“It was. I didn’t catch your name.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“Fair,” she says as we return to the noise of the bar. “Well, what is it?”
“Lance.”
“I’m Briley.”
“Well, thanks for making my night, Briley.”
“You’re welcome, Lance. I’m going to go to the restroom. I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Okay,” I tell her. Little does she know, I won’t be here when she gets out. The closet sex was amazing, but that’s all it needs to be. I don’t want to get to know her. I don’t want to do anything else with her because she’s not Hilary. Briley was an escape for me tonight. A damn good escape, but not what I’m looking for.
I watch as she goes into the bathroom. When the door shuts, I make my way out the entrance of the bar. The night air hits me in the face and shame washes over me. I should have never let Briley suck me off, and I should have never put my mouth or my dick inside her. I did it, though, and it’s another notch on my past. I really just want to go home.
I shouldn’t have come out at all.
***
I wake the next morning feeling even more like shit for my actions. I need a hot shower to wash Briley off of me. I step into the shower and let the hot water wash over me. Once I’m sure that I’m clean, I step out and toss on the clothes I would typically wear to the gym. I flop on my bed and reach for my phone. I didn’t look at it once I got home. I tap the screen to find a slew of missed calls from Garrett and Raegan as well as several more text messages from Hilary. I don’t open a single message. I’m too hurt and pissed from last night to even think about reading those.
There’s a light knock on my door, which throws me off because my dad never knocks. “Come in.”
The door slowly opens and Raegan appears. “Hey, stranger. We tried calling you all night.”
“I saw. They sent you to check on me or something?”
“No,” she says, sitting on my bed. “I came on my own. I wanted to check on you. I’m sorry about Howard suspending you. Travis is an asshole.”
“Didn’t you hear? I quit. I don’t need that gym.”
“You’re such a liar, Lance.”
“I am a liar, Raegan, but what does it fucking matter? I can’t fight as long as Travis is around because he’ll always be there to push my buttons and I can’t control my anger around him. He treats Hilary like shit. He treats her like a convenience but she keeps going back to him.”
“Oh, shit, Lance. I didn’t know that. Do you think she’s okay?”
“I don’t know. I mean, why would you put up with someone like that? She found messages in his phone from other women. I protected her from shit like this in high school, but she’s still getting sucked into it. I don’t get it.”
“Some women want to get away but don’t know how to. Maybe he makes her feel safe.”
I glare at her. “Maybe he’s just a pain in my ass, Raegan. Whatever, I’m done with it all. She tried texting me last night a few times.”
“What did she say?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I didn’t read any of them. I went to Joe’s for a little last night and left my phone here. This morning I saw all the missed calls from you and Garrett, and then all of her messages.”
She reaches for my phone.
“Damn, five messages. Let’s see. First message says…please talk to me, Lance. Second message says, you were right about him. Third message…”
I wait for her to finish, but she’s just staring at the phone.
“What is it, Raegan? What’s it say?”
She swallows and takes a deep breath before reading. “This isn’t Hilary. This is Travis. It says, if I ever see your name on her phone again, you will be a dead man. Stay away from her. She is mine. She belongs to me, and she knows it. I will make you wish you were never born if you even say her name out loud.”