Chapter Twenty-Two
Travis eyed Mike with concern as he took another shot of Patron.
“Maybe you should slow down, buddy,” It was almost ten, and Drew, Travis, Gabe, and Mike had been at Buck’s long enough for Mike to be past buzzed and getting into full-on fucked up.
“Believe me, I need this.”
“Dude, I never would have asked you to come out with us if I thought it was going to be a pity party,” Drew said.
Mike clenched his fists in frustration, wishing that they would just let him drink and stop worrying about him. “It’s not. I am chasing my troubles away.”
Only Gabe had kept his mouth shut, but then again, Gabe wasn’t someone who got involved in other people’s business. Mike liked him, even if the first time they met Mike had been taking out Gabe’s now wife, Caroline. It seemed so long ago now, especially since Ellie wouldn’t get out of his head.
Mike wasn’t mad that she’d decided to stay in tonight. It was probably better anyway, considering how pissed off he was at life.
“Hey, Stevens, how are you enjoying my seconds?”
Forrest’s snide shout broke into his thoughts like an axe through a door. Mike stiffened and turned on the barstool to face the turd, who was flanked by Walt and Wayne Coulter, sneers on their stupid faces.
Since when did those assholes hang out with anyone but each other?
“What the fuck did you just say to me?”
“Come on, Mike,” Travis said.
Forrest was grinning from ear to ear. “I think you heard me. It must kill you to know I had her first.”
Mike knew deep down that Ellie hadn’t slept with the douche, but it didn’t stop his booze-infused temper from flaring.
“Or maybe it kills you to know that she made her choice and it wasn’t you.”
Forrest grabbed Mike’s shirt and dragged him off the stool. Shouts erupted around them, but Mike was focused on Forrest, the man who had been making Ellie’s life miserable. It had to be him, and he needed to pay.
Despite the alcohol making his movements slower, Mike was still able to break Forrest’s hold and taking his arm, twist it up behind his back until he had him bent over and yelling in pain.
“I’m going to kill you, motherfucker!”
“I warned you to stay away from her, and you didn’t listen,” Mike said coldly.
“I didn’t do shit to that little bitch.”
Mike pulled Forrest’s arm back until he crumpled to the ground, but it was a ploy. Suddenly, Mike’s legs were knocked out from under him, and he was on his back with Forrest laying blows. Lifting his arms up to protect his head, he tried to throw Forrest off and finally got enough leverage to toss the bigger man over his head until their positions were reversed. As he slammed his fists into Forrest’s face, all he could see was red as he laid blow after blow. He didn’t even realize that Forrest had stopped fighting back until someone put him in a headlock and dragged him off of him.
“Fuck, Mike, what the hell did you do?” Eric Henderson hissed in his ear, relaxing the chokehold he had on Mike.
Mike stared in horror at Forrest’s bloody nose, his face already starting to swell. The other man groaned in pain, and rolled over onto his side, coughing blood onto the floor along with one of his teeth.
“Get him out of here,” Eric growled, and Mike realized he was talking about Forrest. The Coulters picked Forrest up and carried him out of the bar.
Finally, Eric released Mike. “You need to go home and sleep it off.”
“I’m fine,” Mike snapped, then winced. His jaw was sore where Forrest had caught him with a right hook.
“Come on, I’ll drive you home.” Travis didn’t touch him, but Mike followed him out of the bar, ignoring the stares. He was surprised no one had called the cops, which wasn’t unusual occurrence at Buck’s on a busy night.
“I don’t want to go home. I want to talk to Ellie,” Mike grumbled as he climbed into Travis’s truck.
“As your friend, I am going to ignore your wants and take you home to sober up.”
Mike leaned his forehead against the cold window and closed his eyes, feeling like hell.
No wonder you have trouble with women. Grow up, Stevens. You know who gets drunk and starts a fight? Teenagers and frat boys.
Mike grimaced. “How bad did I fuck up?”
“We all do stupid shit where our women are involved, man,” Travis said.
The engine thundered to life and as the truck pulled out of Buck’s, Mike felt his stomach turn.
“Shit, I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Fair warning. If you puke in my truck, I’ll kick your ass,” Travis said.
Mike rolled down the window and held his head out the window as he lost his dignity and the contents of his stomach.
Ellie, Caroline, and Jenny were just finishing up How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days when Caroline’s phone chirped.
“Hey, we said no phones!” Jenny cried, throwing a chip at her. Over the course of Ellie and Jenny living together, she’d grown close to Caroline and Ellie often though Caroline looked at her as another little sister.
“Relax, Gabe was going out with the guys and I just wanted to make sure he’s okay.” She picked up her phone and slid her thumb across the screen. A second later, she gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Ellie asked.
“Gabe said that Mike got into a fight with some guy and got pulled out of Buck’s.”
“What?” Gracie shrieked. “Is he okay?”
Ellie’s heart hammered, as she’d been wondering the same thing.
Caroline’s fingers flew over the screen as she typed and then stilled. A few seconds later, another incoming message beeped. “Okay, Gabe said he is fine, just drunk and the other guy started it, but Mike finished it.”
“It had to be Forrest,” Ellie said.
Jenny’s eyes were huge. “Holy shit! Mike hates Forrest, but I bet dollars to doughnuts it was about you.”
Her face heated. “We don’t know that.”
“Trust me, I have known Mike for a long time and he is a goofball, but he’s not the violent type. If he lost his shit, it had something to do with you.”
“I was afraid this would happen,” Ellie whispered.
“Afraid what would happen?” he sister asked.
“That I’d hurt him.”
“How is this your fault?” Jenny asked.
“You just said it was about me!”
“But that doesn’t make it your fault.”
“It was stupid to think the two of us could be anything more. I mean, he is ready for the big settle-down and has his whole life together. I haven’t even figured out where I fit.”
“Yeah, but if he loves you, I guarantee that he’ll wait for you to figure it out,” Caroline said.
“He doesn’t love me, it’s too early for all of that,” Ellie said, ignoring the pinch in her chest. She knew she wasn’t in love with Mike, but if she let herself, she could fall and fall hard.
Only she was smarter than that now.
“I’m a firm believer that when you meet your soulmate, you just know, even before you’re ready to admit it,” Jenny said.
“Well, I’m a realist and no matter how much you might love someone, people are inherently selfish. There’s no such thing as soulmates, there are people you love until one of your screws the other over. Sometimes, it just takes longer.”
“Okay,” Caroline said loudly. “This conversation is quickly turning into an argument none of us will win, so how about we say good night before we say something we don’t mean?”
“Fine.” Jenny stood up and started picking up her stuff.
Ellie went to get a trash can, irritated with herself and Jenny. She often forgot how sheltered and naïve Jenny was. She’d grown up in a large, tight-knit family, and although her mother was a bit of an ogre to everyone else, she loved Jenny and the rest of her children.
Jenny could still wear her rose-colored glasses, while Ellie’s have been smashed to ribbons long ago.
When they had finished helping her clean up, Caroline gave her a hug at the door and headed down the porch to her car.
After she closed the door, Ellie accepted Jenny’s hug, but before she pulled away, the smaller woman whispered, “If you’re serious, then you need to stay away from him.”
Ellie bit her lip. “I don’t know if I can.”
“I just mean, if you really don’t believe that there is something worth fighting for between you, then let him go. Don’t hurt him.”
Jenny went into her bedroom before Ellie could reply.
Once she’d locked up the house, Ellie closed the door to her bedroom, mulling over Jenny’s words. The last thing she wanted was to lose her best friend.
She heard her phone ringing, and saw that it was a blocked number. She was tempted not to pick it up in case it was the mouth breather again. At the last minute, she slid her thumb across the screen. “Hello?”
“I miss you.” Mike’s voice sounded soft and slightly slurred.
Leaning against her door, she fought the giddy butterflies fluttering in her chest at just the sound of his voice. “I heard you got into some trouble. You okay?”
“No, I’m all broken and bruised. I need a sexy nurse to come take care of me,” he said.
Ellie bit her lip to keep from laughing. “Sorry, I’m not a nurse.”
“Can you just wear the outfit then? Please? Travis just dumped me on the couch and I can hardly stand.”
“I thought you kicked the other guy’s ass?” she said, suspiciously.
“He got in a few hits. I might have a concussion. You should probably come over and stay with me, so you can wake me up every few hours.”
“I don’t know. I have brunch with my dad tomorrow.”
“I’ll be the perfect gentleman, I swear. I need you, Ellie.”
At war with herself, she finally said. “Fine, I will be over in a few minutes.”
“You’re the best,” Mike said.
She hung up the phone, pretty sure she’d just been conned, but if that was the case, then she had let it happen because she wanted to see him. She couldn’t help it; the obnoxiously funny, sweet, amazing guy that Mike was had gotten under her skin.
After locking the front door behind her, she got in her car and headed over to Mike’s. It took about ten minutes to get to his place and when she walked through the door, Smalls jumped around her legs, barking crazily.
“Shush, baby, I missed you, too.” She flipped on the light, and her eyes found Mike almost instantly. His eyes were squinted and he had something dark and wet on the front of his T-shirt. She winced when she saw his bruised and swollen jaw.
“Ouch, that looks like it hurts,” she said.
The smile he gave her was lopsided and goofy. “Maybe you can kiss it and make me feel better?”
Ellie rolled her eyes. “Come on, dork. Let’s get you to bed.”
“You gonna join me?” he asked.
“No, I am going to help you get cleaned up,” she said, sniffing. “You smell a little rank.”
Ellie helped him to his feet, trying not to step on Smalls, who was constantly underfoot, and led him into the bathroom, shutting the door on the pup. Flipping on the light, she reached for the bottom of his T-shirt, and ignored Smalls’s claws scratching at the door as he whined.
“Can’t wait to get me naked, huh?” Mike said, waggling his eyebrows.
Ellie wrinkled his nose at his breath and let go of the shirt to grab his tooth brush. Putting paste on the bristles, she held it up to his mouth. “Brush your teeth. Your breath smells like ass.”
“You’re mean,” he said, but put the brush in his mouth and started brushing.
Ellie realized that part of the smell was a little vomit on the front of his T-shirt, and sighed. “Can you stand on your own long enough to take a shower?”
He took the tooth brush out of his mouth to answer and weaved a little.
“Answer enough,” Ellie said grimly. She kicked off her shoes, pausing to point at him. “Now, I am going to help you, but that is all I am doing, you got me? You cop one feel or try anything, and I will drown your ass.”
“Gargh Foo,” he said with a mouth full of toothpaste.
While he continued to brush, she took off her sweatpants and sweatshirt, which she noticed had become stained when she’d helped him get up off the couch. Tossing the clothes aside so she could wash it in his machine, she was down to just her T-shirt, bra, and panties. He was just putting his toothbrush back when she pulled off her T-shirt and set it aside.
“Okay, I’m going to try to get this off you without getting this stuff in your hair, okay?” He nodded, and she gathered the T-shirt as she raised it, pulling it as carefully as she could over his head. The smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke wafted around her as she tossed the shirt on top of her sweatshirt.
Ellie knew she should have been completely disgusted with him, but with him standing shirtless in from of her, his brown eyes staring down at her so seriously, she had a hard time slowing her heart rate.
Mike had a hold of the counter, and she dropped to her knees to take his shoes off. “Lift this leg.” He did as she said, and then lifted the other without being asked. When he was in his bare feet, she stood back up and reached for his pants.
“Ellie…” Mike said softly. It was the cherry on top of an already intimate situation, and she couldn’t look at him when he said her name like that.
Pulling his belt out of the buckle, she said, “What?”
“Why won’t you look at me?” he whispered.
Bracing herself, she met his gaze just as she unsnapped his jeans. “Happy?”
As she pulled down his zipper, he nodded.
Grabbing the waist of his jeans, she started to pull them down, but left his boxers in place. They were naked enough for her strength of will.
He stepped out of his jeans unsteadily, and she tsked. “I can’t believe you got sloppy drunk.”
“I was having a bad day,” he said, pointedly.
“That’s no excuse to lose control of yourself to the point that you can hardly stand.” She helped him toward the shower. Turning on the spray, she adjusted the temperature and sat him on the shower seat, then stepped in and closed the door behind her. The stall was plenty big for two people, but she was very aware that with Mike sitting she was standing with her breasts right at his eye level.
Thankfully, he wasn’t looking. He was leaning his head back against the stall wall with his eyes closed.
Ellie got some of his shampoo and gently washed his hair. She felt a bump on the back of his head and air hissed out between his teeth when she touched it.
“What did you hit your head on?” she asked.
“The floor of Buck’s.”
Rinsing out the shampoo carefully, she poured his body wash into her hands, ignoring the shower puff hanging from the hook. Rubbing her hand gently into his goatee, and his neck, she worked a lather over his skin and against her survival instincts, she found herself rubbing his shoulders.
Mike groaned. “Fuck, that feels good.”
Ellie noticed the red crusted blood on his bruised knuckles and lifted them, running her hands over them gently. “When you’re done, I should take care of these.”
“Hmm.” His head was tilted to the side, and she worried he would fall asleep if she kept him in too long.
Shutting off the water, she grabbed a towel for herself first and wrapped it around her body. When she had it secured, she got one for him and helped him up. “Come on, let’s get you into bed.”
“Whatever you say, boss,” he said, his tone warm as honey. Goosebumps popped up all over her skin, and she distracted herself by drying his hair.
“You’re going to have to get those boxers off.”
Mike hung on to the counter and Ellie turned her back as he stepped out of his boxers. She heard him stumble a bit and turned with the towel ready to wrap around him, but she couldn’t get him covered fast enough to completely miss what he had to offer.
Wrapping the towel around him nearly had her pressed against him, and she could feel the warmth of his breath rustling her hair, and spreading across her chilled skin.
Once he was fully covered, she opened the door and watched Smalls bounce to his feet, panting as he followed them back to his bed room.
Ellie helped him in, pulling the covers up and over him, towel and patted his chest. “Okay, I’m going to grab a couple Advil and a bottle of water. Where is your first aid kit?”
“Under the bathroom sink.” He watched her far too intently for a man too drunk to stand.
She got up and went back to the bathroom. Taking off her wet bra and panties, she put back on her T-shirt and sweats and gathered up all their clothes, taking them into the laundry room to start a load.
Once she’d finished turning on the washer, she grabbed everything she needed and went back to Mike’s room.
He seemed to be asleep, with his mouth open and deep, even breaths escaping harshly. Smalls had managed to jump up and was now stretched out across his legs, not even bothering to lift his head as Ellie approached.
Sitting down next to him on the bed, she set the Advil and water bottle on his nightstand and then opened the first aid kit. She got the Neosporin out and set the kit on the ground. As she picked up the first hand and dabbed the cream onto his knuckles gently, she watched his face knot up and then relax. He hardly stirred as she applied the salve, and when she was finished, she hovered over him, warmth spreading through her as she smiled down at him.
Brushing her fingers over his forehead, she wanted to say so many things to him, but was too afraid that he might wake up and hear her. It was the first time in her life she’d ever taken care of a man for any reason, and she had to admit that she kind of liked it.
It made her feel needed, close to someone. It was something she had been missing without even realizing it and just the realization that she didn’t want to leave him kept her there, holding his hand in hers.
Then another surprise occurred to her. Despite reservations, she had fallen for Mike Stevens. And there was nothing she could do to fix it.