Graphically Novel (Love Hashtagged #3) (10 page)

Archer had to navigate several rows of cars at the edge of the park, before he found an empty spot. Each time he turned a corner, Tori’s grip on his leg tightened. He finally negotiated them into an opening and shut off the engine. He pried her hand away from his knee and intertwined his fingers with hers, giving her a gentle squeeze. “This’ll be fine.”

She exhaled loudly. “I know.”

The moment they were out of the car and standing side by side, she slipped her hand into his again. It hadn’t taken much prodding for her to tell him exactly how much she dreaded this afternoon. She was apologetic and gave him several opportunities to back out, but he was happy to stand by her side.

Part of him knew it might become a problem if he figured out which of these assholes made Tori’s life so miserable, but he kept that bit on a leash. He didn’t want to make things worse for her.

She pulled him toward the large crowd under one of the pavilions, her company’s logo glaring back at them from the banner waving in the breeze. The tame and family-friendly party was an odd sight, since this group made money selling sexy underwear. Laughter mingled with chatter, as adults grouped together. Children rushed around their legs and tumbled on the grass and playground.

“
Tori
.” A loud squeal cut above it all, and seconds later, a dark haired girl attached herself to Tori in a huge hug.

Tori ruffled the girl’s curls. “Hey, Drea.”

Archer had heard Tori’s niece’s name before, but never met the girl. She looked a lot like her father.

Drea turned her attention to Archer, blue eyes narrow as she looked him up and down. “Is this your boyfriend?”

Boyfriend.
Archer liked the sound of that. The realization hit him hard, and he gripped it tight.

Tori’s cheeks turned several shades redder. “Well, he’s a boy, and he is a friend.”

He couldn’t ignore the sting of the awkward brush off.

“What’s your name?” Drea continued to scrutinize him.

“Archer.”

She seemed to consider this for a moment, and then broke out in a sing-song voice. “Tori and Archer sittin’ in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First—”

“I’ll get you.” Tori tickled the younger girl.

Drea squealed and backed away. “You can’t do that. I’ll karate chop you.” She lunged forward, hand extended, and brought the edge of her palm down on Tori’s shoulder.

Tori grunted and rolled onto her back, holding her neck. “Oh, you got me.”

Drea giggled and knelt in front of her. “You’re such a child.”

Tori stuck out her tongue. “I’m not a child; you’re a child.”

Archer watched the exchange, a mixture of fascination and adoration flowing through him. He’d seen Tori with the younger customers in the comic store, so he knew she was good with kids, but this was different. She completely lost herself in the moment. It was beautiful.

“Tori.” A familiar voice cut a jagged path through the fun.

Tori and Drea were on their feet in a second. Tori smiled at the Brad, but Archer could tell it was an almost painful gesture for her.

Tori pulled a five from her wallet and handed it to Drea. “Ask your dad if you can get your face painted.”

“Daddy?”

“Of course, sweetie.” Brad patted her on the shoulder and pointed her toward a table with a line of children leading to it. “Stay where I can see you.”

Tori took a step back. “Big turn out.”

Archer’d never heard her use that tone with Brad before. Not that he watched the two of them together a lot, but they tended to get along. Made business run easier, and all that. Archer rested a hand at the small of her back. Her spine was rigid, but she leaned into the contact.

Brad’s smile was big enough to show off teeth, but his eyes were flat. “Morgan is minding the grill. He was asking about you.”

“I’ll have to find him and say
hello
.”

Archer resisted the urge to squirm, as the tension built. It gnawed at him to not be able to do anything but stand there.

Brad stepped closer, and his voice dropped in volume. “Michelle told me how things went with Candace. Are you holding together?”

If Tori’s smile had been strained before, it was nothing compared to the stretched-tight look she wore now. “I’m sure I’m fine. You didn’t have to check up on me.”

“Candace threatened to sue
us
. You and me? You know, the people who own the company? I’d rather have heard it from you.”

Archer ground his teeth together.

“I’ve got it under control,” Tori said.

“That’s great. I’d still like to be kept in the loop,” Brad said.

Archer wanted to be anywhere but here. This was too private a conversation, for him to be party to. He opened his mouth, to excuse himself, but a freight train of words cut him off.

“What do you want from me?” An edge lined Tori’s words. “One day you’re telling me I need to learn to handle things on my own, and now you want every detail of every minute of my working day?”

Nearby heads turned in their direction. Archer slid his hand to Tori’s hip and squeezed lightly.

Brad narrowed his eyes. “That’s not what I’m say—”

“Stop.” Tori never raised her voice, but there was a force behind it Archer had never heard before. “I’m so sick of this. I’m not saying I’ve never made a mistake, but
holy fuck
. I told you I didn’t want this job. I insisted I wasn’t cut out for it, and you all but bulldozed me into it.”

“You always could have said
no
.”

“I am now.” She clenched her hands into fists. A low murmur spread through the group of onlookers, and all gazes in the crowd were trained on them. She either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “No. No. No.”

This was going beyond standing up for herself. Archer was torn between letting her speak and prompting her to stop. She was going to regret the attention and the fight with Brad, once her anger ebbed, but Archer was also relieved and a little pleased she took a stand.

Tori stood nose to nose with Brad now. An impressive feat, given he was almost a foot taller. “I’m going to leave. Go ahead and say whatever you’d like, once I’m gone. Just know I don’t want to hear it. Leave me out of your plans. If you don’t think I can do this, stop expecting me to.”

She reached behind her and intertwined her fingers with Archer’s, as she stepped away from a narrow-eyed Brad. “Can we go now?” Her voice was barely a squeak, only meant for Archer’s ears.

He nodded and steered her to the parking lot. Her gait was stiff, her grip tight.

She didn’t say another word as they made their way to the car. She was silent as Archer held the door for her, and he watched her drop into the passenger seat. Her jaw stayed clenched, and her gaze fixed straight ahead, as he pulled onto the main road.

He should say something. Tell her she was right to do what she had or that it would be okay or something reassuring. But he didn’t know if she would believe him. Hell, he didn’t know if he believed it. He pulled into the lane to turn right toward her condo.

“I don’t want to go home.” She shattered the silence.

He couldn’t argue with that. He had zero desire to deny her anything. “Do you want to hang with me?”

“Please. But no people.”

“All right.” Fifteen minutes later, he parked the car in its spot back home and helped her out. He’d already told Derrek he’d be out for the afternoon, so he avoided the store and headed straight for the back entrance.

She gripped his hand as they climbed the stairs to his apartment. Inside, he pointed her toward the couch, pulled up the most mindless, funny movie he could think of to stream, and then took the spot next to her. The moment he sat, she scooted close. Legs tucked to the side, she rested her head on his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around her. The posture felt natural and right. Comforting. He only hoped it was—at least a little—the same for her, because he had no idea how to reassure her otherwise, and her blank-eyed-stare drove a spike through him.

They’d figure it out. Or she’d figure it out, and he’d support whatever she decided. Unless her solution was to apologize on Monday, swear never to do it again, and go back to the way things had been. He didn’t know if he could support that.

Minutes ticked away, and the movie whirred on, but he didn’t pay attention. His focus was on the warm body curled against him. Had she fallen asleep?

“I’m tired of running away.” Her comment startled him.

He muted the TV in an instant, not wanting to miss a single quiet word. He also didn’t want to say anything that might stop her talking. “Okay.”

“I’ve never told anyone the real reason I moved here.” She trailed a finger down his chest, and a pleasant chill ran through him. He needed to focus on what she said, not what she did.

“To finish college?”

He felt, more than heard, her laugh. She flattened her hand against his chest, the heat of her palm seeping through his shirt and warming his skin. “No,” she said. “I mean it was a side effect, but no. My freshman year of college, I was like any other noob. Lost, terrified, and looking for someone I could relate to. That someone was Nick, and even though we’d only been dating a few weeks when he told me he loved me, I figured he must have it right, so I said the same in return.”

“Okay?” It took focus for him not to tense at the story. His insides clenched at the thought of Tori professing her love for anyone. It wasn’t a rational reaction, but he didn’t care.

“We moved in together before first year was up. Life wasn’t the mad, passionate fling movies say it should be, and he certainly wasn’t the bumbling goofball anime led me to believe most boys were, but I knew it was real life. School and work were stressful, so it was okay if we rarely saw each other. He almost always stayed up until after I was gone for the day, so we rarely slept together. He tended to shrug off my advances most the time, but we were in love, right?”

He wouldn’t clench his fists. He wouldn’t stiffen up. He was going to listen patiently to her story.

She patted his chest. “Breathe.”

He forced himself to exhale.

“It’s okay; this is the past now.” Her light laugh broke some of the tension, but it didn’t erase it completely.

“If you’re all right, I am.”

“I’m still working on
all right
.” She pressed closer, resting a warm cheek against him. “We talked about marriage, because that’s what people in love do, and we agreed we’d wait until after we both graduated. It wasn’t formal, just this vague kind of goal for the future. And then, one night he didn’t come home.”

She went rigid against him. It took a few minutes before she continued. “I was panicked, and I called the police, and they told me it hadn’t been long enough to consider him a missing person, but they’d take my information and I could call again if he was still missing the next day. As soon as I gave them his name and a description, the dispatcher started laughing.”

“What?” Archer hadn’t expected that. Out of all the possible scenarios that usually went with this kind of story, it wasn’t one that had crossed his mind.

“They already knew where he was, because they had him in a holding cell. Indecent exposure charges.”

Had the guy been a pervert? Worse?

“Apparently, he got drunk the night before and decided three in the morning was the perfect time to show up on his girl’s porch and propose.”

“Did you sleep through it or something?” he asked.

“No. The dispatcher was laughing because Nick had picked the wrong porch. And was naked. Ha-ha. It was drunken foolishness—wasn’t that cute? Stupid but adorable. The entire station was talking about it. That’s what she said to me. When she gave me the address he visited instead, I knew it hadn’t been a mistake. It was where his ex-girlfriend lived. His high-school sweetheart. The woman he still kept pictures of in his desk drawer that I pretended weren’t a big deal. The house he would go out of his way to drive by, always telling me he wanted to take the long way home.

“And best of all”—the joy was gone from her punctuated laughs—“she was the one who bailed him out. I didn't need to pick him up, because the nice lady he harassed had already taken care of everything.”

He fingers ached, and he unclenched them from the cushion he’d been gripping. He flexed a few times, to work the kinks from his knuckles. “I’m sorry.”

“I was, too. I couldn’t face him; I was so embarrassed. I packed everything, left him a note that said
goodbye
, drained my bank account, and got in the car and drove to another state, because Brad said I could crash with him for a while. I wondered for months after if I overreacted. Until my mother sent me a newspaper clipping—their wedding announcement.”

Archer had no idea how to respond. No wonder she was edgy about Riley. He had a feeling there was something, but nothing could have prepared him for this.

“And I still wish I’d told him off. It eats at me that I never said anything to his face. I’m tired of holding it all back, but I don’t like the consequences either. God. The things I said to Brad today… He’s always been there for me. Amazing older brother, and all that. He was by my side through that break-up. And I threw a tantrum today, in front of our fucking company, when he was completely right.”