“Can I have a drink and a word, please?”
My voice sounded soft and smooth, like I wasn’t affected by the fact we just saw each other for the first time in so many years.
He squinted for a moment, then a half-smirk formed on his lips. He tore his gaze away from mine and looked back at the girls.
“Ladies, can I offer you a table?” He was already waving his hand at a waitress. She practically ran over to him. “Chloe, could you please help the girls move to a table? I need to take care of an issue.”
The word issue was accompanied by his thumb pointing at me. I pursed my lips together, suppressing a smile, not at all offended. On the contrary. I loved the fact I was causing him inconvenience.
The maid of honor took her drink with one sharp movement and sent me a death glare. I cocked my head and flashed her a grin.
“Oh, come on. He’s not that cute. Nor is he that funny.”
I was the last person on the planet to have the right to say something like that to any woman regarding Tyler. My infatuation with him had been of the worst kind. The kind you couldn’t shake off until it completely destroyed you. And perhaps in some cases not even then.
Fortunately for me, I managed to shake it off after he destroyed me.
The girl just scrunched her nose at me and followed her friends to a free table. Chloe gathered the drinks and left me and Tyler alone.
He took a glass and started wiping it dry absent-mindedly. His eyes were slightly narrowed at me. Someone who hadn’t spent years of their life obsessing over his beautiful face wouldn’t even notice. But I did.
“I am not that funny, huh?”
I lifted my chin up. “And I am an issue?”
He put the glass on top of a pyramid of shining glasses, ready to be used. “What do you want, little Spencer?”
That nickname. I used to be so annoyed when he called me that. It made me feel like I was nothing but a little girl to him. When I finally got rid of my ridiculous feelings for him, I found out he never thought about me to begin with, let alone analyze how he perceived me. He didn’t attach a meaning to that nickname. It was all inside my head. Just like the connection I believed we always had.
“I would like a drink.” I wiped a drop of something sticky from the countertop with my middle finger, buying time.
Tyler stepped to the side and waved his hand in the air pointing to the bottles behind his back.
“Scotch, please.”
He barked out a laugh but took two glasses and poured us both a drink.
“Won’t you get in trouble for drinking?”
“I’m the manager,” he gulped his scotch in one go and slammed his glass on the counter, his eyes clinging to my face. “You got your drink. Why are you here?”
“You are the manager?” I asked, thinking about those uniforms the waitresses wore. It didn’t make any sense. Tyler wasn’t the type of man, or should I say pig, to make women expose themselves like that.
“Yes,” he crossed his arms over his chest. “I doubt you came here to ask me about my professional life. So? Care to share?”
He wants to get rid of you. Just tell him and leave.
“Clem wants to talk to you and you’re ignoring her.”
“I’ve been busy.”
“She thinks you might be dead.” That one was a huge stretch and the look on his face told me he was well aware of that. I opted for another tactic. “You’re hiding.” My audacity made him arch a brow and I added. “Busy or not, you can take a phone call.”
“That’s not for you to decide, little Spencer.”
“Yeah, but now I know where you work. And so will your sister. You’re not unreachable anymore.”
Tyler’s face went from patronizing to annoyed in a blink of an eye.
“How did you find me?”
“I have my ways,” I reached for my glass, hoping he wouldn’t pressure me for a real answer. His eyes followed my movement. I took a sip from my scotch, a drink I actually hated, and forced myself not to wince from the awful taste that deprived me of all my other senses for a few seconds there. Lowering my glass to the counter, I discreetly took a few deep breaths.
Inhale.
So what if he found out you are here on pure luck? He doesn’t matter.
Exhale.
You are here to help your best friend. That’s all.
Inhale.
You are not betraying Nick in any way.
Exhale.
You just haven’t had the chance to tell him about Tyler.
“So you walked in here thinking you would tell me what to do and I would obey.” I couldn’t miss the mockery in his voice. “What exactly made you think that?”
My face started burning, it had reddened for sure. What was I thinking really? That I would waltz in here after five years and make him call his family? Something that they hadn’t manage to do themselves.
“Well, no. I thought you might do it for Clem. She really is worried. I wouldn’t be here if she wasn’t.”
We both knew that much was true. I would never come seek him out for anything or anyone else. We starred at each other for a few seconds. Then Chloe, the waitress he asked to move the bachelorette party to a table, appeared next to me and recited orders. Tyler prepared the drinks, and she spent her time eyeing me.
And what the hell was her problem?
“Are you going to call her?” I asked the moment Chloe turned her back on us. I wanted to get this over with and leave.
“Good to see you, little Spencer,” Tyler knocked on the counter with his knuckles. “The drink is on the house.” He turned around and went to talk to a man sitting five stools away from me.
Well, that was a disaster.
I poured the drink in my mouth, immediately regretting my impulsive decision to appear tough, and left cash next to my empty glass. I almost bumped into Chloe on my way out while I mumbled profanity about her boss. Consumed by my anger, I didn’t even bother to apologize.
“Tyler is not a bastard,” she shouted at my back referring to what she heard from my rambling. I turned to face her. “He does everything for the people he loves.”
“His family would disagree.”
“Are you a part of it?”
My throat bobbed. Her tone, her hostile posture made it clear she knew very well I wasn’t.
I wouldn’t usually run away from confrontation, but I felt like a complete failure in that moment. I ignored her question and got out, bolting down the street back to where I came from. When I decided I was already in a safe distance, I stopped, fished my phone out of my purse and called Clem.
“Hey! What’s up?”
“I accidently found your brother and I went to see him,” I didn’t bother with any greeting.
“I…I’m sorry. What?”
I told her about his photo on social media, the bar, my visit. I didn’t tell her he basically kicked me out, but expressed my doubts he would return her calls.
“I think I pissed him off by showing up.”
“Most likely,” Clem sounded amused. “Tyler doesn’t like to be pressured.”
Clem knew all about my feelings for Tyler, but I never got the courage to tell her about our last encounter five years ago. She always advised me not to waste my time and feelings on her brother. I didn’t listen and I got smashed.