“Let me know if you need any help getting your stuff together. I know you’re probably excited to get back to your old routines,” I told her.
Her eyes dropped to the floor when she said, “No… not really. I like it here, and I’m not sure I want to go back.”
“Then you should stay!” Wren smiled. “We’d love for you to stay…”
Before Wren could continue, Emerson shook her head as she said, “No… I can’t. I know I have to go back and finish what I started. But it’s going to be hard to leave everyone, especially Griff. I finally feel like I have my brother back, and I don’t want to lose him.”
“Honey, you’re never going to lose him. Your brother thinks you hung the moon. There’s nothing in this world he wouldn’t do for you. Go finish up your classes, and if it feels right, come back when you are done,” Wren explained.
“You guys really wouldn’t mind if I came back?” she smiled.
“Are you kidding me? Heck, I’d love it. Then I’d have a chance to reclaim my Pac-Man championship title,” Henley teased.
“Girl, you just don’t give up, do you?” Emerson laughed.
“It’s called determination,” Henley responded proudly.
“I don’t know about that,” I snickered. “I’d say it’s more like you’re a sore loser. Always have been.”
Henley turned to me with a horrified expression on her face and started spouting off all of her reasons why she wasn’t a sore loser, making us all roar with laughter as we listened to her try to deny it. Thankfully, it was just the distraction we all needed to get us through the night. We spent the next hour talking, and I was starting to feel better about things, until the girls started leaving one by one. Allie and I were the only ones left in the bar when Guardrail came in to get her.
He walked over to her, and with a halfhearted smiled, asked, “Hey, All Star. You ready to call it a night?”
“Ready whenever you are,” she answered. When he took a hold of her hand, she turned to me and whispered, “It’s going to be fine. It has to be.”
Just before they left the room, Guardrail spotted Clutch in the back of the bar. He stopped just long enough to shout, “Help Cass shut down the bar and do a final walkthrough.”
“On it,” he responded as he checked the back door and turned off the lights. I watched as he made his way toward the bar and quickly realized the man walking over to me wasn’t the happy-go-lucky Clutch I adored—not in the least. The man coming toward me was full of rage as he cleared the empty bottles from the tables, causing them to clank roughly together in his arms when he walked. He stopped at the end of the counter and dropped them into the large metal trash can, glaring angrily as they all crashed at the bottom.
“Feel better now?” I asked sarcastically.
Without warning, he grabbed a full beer of bottle from the counter and threw it, shattering it against the back wall. I could feel the anger radiating off of him as he stood there, staring at the mess. “Fuck!” he roared. “I’m sorry, Cass… Just go on to bed. I’ll clean it up.”
“Might be a little difficult with that sling. I’ll do it,” I offered as I reached for the dustpan.
“Go, Cass. Now,” he ordered. I could tell from his tone he wasn’t in the mood to argue, so I handed him the broom and turned to leave.
Just before I walked out of the room, I turned to him and said, “You know, I was worried before, but seeing you like this… now, I’m terrified.”
“Cass!” I heard him call out, but I was already halfway down the hall. There was no point in trying to talk to him. I knew he couldn’t tell me what I wanted to know, so I ignored him and went to my room. I didn’t even bother changing clothes before I crawled into my bed. I pulled the covers over me and tried to block out all worries racing through my head, but every time I closed my eyes, I was haunted by Cotton’s face. I missed him. I missed him so much it hurt. I needed to feel close to him, so I threw the covers back and slipped down to his room. He’d told me he wanted me there, and it felt right as I lay down in his bed. I took a deep breath, letting his scent surround me, and I could almost imagine him there next to me, holding me, kissing me. Even though it was just in my mind, it was enough for me to escape my worries long enough for me to finally fall asleep.
I woke up early the next morning with Henley sitting at the foot of the bed. Her hair was falling loose around her face and it looked like she’d been crying. I sat up and said, “What’s wrong?”
“Maverick still hasn’t called. It’s around seven, and I haven’t heard anything from him. Something’s happened to him, Cass,” she cried.
I reached for her, pulling her into a hug as I said, “Oh, honey. It’s still early… really early. I’m sure he’s fine. Just give it some time.”