Relinquishing Liberty (30 page)

After a group was seated in my section, I quickly took their orders and headed over to the bar to grab their drinks. I lucked out because the other bartender was on break, so now I had a chance to ask Brett why he kept giving me funny looks. As soon as he saw me coming over, he ducked his head trying to appear busy.

“Hey Brett, can you get some of these drinks for me when you get a chance?”

He stared for a few seconds like he was trying to assess me. “Yeah….sure.”

I rattled off the list of drinks and watched as he skillfully mixed them together. He really was an impressive bartender. On more than one occasion I had caught him tossing bottles in the air and catching them with ease in an attempt to impress a group of attractive girls. Worked like a charm every time, too. Some girls were such suckers for that shit.

Once again, I found him glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. He wasn’t doing a very good job of trying to hide it.
Seriously, what the fuck was his problem?

I slammed my hands down on the bar counter, startling him. “Brett, is there a reason why you won’t stop fucking staring at me? It’s starting to creep me out!”

He looked up from what he was doing and let out a heavy sigh. “Sorry. It’s just…um…are you feeling okay, Liberty?”

Was I feeling okay? Why would he ask me that? Did I look sick?
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, you just seem kind of off today. Did you get hurt this weekend? You looked like you were walking funny when you first came in, and from what I can see it hasn’t gotten any better. I’m not trying to be funny when I say this, but you kind of look like you’re walking around with a stick up your ass. And I don’t mean that in a figurative sense.”

Ohmigod. Did he know? Could he tell?
Oh fuck me, I knew I should have listened to Shayne this morning, but my stupid libido had to get in the way of my better judgment.

“Oh, that.”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
“No, I’m fine. I just, um, woke up with a wicked charley horse this morning, and it’s been kicking my ass all day. I think I just need to stretch it out really good when I get home.” I rubbed my leg as though I were in pain for good measure. I hated lying to him, but what was I supposed to say?
Oh, sorry Brett, I’m just walking funny because Shayne and I had sex for the first time last night and again this morning, so as you can imagine I’m a little sore.
Yeah, not gonna happen!

“Ah, I gotcha. I’ve gotten some pretty gnarly ones during football season, so I know how you feel, darlin’. If you want I can help you with a few stretches...maybe loosen you up a bit.” He wiggled his eyebrows and winked at me in typical Brett Harrington fashion. God, why does everything that comes out of his mouth always have to be so suggestive? I was beginning to think Brett really needed to get laid. Funny, now that I thought about it, I haven’t seen Brett with any girls since I’ve been here. Literally
none
. Seems a little odd, considering he’s such a huge flirt; unless he only shows that side of himself around me. For both of our sakes, I hoped that wasn’t true.

I patted his hand that was resting on the bar. “Nah, that’s okay. I should be fine, but thanks for the offer.”

“Anytime, darlin’…and I mean that.” He gave me another wink. “So where have you been the last few days? Maddie said you haven’t been home in a while.”

The soreness between my legs reminded exactly where I’d been, or should I say, where Shayne had been. “Nowhere, really. I just hung out with Shayne all weekend. We uh…we decided to move in together.”

It probably wasn’t a good idea to say that just as Brett was taking a sip of water because the next thing I knew, he turned into a human sprinkler, spraying water everywhere.

“You’re what!? That’s not funny, Liberty. Please tell me you’re fucking joking!” Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have told him at all.

“Shhh, Brett, keep it down. Yes, I’m moving in with him.”

“Are you fucking crazy? Liberty, you’ve been dating the guy for less than two months, and now what? You guys just decided you’re going to play house together? God, how stupid are you?”

“Excuse me? What happened to you being supportive of our relationship? I know you don’t like him, but you don’t have to be such an asshole towards me!”

“Yeah, I was supportive back when I thought things would never last between you guys. I was just waiting for the day when he would fuck things up. He always does, and I guarantee you he will, if he hasn’t yet. I’m not trying to be an asshole, Liberty, I just don’t like standing by while the ones I love get hurt. I already had to pick up the pieces after the incident with Maddie. It would kill me if anything like that happened to you.”

“Brett, that’s not going to happen to me. Besides, it wasn’t Shayne that did that to her.”

“You’re right. I still don’t know who the fucker is because she won’t tell anyone. If she did, he’d be dead by now.”

“And you have every right to feel that way, but that has nothing to do with mine and Shayne’s relationship or with us moving in together. Not every guy is like the bastard who got Maddie pregnant when she was 16 and left her to deal with it on her own.”

This conversation was getting us nowhere, and I was neglecting my tables as a result. “Look, I really don’t feel like arguing about this with you right now. I need to get back to my tables. If you’d like to further bitch about Shayne and what a horrible person he is, save it. ‘Cause honestly, I don’t give a fuck what you think!”

Brett’s jaw was clenched tight, and I could tell he was holding back what he really wanted to say. This wasn’t the time or the place to get into it, and I made it very clear that his opinion didn’t matter to me. I was so sick and tired of dealing with this bullshit. It wasn’t fair to Shayne, and it sure as hell wasn’t fair to me.

I grabbed the tray of drinks and dropped them off at the table before letting the other waitresses know I was going on break. I needed to cool off, and I really wanted to talk to Shayne. I stepped outside and quickly dialed his number. As soon as I heard the sound of his voice on the other end, every ounce of tension built up inside me melted away.

“Hey, sweetheart! How’s my lovely lady and soon-to-be roommate doing?”

I skipped the hello and got straight to the point. “Ohmigod, Shayne, why did you let me have sex with you this morning!?” That probably came out a little harsher than I had intended it to.

“Um…I’m sorry?” He laughed into the phone. “Why? A little sore, are we?” His voice was dripping with sarcasm. I’m glad he was finding this funny.

“You could say that. And Brett totally noticed too. He said I’ve been walking funny all night.” I let out a loud “hmph” in frustration.

“Hey, I tried to warn you, sweetheart.” Shayne continued to laugh while I shot him an evil glare through the phone. “In all seriousness though, I am sorry you’re sore, babe. I hate to see you in any pain. I really should have stopped things before we got too far this morning, but I couldn’t help myself. You’re just so damn sexy.” Okay, now he was just trying to butter me up, and lucky for him it was working.

“I wish I was there to make you feel better, babe. Why don’t you take a nice hot bath, pour a little Epsom salt in there and pop a few more ibuprofen when you get home? It’ll help sooth your muscles, and I guarantee you’ll feel like a million bucks when you wake up tomorrow.”

“Shayne, how is it you know so much about this stuff?”

“Well you see…” He let out a soft laugh. “While you were busy perusing
Playboy
, I was stealing the latest issue of
Cosmo
from the girls’ lunch table in high school. Where do you think I picked up all of my mind-blowing techniques, babe?”

Oh God, is he for real?
I couldn’t hold back, I was laughing so hard there were tears streaming down my face. I kept picturing him sitting there reading
Cosmopolitan
and diligently taking down notes. “Ohmigod you are too fucking much! After a night like tonight, I really needed that, Shayne. Thank you.”

“Anything to hear that beautiful laugh, sweetheart.” From the tone of his voice, I knew he was smiling on the other end of the phone. “So are the customers busting your balls tonight? ‘Cause I won’t hesitate coming in there kicking anyone’s ass for making my woman upset.”

“Shayne, I’m pretty sure you know by now that my female anatomy is lacking in the balls department.” I giggled. “And no, it’s Brett that’s been giving me a hard time. I broke the news to him that we were moving in together, and let’s just say he was far from thrilled.”

“Fuck him. It’s none of his business anyway, so why should his opinion matter?”

“That’s exactly what I said! I told him I don’t give a fuck what he thinks anymore. I’m sick and tired of dealing with his bipolar attitude towards our relationship, so I decided I’m just not going to deal with it anymore. If he doesn’t like us being together, that’s his problem, not mine.”

“That’s my girl!”
My girl
. I loved hearing him say that.

“Well, my
Cosmo
-reading Casanova…I need to get back to work.”

I started to walk back inside, and Brett was watching my every move yet again.

“Alright, sweetheart. If you’re not too tired when you get home, feel free to call me, but make sure you get some rest tonight, okay? I love you, baby.”

I couldn’t help but smile. I don’t think I will ever get sick of hearing those words come out of his mouth. “I love you, too, Shayne.”

That earned me a disgusted look from Brett. No surprise there. I started to walk towards the back to throw my phone in my purse, but Brett came around the bar and grabbed my arm before I got very far.

“Liberty, hang on a second.”

I let out a long sigh. “Look, Brett, if this is about what you just heard—”

“No, this isn’t about
that
. I could give two shits about what’s going on between you and Shayne.” My mouth fell open as I gaped at him for his brutal honesty. One minute he was tearing into me about how stupid I was for agreeing to move in with Shayne and the next, he says he doesn’t give two-shits about us.

“Look, some guy came in here a few minutes ago looking for you. He said he recognized you out front, but he didn’t want to interrupt you while you were on the phone. Now, I don’t know who the fuck this guy was, but he seemed kind of shady to me.”

Now that I think about it, I did notice someone stop a few feet away from me when I was outside, but I didn’t pay attention to who it was. Who the hell would be looking for me anyway? Other than Shayne, Brett, Travis and Corey, I didn’t know any other guys around here…at least none that would recognize me. “Oh, uh, is he still here?”

“No, but he left this for you.”

Brett handed me a crumpled up napkin with something scribbled on it. I smoothed it out, and just by the handwriting alone I knew it was from my Uncle Steve. Somehow, it had completely slipped my mind that he lived just a few miles outside of Savannah. He was a chiropractor and opened a private practice down here a few years back, and the last time he came up to Buffalo for a visit was to attend AJ’s funeral. In typical doctor fashion, his handwriting was virtually illegible, but over the years I had gotten pretty good at interpreting it from the birthday and Christmas cards he always remembered to send me.

The only thing he wrote down was his name and phone number and to “call him”. Now I understood why Brett thought he looked so shady. He must have assumed he was some middle-aged creeper trying to pick me up. At least Brett cared enough to show some concern.

“It’s okay, Brett. It’s just from my uncle. I forgot he lived nearby. I honestly wasn’t expecting to run into him here though.”

His eyebrow slowly perked up. “Is that a good or a bad thing?”

“I’m not really sure yet.” I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess it depends on whether or not he spills the beans and lets my parents know I’m here.”

“Wait, are you telling me your family doesn’t even know where you are!?”

“Brett…” I let out a heavy sigh. “I left home to get away from my parents. I threw four years of my life down the drain trying to help them pick up the pieces after AJ died, but it turned out they weren’t willing to make any effort themselves. I lost all of my friends. I had to drop out of college after my first year. I was a teenager, yet I had to take on the role of the parent, while my mother and father continued in a downward spiral. I let it go on for far too long, and I knew nothing would change unless I finally severed ties with them. I had to leave and start over fresh.”

I knew Brett and Maddie were close with their parents, so I was surprised to find him to be so understanding. “I don’t blame you for wanting to leave, Liberty. No one should have to take on that kind of responsibility when they’re still just a kid themselves. You didn’t deserve to have to carry that burden for so long. For your sake, I hope your uncle keeps his mouth shut.”

I took his hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Thanks, Brett. You and me both.”

I finally got him to crack a smile. “Why don’t you finish up with that table over there, and I’ll cover the rest. Things seemed to have slowed down, and I think Brittany can handle the bar herself.”

“Seriously? You’re a lifesaver, Brett. I’m dying for a nice relaxing bath right now.”

“Well don’t enjoy yourself
too
much.” He winked at me while beaming a wicked grin. He just had to bring that up again, didn’t he? I buried my face in my hands, and he chuckled loud enough for the whole restaurant to hear, further embarrassing me. I grabbed my purse and booked it out of the restaurant before he could say anything else. I didn’t need him telling the whole world about the time I played DJ Diddles to the image of Shayne.