Page 34 of One Drink
“Stephanie, you know that’s not true. How could you even say such a thing to me?”
“I heard you in there. You said you—”
“Stop being so stubborn and pig-headed. You heard the tail end of a very shitty conversation.” I struggled to keep my own anger in check now. I thought we had moved past this, and she’d accepted that I was not the kind of man to treat her this poorly. “You’re interpreting what you heard out of context, so don’t you dare accuse me of doing something you know damn well I wouldn’t do.”
“Maybe this was a mistake.” She pointed a finger back and forth between us, every word she spoke harsher than the last. “I never should have entered into this with you.”
Her words stabbed me in the heart and left it bleeding dry. My anger immediately transitioned to pain. I knew her father had deeply wounded her, but I didn’t know his hold on her was this strong. So strong, that she wouldn’t even listen to my side of the story. Her clenched fists were shaking, and her bottom lip twitched as she bared her teeth at me.
“I can’t do this right now.” I threw my hands into the air and turned to walk away. Robbie stood at the doorway and reached for my arm, but I brushed him off. Even worse, my parents stood behind him. They both looked horrified by what just happened between Stephanie and me.
“Jake.” Dad stepped in my path and stopped me from leaving. “Don’t walk away angry. Nothing good will come of it.”
My chest constricted, and my legs weakened, but I refused to let her—any of them—see me collapse. I pushed my shoulders back and steeled my emotions as best I could. There were so many things to say—to Stephanie, to my parents, and even to her parents—but I was too angry to verbalize any of it right now.
“Later, Dad.” I squeezed his arm and moved past him. I heard several voices call my name, but I didn’t look back. I didn’t want to talk to any of them right now, not even Stephanie. Once she calmed downed, I knew she’d listen to me and I knew she’d understand why I said what I said. That wasn’t the issue. The issue was she still didn’t trust me or believe in me. If she did, she never would’ve gotten so mad or said the things she said.
I had no concept for how long I walked, but I walked until the sounds shifted away from the quiet business district to noisy bars and my feet hurt. Only then did I hail a cab and head home.