AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She looks like she’s waiting to be scolded. It reminds me of how my dad would make me feel as a child, and it makes me angry. Not only is she not a child, but she didn’t do anything deserving of a scolding. If anything, she should be yelling at me.
I twist the top off the bottle and toss it onto the counter, tipping the bottle to my lips and draining half of the contents in one pull.
I can see her shifting from one foot to the other, nervous energy pulsing off her in waves. And the silence… the fucking silence grates at my nerves with every second that passes.
Finally, it’s just too much, and I snap.
I slam down the glass bottle. The sound echoes through the room and the sudden downward force causes beer to shoot up out of the top, splashing across my hand and onto the counter.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” I shout.
She flinches and I immediately hate myself, but I can’t backtrack. I’m already fuming, and my anger is rushing to the surface.
“I tried to apologize in the car, but you didn’t want to hear it,” she says, voice small and void of emotion.
I can see the wall going up around her brick by brick, and I’m even more infuriated. I’m not letting her just block me out. Not after we’ve come this far.
“I needed a minute to cool down,” I say defensively.
“Yeah, you seem real cool,” she says, lifting her eyes to acknowledge mine for a second before dropping her gaze back to the floor.
“Really?” I quip, exasperated.
“Umm, yeah,” she says, gesturing toward the spilled beer on the counter as if to say that my little outburst was akin to a tantrum.
I scoff, shaking my head. “Trust me, I’m trying my best here.”
We stare at each other for a minute before she sighs and walks to the opposite side of the counter, facing me. She rests her hands in front of her, picking at her nails as she speaks.
“Listen, I know you’re probably pissed,” she starts and even though she isn’t looking at me, I furrow my brows in confusion. “And I’m really sorry about your car—”
“You’re sorry?” I cut her off.
“Yes, I didn’t mean for it to happen that way,” she says, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
“I know you didn’t — stop crying, please, you have nothing to cry over,” I say in an attempt to reassure her, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t come out that way.
“Nothing to cry over?” She shouts, a sobbing laugh bursting free.
“No,” I say, throwing my hands wide.
I have no idea what she’s upset about, but I’m the one who bet my car. If I’m going to be mad at anyone, it’s going to be at myself. Or that asshole, Mateo. But honestly, never once did I even indicate that I was mad at her, so I have no idea where these tears are coming from.
“Bodhi,” she says, shaking her head. A single tear falls, but she wipes it away before it reaches her jaw. “I lost your car.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I say, waving the matter off, a plan already circulating through my mind.
“I’m not made of money, Bodhi. I can’t just not worry about it,” she says.
“What does money have to do with this?” I say, utterly confused at the turn this conversation is taking.
“Everything!” she shouts, tears falling freely.
“I’m sorry you didn’t win the race, babe, but there are plenty of others you can race in. Hell, I’ll loan you the money to make this week’s payment if you want,” I offer, and immediately see it was the wrong thing to do.
“I don’t! I don’t want you to loan me money. How many times do I have to make that clear?” She yells, slapping the counter, and now I’m really pissed.
“What the fuck? All I’ve ever tried to do is help you, and you just spit in my face.” I lean across the counter, still a good three feet away from her, but I don’t move. The barrier between us keeps me from grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking some sense into her.
