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“Hi, Lucas.”
Not here. Not now. At the risk of sounding like an absolute prick, I said, “I’m not doing this tonight, Charlee.”
If she was surprised by my abruptness, Natalie and Owen were too. But it was either that or make small talk with the woman who broke my heart—something I had no desire to do at the moment.
“Geez, you could have tried ‘Hi, Charlee’ instead,” she said, her voice an unexpected jolt to my dick. “I just wanted to welcome you back.”
I lifted my beer glass slightly, said, “thanks” and turned my attention to the game. As predicted, she didn’t wait long. Charlee and her friend moved on to the other side of the bar.
Owen whistled. “If you wanted to slam the door shut, you did a good job.”
I wouldn’t look at the high top where Charlee and Natalie ended up for the rest of the night. “Slam it. Lock it. Works for me.”
In response, Owen went to the tap to refill his beer. “I have a story to tell you,” he said when he came back.
While I appreciated the company and hearing how he and his current girlfriend had broken up on pretty bad terms, their first reacquaintance in this very bar going down in the same way mine and Charlee’s just had, I was sure of two things.
I was not Owen Wilson. And Charlee and I would not be getting back together.
Period. End of story.
CHAPTER FIVE
charlee
What. An. Asshole.
“He’s different,” I said.
Natalie didn’t have to ask who we were talking about. “I would think he would be,” she said as the waiter brought our burgers. This was precisely why I’d never be as skinny as I was in high school. Burger and a beer. Yum.
“Yeah, but. . . he was never mean.”
I had my back to him, but Natalie didn’t. She took a peek.
“Well, I hate to break this to you. . .”
I turned in my seat. Thankfully, he wasn’t looking. “It’s just the tattoos,” I said, not completely convinced of my own words. There was more at play here than some new ink.
“Sure. And maybe ten years in the military. Which is strange, by the way.”
“What do you mean?”
We still hadn’t talked about my father’s offer, the reason we were here in the first place. Seeing Lucas at the bar had been a surprise. Having him back when there was a time I had been certain he’d never return?
Disconcerting to say the least. Especially after that brush-off.
Natalie looked at me oddly. “Seriously?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
She took a bite of burger. The whole place started to cheer as the Jets scored a touchdown.
I ate, waiting for her to finish. Pretending the same man I had dreamed about for years after he left—the one whose kisses, no matter who I dated, were never completely erased from my mind—wasn’t sitting in the same room as me.
“You really have no knowledge of military life, do you?”
I couldn’t say I did. “Since you literally know everything there is to know about me, I’d say you already know the answer to that question.”
