hear what Kellan said, but I’m sure he was confused as hell.
“Don’t ask questions. Just do what I said, and tomorrow night, everything will be figured out.” Roman shoved his phone in his pocket and sat back down.
“You wanna tell me how a girls’ night is going to help me get Hadley back?” I couldn’t believe that I was about to go along with whatever fucking plan Roman was cooking up.
“Don’t question my shit. I’m the one with a clear head who isn’t all fucked up by some chick. Be ready tomorrow night at nine, and I’ll fix your shit for you.”
**********