“He didn’t say anything that wasn’t true!” She spat.
“I’m done talking about this with you!” He said firmly and pried her fingers off of his arm to open her door.
“That’s too bad, because I’m not done talking to you!” She looked up at him. “You need to trust me that I am not going to go down that path again. Because there are days when I don’t trust myself and the only thing that makes me, choose me instead of the pills is you! I choose me because of the trust you have in me, because of the faith you have in me to turn my life around. I’m only going to explain this once to you Luke, I don’t need you to come to my rescue. I need you to believe that I can rescue myself.” She blinked back her tears and stared up at him. “I don’t want our friendship to be based on me depending on you fighting my battles. I had that already and I’m not looking for someone to replace it.”
Luke bit the inside of his cheek and turned his head, breaking their eye contact and instead stared aimlessly into the parking lot. She reached up and cupped his chin and turned his face to hers.
“Look at me.” She pleaded. He stared into her eyes that were a fierce shade of green. “That guy in there? Wasn’t the Luke I know… please don’t let me ever be the reason he rears his head.”
“Okay.” He said sighing heavily, wishing he could rewind the night. It started off so good for them, and had the potential to end on so many different levels. Instead, he stood in a parking lot watching Cara shiver and plead for her to trust him. Little did he know, it wasn’t about not trusting her, but rather he didn’t trust himself. She was right about one thing though, he wasn’t himself, and he bet a lot of it had to do with the fact that he was falling in love with the woman his brother loved more than anything. The woman whose arms his brother died in.
Chapter Fourteen
Luke walked into Rudy’s the following night, with no desire to actually be there. Come to think of it, he couldn’t remember the last time he was there. He slowly made his way towards the bar, the booming juke box and the boisterous noises of the crowded bar hurting his ears. Nick was seated at the bar, already nursing a drink when Luke pulled up a stool beside him.
Nick glanced up and nodded to Luke, acknowledging him. “I was beginning to think you stood me up.”
Luke signaled for the bartender raising his hand silently before turning around and looking at Nick. “Nope, here I am.” He muttered and noticed that Nick was holding an envelope. He nodded towards the manila envelope in Nick’s hand. “What’s that?”
Nick looked down at the yellow envelope he held in his hand and then back at Luke, assessing that he didn’t look to be in a good mood. “Maybe you should have a drink first.”
Luke sighed and sat down on the stool. “Sounds promising,” he bit back sarcastically.
“You want to talk about it?” Nick asked as the bartender found her way over to Luke.
“What can I get you?”
“Scotch straight, make it a double.” He looked at Nick’s half empty glass. “And another of whatever that is.”
“You got it.” She said and was off to make their drinks with a flirtatious smile on her face.
“So why are you running late?” Nick asked as he polished off what was left of his drink.
“I waited for Cara to bring Benny over.”
“They left hours ago.” Nick said, glancing at his watch. “Sam said their fittings were at five.”
“She never came.” Luke said flatly.
“I’m taking that that’s out of the ordinary.”
“I fucked up.” Luke said as the bartender placed his drink in front of him. “Keep them coming, Sweetheart.” He said with a wink and slid a few bills her way to insure he was never with an empty glass. He pulled the little cocktail napkin off the bottom of the tumbler glass and knocked back the scotch, taking his first burning swig.
“Oh boy…” Nick muttered while he cranked his neck from side to side. He took a sip of his drink and then braced his hands on the edge of the bar, preparing for whatever disaster was about to fly out of his friends mouth. “Ok, go… lay it on me.”
“I’m falling in love with her.” Luke said sadly.
“Fuck.” Nick said, thinking it was worse than he thought.
“Yeah.” Luke confirmed and took another gulp. He stared at the amber liquid as he placed the glass back on the wooden bar. “Love’s never come my way… why the fuck now? Why her?”
“Hell if I know.” Nick said and lifted his hand up to signal the bartender that they definitely needed refills. “I mean I suppose it could be worse.” Nick tried to remain optimistic.