Tug (Irreparable 3)

Drew smirks. “Pretty much. I smoked her.”

“Buddy, we gotta have a talk. You’re always supposed to let the pretty girls win.”

His nose crinkles. “Why would I do that?”

“Trust me. Someday, you’ll understand.”

“Okay, if you say so.”

“Thanks for keeping an eye on him,” I say to Maria. Seeing her stirs feelings in me I didn’t know were there, or didn’t want to be. I fucked up bad with her, and there’s nothing I can say to make it right.

“Oh, it was no problem.”

I pinch the bride of my nose, thinking of what to say. I owe her something.

“I never apologized to you for what I did, and I want you know how sorry I am.” An apology is all I can offer her right now.

“Thank you. That means a lot.”

I want to say I’d like to start over, but I don’t. Maria doesn’t fit into the image I’m trying to project in public. Maybe if I hadn’t screwed up so royally already, it could work. Right. The two of us together is a ridiculous fantasy. All I need is for the board to find a picture of me in the paper with a hooker. It shouldn’t matter. I don’t care if she isn’t the type of girl I can take to a business dinner. She’s perfect for me. I want her, and if I weren’t such a coward, I would tell her. But I am a coward. I’ll pretend she has no effect on me. I’ll pretend Larissa is my girlfriend. I’ll pretend not to feel. Pretending is the one Hunter trait I have an abundance of.

Drew climbs on the bed with me, and I turn on the television.

“Your girlfriend isn’t nice,” he announces, sitting back against the headboard.

The kid is as blunt as his father.

“She overreacted. She’s not that bad.”

His eyes get real big, and he laughs so hard he almost falls off the bed. “Are you blind? She’s Godzilla.”

“I’m definitely not blind. She is much hotter than Godzilla.”

“Just because someone is pretty on the outside doesn’t make them beautiful.”

He doesn’t say another word, and neither do I. The kid is so much smarter than I am. He’s right, but he has no experience to draw from, no understanding of how much adults like to complicate their lives.

Drew and I enter Brady’s house in the morning. It’s quiet, but I know Tori’s here because her car is in the driveway. He takes his bag upstairs. I go to the kitchen and see Tori sitting in a chair on the back deck¸ staring out into the ocean. Her sad face worries me, and I go out to check on her.

“Where is everyone?”

She turns her head and smiles, rubbing her arms likes she’s cold, only it’s eighty outside, which means she’s upset. “Brady’s at rehearsal, and Liv and Harrison are at the Center.”

“That’s some view, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

I lean against the railing and study her briefly. “What’s wrong?”

Her shoulders sag. She toys with the hem of her shorts. I wait. “I come out here sometimes to be close to her.”

She doesn’t need to say her name for me to know she’s talking about Mona.

“I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want any of us to be sorry anymore. Davey tells me every time I see him. I try to remember something good came out of that day. A life was lost and one was found. Davey got straight, and located his son. I know he’ll never get over what happened, even though I’ve forgiven him.”

I find it hard to forgive him, but that’s my issue to get past. He’s a decent guy, and it’s probably time for me to stop blaming him for my actions. “I think it’s hard on all of us.”