Page 300 of All For You Duet
And Cade just destroyed it again with her vendetta against Gentry.
“Perhaps, Senator.” She empties her gun. “Your friends should know the true company you keep. Not all of them can afford such associations with known criminal mischief.”
Throats clear at the awkwardness she just blasted into the air like a July Fourth fireworks show. Eyes dart. Feet shuffle. Distance grows between Gentry and his “friends.”
No, they can’t afford to be associated with that.
“Well, Ms. Bryant.” Gentry finally seeps a reply. “You know mischief, too. Just ask your friend, Mr. Dean. He hasn’t said a word, but he doesn’t need to. We’ve all seen his videos and the recent news. We all know about his scandals.”
“Hold him down.” My memory flashes. I can’t stop it. “Hold the pretty boy still.” It’s Gentry’s voice. It’s Derek pinning my wrists. “This is gonna feel real good.” Gentry’s talking by my feet, grabbing my ankles. Sand’s in my mouth. I’m choking on it and a pain I’ve never known. “Yeah, TJ. Make it look good.” Gentry’s voice is a scab on my psyche. Picking it open while the feeling of the wet, hot drips of my blood across the flesh of my ass seeps back into my memory. “I’m gonna want a picture of this.” The delight in Gentry’s voice. The sneers on Derek’s face. The grunts from TJ and Gentry’s laughter.
Gentry laughed.
He laughs.
“Nice deflection, Senator,” Cade fires back, “but your scandals are illegal…”
And I’m gone…
There’s an open bar at this party. I mapped it the second I walked in. I’ve been drinking iced tea all day, but I can smell the beer they’re pouring. It lures me over.
Without a word, I don’t hear the rest of the fight. I walk away from it.
Voices are muffled. Sights tunnel. All feeling goes except for this driving urge. Steps take me toward my escape and away from those memories. In seconds, six feet stand between me and the bar’s edge.
The edge of my death.
That’s how it works. Addiction picks up where it last left off. For me, I was two breaths away from dying before Cade saved me.
But now, it feels like she’s pushing me there, pushing me into one more breath left before I give into this.
The bartender’s an older man. His hands fly over bottles, flipping glasses over and pouring more escapes into a cup. The thought drops from the heavens like I pray every day for it to.
My dad would be his age.
I haven’t seen him since I was five. He could be dead. He could be on a barstool. It’s one or the other.
The bartender lifts his eyes and sees me staring. He doesn’t know my face; he knows the question in my eyes. He stands up straight and stops his commotion to confront mine inside.
What do I want?
No other person. No other thought. No other reason I do this but for me.
No.
The pull of my heart away from this is more powerful. With every step I take away from that temptation, I move faster, my feet sure of the direction I need to go.
Anywhere but here.
Minutes later, they find me. Leaning against the car I bought Cade, I wait because it’s all I can do. I’m not going back.
Silas and Cade step out the front door of his house and don’t take their concerned eyes off me. I’m not fine. I’m not drinking. And I’m angry with Cade.
What else is new?
“Are you okay?” she asks once she’s feet away.
“Don’t ask like you care,” I answer, climbing into the back seat because I can’t look at her.