Destry (15 page)

“Knock, knock,” I heard called out from the small, paint-chipped front door.

I poked my head around the hall and saw Ellie-May standing at the open entryway. “Hey, you.” I cocked my head to the side slightly in confusion. “I thought we were meeting at the diner?”

“Yeah, uhhh,” she shuffled her feet a little and blurted, “Destry’s there.” I smiled at her concern. She was such a sweet girl.

“Come in then; we’ll have lunch here,” I told her and put my belongings on the cute hall table I had sanded back and whitewashed.

“It’s looking so pretty,” she told me, gazing around my kitchen and living room. I followed her eyes when they landed on my cute outdoor sitting area.

“It wouldn’t be without the help Brax and Austin gave me.” I took the big jug of lemonade from the refrigerator, snagged two glasses and wandered outside, setting them down on the sweet two-seater table I had set up under the gazebo.

“He’s losing it,” she told me quietly when we sat down. My head snapped up from pouring the lemonade and I stared at her, unsure if I wanted her to go on or not. “I don’t know what to do about it. He’s destroying himself trying to forget how much he loves you.”

“I— I’m. I can’t fix it. I tried. He won’t listen to me.” I knew how bad it’d gotten. I was watching it too, but what was I supposed to do? I was nursing my own broken heart and Destry wouldn’t listen to me if I said anything about the way he was behaving.

“Did you love him?” Ellie-May asked sincerely.

“I still do, honey.” I ran my hand down my face and explained, “I do still love him.” Sad, but it was the God-honest truth. I loved him like I shouldn’t, like I’d never loved before or probably ever would.

Weeks had passed since I’d held her in my arms, been lost in the sound of her laughter or been overcome by the familiar perfume that lingered in the air at home. Home was empty now she wasn’t there. Austin liked to inform me daily of what was going on with her. I wish he would get it through his thick skull that it killed me hearing about what she was doing. She had moved into a little rundown house at the end of Edgars Lane. The boys had been spending their spare time helping her fix it up while I slumped over the bar at Rach’s and slowly drank myself into oblivion. That was my life now. Work, drinking, passing out and then doing it all over again.

Was today Thursday or Friday? All I knew was that it was another day I was walking through the double wooden doors of Rach’s bar and heading to the familiar booth that was now my sanctuary. I didn’t even need to order; before I knew it, Rach had slid an opened beer in front of me and slid in opposite me, looking at me with concern flooding her face.

“Back again?”

“Where else would I be, Rach? I am here hanging out with my friend.”

“Or are you here because a certain girl is due for a shift tonight?”

It was only last week that Rach had made me aware that my visiting times at her bar always seemed to coincide with the shifts that Amelia was working at the bar. She would work and I’d drink. She didn’t speak to me and I didn’t speak to her. She had tried about a week ago, and in my drunk stupor, I had made a scene; that was the last of her attempts to talk, but it didn’t stop me from being here.

“What the hell is it with you and my brother thinking you can Doctor Phil on me and get away with it? You are as bad as Austin!” I smirked and threw back my beer; the feeling of the cool liquid sliding down my throat offered the emotional comfort I desired. In a few short hours, I’d be passing out and forgetting this shit storm. As I watched her, I noticed something flash over her face, something I had never witnessed before. Was she blushing? Why had her eyes darted away from mine at the mention of Austin’s name?

“Well, someone has got to tell you what it’s like, and if that’s me or your idiot of a brother, then so be it.” She slid out of the booth and took a step towards the bar.

“Rach, wait. Is there something you’ve got to tell me?” I asked, knowing full well I was prying.

“Yeah, there is.” She hesitated briefly before smiling. “Warn me next time you are going to have a breakdown. You are almost drinking my bar out of beer.”

She took off towards the bar in a cloud of laughter. Rach had been a fixture in my life for more years than I could say. I remember her in school. She was in Austin’s year and I swear I thought the two of them would end up shacked up, but then he ran off with Claire and they suddenly stopped hanging out as much. She was a good girl. She could stand her ground; I had witnessed her stand up to guys twice her size many times, and she had a mean left hook. She was everything you’d expect a bar owner to be, but underneath, I knew she was just a girl with a big dream. My thoughts were shattered by the sound of Amelia’s voice floating through the air as she announced her arrival. My heart twisted at the sound of her sweet voice.

Fuck, I wanted her but I knew I wouldn’t have her.

She stopped in the middle of the bar and swung around to where I was seated. Her eyes found mine, and in that second, the world around us disappeared. Her eyes dropped from mine as she rushed behind the bar and began speaking with Rach.

Rach looked over at me quickly. I looked everywhere but behind the bar. I was here to drink and drink I would. One beer led to two, which led to five and a nice buzz was overwhelming my exhausted body. It was about the time when I found myself staring at Amelia once again that Austin had slid in opposite me and sat there with a king-sized grin spreading over his face.

“And what are you smirking at?”

“You’re fucking her without even touching her. Why don’t you just talk to her? Make up with her?” His face suddenly grew serious, his eyes narrowing into mine. “D, I need my brother back. I can’t fucking do this work by myself. You have never had days off work, but in the last three weeks, you’ve barely done a week’s work. Gramps didn’t leave the farm to you to run it in the ground.”

It was a brutal kick in the teeth; the kind of truth I needed to hear. It was true. I had let the farm down and if it wasn’t for Austin and Brax picking up my slack, it wouldn’t be running. My newfound love of drinking had created the demon known as epic hangovers, which meant the alarm at four am was always slept through. I was letting down my family, one thing I had promised myself I’d never do.

“Can I get you anything, Austin?”

My head shot up at the sound of her voice, and there she stood. Looking almost nervous, her voice slightly weak, her eyes focused on Austin, refusing to look at me. I watched her closely, drinking her in, enjoying the sweet smell of her perfume.

“I’m just here to pick up Destry and take him home,” Austin said quickly with a nod towards me. I slid out of the booth and stood beside her, towering over her. She didn’t move. My eyes narrowed in at her, knowing that the amount of unfinished business between us was growing by the day, and to be honest, I was afraid of what would happen when it came to the surface.

“I’m not standing here, then?” I asked with a slight slur. “You’re supposed to serve all the paying patrons.” I slapped a twenty on the table. “And I’m paying,” I said with sarcasm.

“What you’re doing is turning into a drunk asshole,” she sneered at me. “One who’s about thirty seconds away from being thrown out on his sorry ass.”

She turned to Austin who was trying to hold in his snicker. “Sorry, honey. You’ll have to take asshat home.”

“How cute, you two are just so damn sweet my teeth are gonna fall out,” I jibbed, trying to hide the hurt at them being so buddy-buddy.

“Your teeth are going to fall out after somebody is smart enough to knock some sense into you.” She looked up at me with what could only be described as disgust. That one look tore me apart. “Pull your head out of your ass, Destry. And grow the fuck up.” With that, she nodded at Austin and stormed away.

“Not a word,” I growled at my brother, knowing he wouldn’t be able to help himself.

“You just got bitch slapped,” he guffawed with a smug look on his face.

“Screw you,” I threw back at him. There wasn’t much I could say after that ego-breaking blow. I couldn’t seem to help myself of late. I’d turned into a drunken fool with a bad attitude, and I didn’t like it one freaking bit. Ultimately, it was that look she’d given me, the one that shone in her eyes when she’d acknowledged me just now. She was absolutely disgusted in me, and that hurt my heart more than any of the words we’d thrown at each other. I slunk out of the bar without another word to anyone and climbed in to Austin’s truck. The entire ride home was a sad kind of silence that neither he nor I were willing to break. This was it, this was the point I needed to get my head together and either let her go, or fight for her. Only thing was, I didn’t know if we’d done too much damage to repair.

My worst nightmare was coming true. Ellie was hysterical, had locked herself in her bedroom and was refusing to come out. The boys and I had been sitting on the porch chatting about the day when Ellie turned up with a screech of wheels and a look of thunder flooding her pretty face. She stormed past us without a word, slamming doors as she went; she was still in her room while I paced the hall.

“Ellie bug, can I come in?” I asked gently, rapping on the door with my knuckles.

“No!” she yelled. I looked back at my brothers who were both at a loss. She was bawling her eyes out and I didn’t have a clue what to do. “I need Amelia! Someone call, Amelia!” she hollered with a hiccup.

I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the white bedroom door. “Ellie, talk to us,” I pleaded. The last thing I wanted to do was call Amelia. I needed time to form a plan before I saw her again.

“Well, tell me which one of you want to come in here while I talk about the guy I’ve just spent the night with? Yeah, boys, your little sister had sex,” she sobbed. I went ramrod straight at that and the tension in the air turned to pure fury.

“Somebody needs an ass kicking,” Austin growled. I turned around and shot looks at the boys. Hoping one of them would call Amelia for me. I didn’t know what to say just yet.

Austin was too busy clenching his fists and letting the steam come out of his ears to help, so I raised an eyebrow at Braxton. He nodded and pulled his cell out to make the call.

Within ten minutes, the sound of wheels crunching on gravel filled the house and suddenly the front door flew open and I heard her voice. "Ellie, Brax?"

"Up here," Brax replied quickly.

Amelia flew up the stairs, wide-eyed and frantic. My eyes ran the length of her body; she was wearing skintight sweat pants that showed off every delicious curve of her sweet body, and a tank top, which sat just short enough for me to glimpse at her toned stomach.

Fuck it.

Her eyes finally found mine as she stood before the three of us. The tension swirling around us and I knew it was because of my stubborn ass.

"Thank you for doing this," I said quickly, my eyes darting from hers to the closed door of Ellie's room.

"I'm not doing this for you, Destry, so no need for the thanks."

Without another look in my direction, I noticed the fierce eyes she had thrown me moments ago softened when she looked at Brax and Austin before she opened the door and walked through, slamming it after her.

“You royally screwed that up,” Brax said with a huff as he walked off and disappeared down the staircase.

“She lied. She was cheating,” I pointed out to the only other person left in the room.

“No. She didn’t. You were just too hard headed to hear her out.” Austin shook his head and walked off in the same direction as Brax, leaving me to follow after them with Austin’s words swimming around in my head. I wasn’t at all surprised Austin knew the details considering the friendship that had developed between him and Amelia. I knew that he and Brax had been helping her set up the home she had bought outside of town. Knowing that she was staying around excited me, but I’d never show it.

I heard the screen door slam and knew where to find my brothers. What else was there to do besides sit around and wait impatiently for either Amelia or Ellie to resurface and set our minds at ease? Collapsing on the wooden bench beside Brax, he handed me a beer, which I took with a nod of thanks. The Texas air was still warm and the haze of a hot summer day still lingered. I wouldn’t live anywhere else. This was home and this was where my family became what it was today.

“I am not happy about this whole boy business with Ellie,” I muttered under my breath. Ellie would always be my little girl. Us boys raised her from when she was tiny. I felt like a protective big brother, but also a concerned father when it came to her.