Ten (My Brothers Best Friend) (4 page)

I don’t say anything because I’m a little embarrassed that she won’t recognize or remember me. I load everything into bags and wait for the total, and that’s when she looks up at me with a huge fuchsia-coated smile. Her jaw drops. “Oh my God, Alex!” She screeches, leaning over the counter to hug me. I welcome her affection and return it with my own hug. “I haven’t seen you around these parts for years. What are you doing here?”

“My Dad passed. I came to arrange things.” I can’t return her enthusiasm; the truth of why I’m here isn’t happy.

“Oh, darn. Sorry to hear that, sweetie. How long are you in town?”

I shrug and hand her some bills.

“I get off in an hour. Come grab some food with me?”

I’m starving and cooking isn’t something I feel like doing.

“Okay, sure.”

“Great! Meet me at Bernie’s diner in an hour.”

I
unpack the few things I bought and start cleaning my old bathroom. Before I know it, the hour has flown by and I need to clean up before meeting Lacy. I dress casually and make sure I have some cash in my purse before taking off.

My stomach growls as I enter the diner, the aroma of fried food thick in the air - just what I need. I can’t remember the last time I ate so I order extra fries with my burger and onion rings to fill me for the night, and probably the start of tomorrow.

Lacy soon joins me, looking like she’s going to a nightclub not a diner.

“Did you go home?” I ask, looking her over and then down at myself. She’s wearing killer heels that would make my legs buckle, a mini skirt that - if she bent over - would make the old man staring at her stroke out, and a halter top that shows more cleavage than it covers up.

She waves her hand dismissively. “God, no. I keep this in my locker for special occasions.”

“I’m a special occasion?” I raise a brow, skeptical.

“Damn right you are! We’re going to catch up on all the years we missed together.”

“Okay. I just ordered.” I point to the waitress flitting from one table to the next.

“Not here, silly. I need tequila.” She grins, dragging me from my chair and out the door.

I’m starving and almost resort to grabbing onto the doorframe to prevent her getting me out without food inside me, but I could also use a drink, and maybe girl talk will make a nice change.

She drags me to Numbers; a bar that’s been in this town longer than both of us, only the name has changed. It used to be Mack’s Bar. I prop myself on the bar stool and take in the atmosphere. It looks completely different to how I remember it. Granted, I only ever saw inside through the windows, but still, the bar has undergone a major makeover. The new owners must have invested time and money into the place.

“So what are you having?”

“I’m driving so I’ll just stick to a white wine spritzer and then soft drinks,” I tell her.

She rolls her eyes at me. “I’ll get Mason to pick us up and drop you home. It’s your first night back, girl! Let’s celebrate.”

“Mason?”

“Mason Jones. You remember him, right?”

My eyes widen slightly. “The Mathlete?”

Mason was unfortunate in the looks department; he had fuzzy blond curly hair, thick-rimmed glasses, and braces to boot. His skin was covered in pimples and he spent most of his time locked in a classroom, studying. He was polite and a great kid, but if there was ever a cliché for geek, he was it.

“Yeah, that Mason. Well, he shed that whole ugly look and I bone him from time to time.” She shrugs like she just admitted to making him dinner.

She waves the bartender over with a
come hither
crook of her finger. He grins and nods his head towards her. “Hey, Lacy. What can I get you?”

“Tequila shots!”

“Who’s your new friend?” He gestures with a not-so-subtle nod.

She bounces in her seat and slaps her palm on the bar. If I didn’t know better I’d think she’d been here a while and was already intoxicated. “Not new, old. This is Alex Murphy. We were childhood friends.”

Before any of us can say anything else, the stool I’m sitting on gives way under the foot kicking the bottom of it out from under me. My arms flail, a startled scream wrenches from my chest, and my head hits the floor with a thud. I can’t focus on the man standing over me; my eyesight is blurred.

When my equilibrium returns I notice the music has stopped and the entire bar is silent. An angry sneer coming from a man I don’t recognize causes my heart to beat painfully in my chest
. Why is no one helping me?

Life as I know it slows and then fast forwards like I’ve swallowed the “Drink Me” bottle from
Alice in Wonderland
and I’m tumbling down the rabbit hole. Everything is mute, and there’s a fierce atmosphere sucking the once happy vibes from the place.

I feel like I’m being pulled through a black hole. Every part of my existence is being tugged and torn until there will be nothing left of me but particles screaming to be whole again.

My insides heat and tingle, every molecule twisting and splintering. I’m not going to make it through the other side of whatever this is, not whole anyway. Everything will come back together but I won’t be the same. Part of me will be lost here and never recovered because his face appears.

Dalton.

D
alton appears next to the man who kicked my stool out.

Everything good and beautiful is gone from his eyes, like an eclipse happened inside him and the dark blocked out any light and warmth of the former host; my soul mate, my Dalton.

“She has some nerve, Ten! You can’t let her be here. It’s disrespectful.”

Ten?

The sound of fist hitting flesh and bone makes me gag. I’m dizzy from the fall and I can feel blood seeping into my hair from the hit I took to the head.

The man’s nose crumbles under the impact of Dalton’s fist, and blood leaks freely, staining the clothes he’s wearing.

“You don’t cause a scene like this in my place, or tell me what to do. You take it out back. I won’t tell you again.” Dalton growls.

He towers over the smaller man who doesn’t try to fight back, and I don’t blame him. Dalton’s tall, imposing frame alone is frightening, but the scowl on such a beautiful canvas is haunting. His full lips curl into sneer as he reaches down and drags me to my unsteady feet. The pinch of his long, thick fingers in the top of my small arm makes me gasp in pain. Murmurs from around the bar follow us until we reach a fire exit. He uses a heavy palm to open the door, and it nearly swings back and hits me, but the force of his grip and hurried pace has me hurtling forward before it has the chance. I can’t prevent myself from colliding with the wet concrete outside the door. A burning sensation ignites my knees and the palms of my hands. I’d only just managed to put my hands out in front of me, preventing further head injury. It takes my mind time to catch up with the reality of what’s happening.

Dalton is here. Dalton just threw you to the ground in a wet, trash-filled ally.

Turning my body to look up at the man who hurled me to the floor, I almost vomit

The ferocity of his anger brings a sickening tremor to my body. I’m scared of him. The boy who owns my soul is lost inside the eyes of the stranger standing over me.

“Dalton?” I manage to breathe, making him flinch.

The door re-opening gains my attention but not his. His eyes cling to me, undoing ten years of me trying to be a woman who doesn’t need to love him. With just one look, I’m that ten-year-old girl, captivated by the azure eyes that flashed with energy every time they saw me.

“I can’t believe it’s her,” came the voice of the person who has joined us.

I recognize her straight away; Lisa Marie. The same long golden blonde hair sweeps neatly over her slender shoulders. Her oval face holds delicate features, but she’s a wolf in a princess’ clothing. All through high school she was a bitch. Older than me by two years, and the girl I hated more than anyone. Her willowy frame steps forward, and before I can protect myself, her leg kicks out and her boot collides with my face. Shock freezes me. I can’t move to get away; I just lie here in pain. The warm trickle of blood from my mouth makes me gag and hurl bile to the ground. The blood against the cold rain thundering down on me scares me. There’s a lot, so I know I’m cut. A tug on my hair whips my head back and I prepare myself for another assault, but before Lisa can hit me again she’s tugged away by Dalton.