Louisiana Sky (Love in Belle Pont #2) (6 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Bentley

I spent the entirety of the next two weeks making up to Roxy in every way that I could think of. Things were finally good between us, and I felt like I was flying high on a new kind of drug as I stared at her across the dinner table.

“Why don’t we go down to Murphy’s tonight?” Sharon suggested with a twinkle in her eye. “It’s karaoke night, isn’t it?”

Roxy shot her a disapproving glance before looking my way. I knew what she was thinkin’ as she worried her lip between her teeth, but I put her fears to rest.

“We should go,” I told her. “It’ll be fun.”

“Are you sure?” she asked. “I don’t want you doing anything that you’re uncomfortable with.”

“It’s fine, Rox. I’ve been into Murphy’s a hundred times since I quit drinkin’, you don’t have to worry about that.”

She smiled at me apologetically before turning back to her mama. “Okay, but you have to promise me we’re just there to sing.”

“Yes, Roxy.” Sharon rolled her eyes. “I know.”

***

Bethany was working back at Murphy’s, and I felt bad for pushing Roxy to come here. I could tell she was uncomfortable, but I did my best to reassure her. I never took my eyes or my hands off of her the entire night, and I made sure to order her drinks at the bar.

When Bethany did come to our table, I could feel her eyes on me, but I stoically ignored her. I didn’t think there was anything nice I could say to the woman, especially not after the latest stunt she’d pulled with Corey.

When we finally left around midnight, Bethany chased us out onto the sidewalk.

“Hey Bentley,” she hollered. “Can I talk to you in private for a minute?”

I saw the way she was looking at Roxy with an evil little grin on her face, and it only made me hate myself more. Out of all the women I could have screwed up with, it had to be the most vindictive one in town.

I wrapped my arm around Roxy like a vice grip and shook my head. “I ain’t got nothin’ to say to you, Bethany. So from now on, you stay out of our business, got it?”

She feigned insult as she clasped her hand over her chest. “All I wanted to say was I’m real happy you two could work things out,” she said softly.

And with a flip of her hair, she sauntered back inside. But somehow, I knew this wasn’t over.

***

Roxy

Mama called me over for a celebratory dinner tonight. Robert’s probation had been revoked, and we wouldn’t be seein’ the likes of him anytime soon.

I was happy to celebrate with her, and proud of how hard she was trying. Since she’d been on her newfound quest for self-discovery, she was a whole new woman.

“You and Bentley seem to be gettin’ real close,” she observed.

“Yea, I guess you could say that.” I gave her a shy smile.

As happy as I was, I couldn’t help feeling like the rug was about to be pulled out from beneath me. Because nothing this good ever lasted, did it?

Bentley and I had been making up like crazy, and he couldn’t take his eyes or his hands off me most of the time. I was all warm and fuzzy inside, but I was scared as hell too.

“He’s crazy about you,” Mama said, seemingly reading my thoughts clearly. “You don’t have nothin’ to worry about with him sugar.”

“I know you’re probably right,” I said. “I’m just being paranoid.”

An hour later, I was on my way to meet Bentley at Murphy’s.

He’d started to join Amy and I for our weekly karaoke night, even though he claimed he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.

When I walked inside, Amy was at the bar, shrugging out of her apron. I glanced around, not seeing Bentley anywhere.

“He just went to the bathroom.” Amy jerked her head towards the hall.

“Okay.” I nodded. “I gotta’ go too. Can you sign us up for something, your choice?”

“Already on it, sugar.” Amy grinned.

I headed down the darkened hallway that led to the restrooms, and stopped short when I heard a giggle from the corner. Up ahead of me, Bethany Francis was pinned to the wall, her face plastered against his.

My heart started racing, my palms sweating, and all I could do was stand there and watch. I didn’t want to believe it was real. I couldn’t look away, and it took me forever to move.

I spun around in a wave of nausea and slammed face first into a hard wall of muscle.

“Hey, sweetheart, are you okay?”

I glanced up, confusion washing over me as I stared into Bentley’s green eyes. I looked back over my shoulder, catching Bethany’s little smirk as she stared back at me. It wasn’t Bentley she was with, but it sure as hell looked a lot like him.

Bentley seemed to realize what I was thinking as he pulled me into his arms and squeezed me tight. And I was embarrassed, because I was already crying over something that hadn’t even happened. My heart felt like it was shattered into a million pieces, over a guy I didn’t even know.

And suddenly, I realized I just couldn’t do this. I pulled away, and Bentley stared down at me, shaking his head.

“Roxy… don’t.”

His eyes were pleading, and I could tell I was hurting him, but right then, I couldn’t think about it.

“You have to be able to trust me, sweetheart,” he said. “Or else this isn’t going to work.”

“It isn’t going to work,” I cried out. “It’s too much Bentley. I’m always gonna’ be suspecting the worse. I hate seein’ her here all the time. I hate always wondering in the back of my mind. I just… I need some time.”

He tried to pull me back to him and I pushed him away.

“No Bentley,” I croaked. “Please, just let me go. Just give me some space.”

He dropped his hands and looked more defeated than I’d ever seen him. And there was nothing I could do, so like the coward that I was, I ran.

Chapter Fourteen

Bentley

The first thing I did was went to the liquor store and bought a bottle of scotch. I decided then and there, I shouldn’t even bother with trying anymore. Look where it got me every time I did.

I was feeling sorry for myself, and not thinkin’ clearly, but even so, I couldn’t do it. When I opened it up and smelled the liquor, it did nothing for me. Because it wasn’t Roxy, and nothin’ was ever going to substitute for that.

I walked out onto the front porch and poured it over the railing, wondering what the hell to do now. I knew Roxy well enough to know that she was gonna’ run from me. She was scared, and she had every right to be, but I didn’t want it to end like this. I couldn’t let it end like this.

So with a renewed sense of determination, I got into my truck and drove on out to her house. There was only one light on in the whole place, which seemed a bit odd, bein’ that it was only eight o’ clock. But I figured she’d probably just gone to bed.

As I walked up the stairs though, I heard some stumbling around inside before I knocked.

“Rox?”

A full minute passed before I heard any sort of response.

“Go on home, Bentley,” she said through the door. “Please.”

Her voice was wobbly, and it was making the ache in my chest even worse.

“Roxy, please… just let me talk to you.”

“I can’t tonight.” She sniffled. “Just do as I asked Bentley, and I’ll see you tomorrow for tacos.”

I pressed my hand against the wood and sighed before turning to go. But as I drove down the driveway, something clicked into place for me. It was Saturday night, and we didn’t have Tacos any other day but Tuesday.

Was Roxy confused, or was she trying to tell me something was wrong?

I slammed the brakes and turned off the ignition, bolting back up the driveway on foot. If someone was in her house, I needed to be careful how I went about this.

I walked around and checked all of the windows, not hearing a peep from inside. Everything was locked to the gills, just like I’d intended, and for a minute I thought I was just being paranoid. But then I heard a sob, followed but what sounded like glass shattering.

I snuck up to the back door and used the force of my weight to bust it straight open.

Roxy was there on the floor, sniffling beside a broken lamp. And standing above her with a wild expression, was Corey. He was holding a gun.

Chapter Fifteen

Roxy

My heart felt like it was goin’ to explode when I saw Corey swing the gun in Bentley’s direction.

“No,” I begged him, tugging on his pant leg. “Please Corey. Please… don’t do this. I can get him to leave, I can.”

“You said that before,” he snarled, smoothing his finger over the trigger.

Bentley stared down at me with a terrified expression, and I knew he was reliving his nightmare. He thought I was going to die right here in front of him, just like Jake. Only it wasn’t me Corey was waving the gun at.

“Now I gotta’ figure out what to do,” Corey said, his words sounding slurred as he paced back and forth. “You weren’t supposed to come here Bentley. You should have stayed out of it. This is between a man and his wife.”

Bentley swung his gaze from me to Corey and back several times before I saw his hand moving slightly. He was gesturing for me to move away, and I realized in panic what he was going to try to do. I shook my head and pleaded with my eyes.

“Just put down the gun,” Bentley said in a strangely calm voice. “And let’s discuss this like men, Corey.”

“Men?” Corey scoffed. “What kind of man thinks he can just come in here and take over my life, huh? That’s my woman, not yours!”

I stared up at Corey in disbelief, seeing that he truly believed what he was saying. He was completely delusional, and I didn’t know how to reason with him. But I knew that I wasn’t going to let Bentley take the fall for my bad choices in husbands, and I couldn’t see him hurt because of me.

“I don’t want to be with him, Corey,” I said in a shaky voice. “I only want to be with you. So just let him go, and me and you can get back to making up.”

Bentley ground his jaw together as Corey stared down at me with a cold expression, waving the gun in my direction.

“Do ya’ think I’m a fuckin’ idiot?” he bellowed.

I didn’t have time to answer him, because the next thing I knew, Bentley was tackling him to the ground. They were wrestling around, and fear took over when I realized I couldn’t see the gun. I heard it though, just as soon as it went off.

Chapter Sixteen

Bentley

Just come back to me.

Somewhere in my fog induced state, I kept hearing those words in my head. I knew it was Roxy’s voice, but I couldn’t make sense of it.

I wanted to tell her that I’d never left, but I didn’t know what was happening. I couldn’t seem to open my eyes, or feel… anything.

Days passed this way. Or at least, I think it was days. I couldn’t be sure, but it felt like forever. I kept hearing her crying, and whispering things I couldn’t always understand. I wanted to comfort her, but I didn’t know how.

And then, finally, my body started to cooperate. It felt like I was weighed down by a ton of bricks, but I moved my hand. There was something soft beneath it, like a blanket. I rubbed the material between my fingers trying to figure out what it was as my eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room.

That’s when I realized I was in a hospital bed. And it wasn’t a blanket beneath my hand, but Roxy’s hair. She was bent over at an uncomfortable angle from her chair, her face pressed into the mattress beside me. She was asleep, but even so, she looked exhausted.

It took me a minute to gather more strength before I could touch her. I started to stroke her hair, and her face relaxed as she let out a soft little whimper.

I scrubbed the pad of my thumb over her lips, and she blinked her eyes open, staring up at me in shock.

“Bentley?” she sobbed, springing up to get a better look. “Bentley!”

She threw her arms around me and squeezed the life out of me, and I felt a sharp stab of pain in my gut. And then it all came back to me. How I’d been shot and started bleeding out on Roxy’s floor, thinking that was gonna’ be the last time I ever saw her beautiful face.

“Corey?” I rasped.

Roxy pulled back to stare at me in disbelief, wiping the tears in her eyes with a laugh.

“You foolish, stubborn man Bentley Daniels.” She shook her head. “Corey’s in jail, where he belongs. And he ain’t getting out this time, for a long time.”

I nodded my head in satisfaction and gestured for her to come closer.

“I have to call the nurse.” She frowned. “To let them know you’re awake, so we can get you checked out… and your parents, they just went down to get some coffee. There’s so much to do…”

“Just lay with me a while first.” I smiled up at her.

She couldn’t resist, and when she crawled up onto the bed beside me, I didn’t let her go for the rest of the day.