Chapter 26
Leo
“Hey there. Now aren’t you just a tall drink of water,” the cute brunette said as she sauntered up to the bar. I shot her a slow smile but I didn’t mean it, “You new to town?”
"I'm just passing through," I said, leaning forward with my elbows propped on the worn top of the wooden bar. It had been easy enough to get a bartender gig with my experience and the manager hadn't asked many questions. I got the feeling I wasn't the only drifter this small, rural town had seen and I probably wouldn't be the last.
"Well, that's a shame." She leaned in a little closer, her bottle blond hair sliding over her shoulder as she sent him a cat-like grin, "How long are you here for? Long enough to have some fun?"
I smiled, a retort rising to my lips easily. Sure, sugar. I always have time for fun. But it stuck in my throat, choking me and instead I turned away, grabbing a glass.
“Sorry. Won’t be here that long.” I watched her grin fade and got the feeling she wasn’t used to being turned down. “What can I get you to drink?”
“A Cosmo.” She said, her tone no longer purring and edged with a harshness I hadn’t seen at first. “If you’ll be here long enough to make one.”
“I think I can manage.” I huffed out a breath of relief as I walked away. Did I really used to be interested in women like that? I knew the truth. A few short months ago, I would have smiled at her invitation and taken her to the back storage room, and then taken her everywhere else before bidding her goodbye with a smile of my own. It seemed so hollow now, filling me with a sense of emptiness that ate at me from the inside out.
I glanced back from the corner of my eye, seeing her scope out the rest of the bar now that I was off her hook, taking in the platinum, icy blond hair and considering gaze. The total opposite of Quinn.
Quinn was bright sunlight and warmth and goodness, even when she was being wicked as sin. Especially when she was being wicked as sin, I thought to myself with a small, sad smile. It had been over a week since I’d left and I couldn’t keep my thoughts on anyone or anything but here.
I’d only made it about forty miles out of Coral Springs before pulling into the nearest town. And I hadn’t been able to leave since. I couldn’t make myself put any more distance between us. It hurt too much.
The moment I’d left, I’d known it was a huge mistake to leave without talking to Quinn first. Another thing that had kept me up at nights, lying in bed, wondering if things would have gone differently if I had just answered the fucking phone. If I had just stayed.
You couldn’t have stayed. Losing the bed and breakfast would have destroyed Quinn. I knew it was true. But it didn’t make one bit of it any easier to swallow. If anything, it made the knife-like pain I’d been walking around with stab just a little bit deeper. Because I hadn’t even tried.
I had just given up at Jonah’s threat and walked away without another word, without even explaining. Without saying goodbye.
I have to make it right. Somehow. Any way I can. I have to try at least. The thought echoed through my head and I could feel the truth of it in my bones.
“Hey, handsome, can I get another?” The girl sitting at the bar who wasn’t Quinn asked and I stared at her for a long moment, not moving, not speaking, as a plan started to form in my head. It might be the dumbest thing in the world to do, but I couldn’t stop myself. I’d made a mistake, and now I needed to fucking fix it.
I almost shook my head at myself. For the first time in my life, I was running towards my past, rather than away from it. Damn, she'd changed me more than I ever realized. And if I was being honest with myself, I liked it. I liked the new man I'd become with her. A better man.
“Uh, hello?”
“Sorry,” I said, not a hint of regret in my voice, “I have to go.”
“Excuse me?” She huffed, rolling her eyes but I didn’t care. I needed to do the right thing, and I couldn’t wait another minute.
I untied the black apron I was wearing, throwing it on the bar and walked out in the middle of my shift. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except getting back to Quinn and explaining everything that had happened. Hopefully she could find it in her heart to forgive me, but either way, I had to try. I couldn’t go on like this, every moment spent thinking of her, regretting what I had done.
What about Jonah? A small voice whispered in my head as I walked out but I shrugged it off. I would deal with Jonah when the time came. If luck was on my side, he would be at Lucky’s, where he normally was at on a Saturday evening. Hopefully, I wouldn’t even have to see him.
You hope that he doesn’t see you, you mean. That voice said again, a small hushed insidious thought. I ignored it as best I could. Whatever the consequences, I would deal with them then. All I knew what that I needed to see Quinn, now.
I didn’t let myself think any deeper about what I was doing as I left the bar and walked straight to my truck. I started the engine, my mind buzzing but not focusing on any one thought as I pulled out of the gravel parking lot and a few minutes later I was leaving the small town behind and on my way back to Coral Springs.
I didn't stop as I drove into town, passing the now familiar main street. I saw Lucky's out of the corner of my eye and felt a poignant pang of something I'd never felt before. I was homesick. Not homesick for a place, but for a person. For Quinn.
The realization tore through me, terrifying me, but I pushed my foot down on the accelerator as I drove towards the old apartment building she lived in. I smiled softly, remembering how she told me about the cranky landlady who lived on the second floor and the quirks of the drafty, rundown building.
She’d been planning on converting a part of the Mayhew house into a small apartment and office that she would stay in. Quinn had been so excited about it, and the memory of her bright smile hurt like a physical pain in my chest.
I barely waited to park my truck before jumping out and shuffling nervously to the front door. I knocked a few times, flakes of peeling paint falling off from the vibration. Then, I waited. It was the longest fifteen seconds of my life, standing there in front of Quinn's apartment. I didn't breathe. I just stood there frozen, until the doorknob jingled and then the hinges creaked slowly open.
Any breath that was left in my lungs rushed out in a painful gasp as I met Jonah’s angry green gaze.
He was the last person I wanted to see, and the last person who wanted to see me but I was already there. I had to at least try.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Jonah demanded, his voice hard and edged with a rage that obviously hadn’t cooled in the last week. If anything, he seemed even more pissed off.
I took a deep breath, weighing my words carefully. I was still healing from the last bruises he gave me. “I need to see Quinn. I need to explain why I left. I need…I need to say goodbye, at least.”
“No, you don’t.” Jonah said shortly, moving to slam the door in my face, but I put out my hand, stopping it before he could.
“Please, Jonah. If she’s here, just let me talk to her. Let me tell her that I lo–.”
“You’re too late. She’s with someone else.”
"What?" I asked, shocked, my body filling with a bone-deep pain at Jonah's words. "What the fuck are you talking about."
Jonah shrugged casually, “As soon as you left, she started dating one of the Brewer boys. She’s over you, Leo. You should just leave her alone.”
“Right, you just let her date someone else after beating the shit out of me?” I snorted, and Jonah gave me a hard look.
“You’re not the right man for her, Leo. You’re a player and you would have broken her heart. As soon as you got bored, you’d have dumped her and moved on to the next available female.”
“It’s not…She’s not like that.”
“You’re right. She’s not. She deserves better than your sorry ass.” For a moment, Jonah opened his mouth as if he was about to say something else but then shook his head.
“Can you tell her I came to see her, at least?”
“For once in your life, do the right thing,” Jonah said after a long silence, “And leave Quinn the hell alone. If I see you again, the property is sold. Your choice.”
The door slammed shut and I didn’t stop it this time. I stood there staring at the peeling paint for a long moment before forcing my suddenly numb body to move. It felt like my chest had been ripped open and my heart was left bloody and beating on the front stoop of the apartment building as I walked back to the truck.
I guess there was no way of fixing this mistake. I’d fucked up too bad, I was too late. I shook my head, a part of me still not believing Jonah’s words but there was nothing else for me to do except get back in my truck and drive away, leaving my heart behind me.