Page 30 of Broken Pieces
He nods at the bartender and holds up two fingers which must be his universal sign for a shot. “The girl that is fucking with your head.”
I can’t help but laugh at that. I never let anyone fuck with my head. “You know I only use girls for one thing, Mac.”
He holds up his hands, “Alright I get it, you don’t want to talk about it. Totally fine. You can be in denial all you want.”
The bartender comes back with his shots and I try to grab one, but Mac pushes me away. He drinks both in succession before saying, “Is it the girl that’s been staying in the B&B?”
“I don’t even know how you know that.”
“You do realize this is a small fucking town with nothing for no one to do but drink and gossip? Word gets around.”
I love Mac, I really do. He is like a brother to me. After all the shit I went through a few years ago, he was the only one of my friends to stick around. Which was for the better because the rest of my friends were lowlifes like me. I don’t know why Mac ever hung out with us. He never did drugs, never sold drugs, never did anything out of the ordinary. Yeah, he would drink and party like the rest of us, but he was just more responsible about the whole thing. He was the one who made sure I didn’t fall back into shit when I went on probation after being caught with drugs. But he is just as bad as every gossipmonger in town. I am just glad he isn’t a girl because he would probably be even worse.
“Do you know who it is?” I ask.
“Nah. Just heard that some girl moved into your brother’s house.”
I drink the rest of my beer and order another one for both of us. “It’s not just some girl. It’s Easton’s fucking sister.”
“Raelynn? What is she doing there?”
“I don’t know the whole story. But I guess her ex-boyfriend is looking for her.”
Our drinks come and we both take a sip. “No shit.”
“That’s not even the worse part.” I rub my hands over my face as I think about the shitshow I have to face when I get home.
Mac is looking at me waiting for me to continue.
“I’m sure you heard that the wedding at the farm went well over the weekend?” Mac just shrugs so I continue. “Well, Summer thought it might be a good idea to move Rae into my cottage so there would be more room in the house. Summer just forgot to mention it to me. So after a shit day on the farm, I walk into the house ready to shower, sit around naked, drink some beer and invite Jackie over to let off some steam. Well, I find Rae standing in my kitchen with girly shit spread all around the house.”
“That’s fucked up man.”
“No shit. Now my damn bachelor pad is being taken over by this sexy ass woman who I know will not come near me and we need to share everything.”
Mac smirks as he takes another sip of his beer. “Wow, man, sounds like a fucking predicament. Hot girl sharing your house. Hot girl who likes to bake sharing your house. Hot girl that may or may not prance around naked sharing your house.” He scratches the back of his neck. “I am having trouble seeing where the problem is.”
“Really? Did you not hear me when I said she won’t come near me?”
“Oh, I heard you. But you’re Brooks Anderson. You can charm the pants off a grandma. You said she was hot. This looks like an opportunity to me.”
“Are you forgetting who her brother is? He’s never liked me.”
“Are you forgetting that she is living with you and her brother ain’t around?”
He brings up a valid point. Maybe this situation isn’t that bad. Once the flowers and the throw pillows go. I’ll compromise on the candles. “Maybe you are right.”
“Ugh, have you forgotten I usually am?”
I order us two more shots and pass one off to him. This is definitely not as bad as I thought.