Running Back to You (The Running Series, #1) (23 page)

Work is supposed to be my safe place.  Evan’s never been here before, so
there are no reminders of him to torture me.  It becomes urgently important for
me to get him to leave, immediately.

“I’d appreciate it if you would leave.  I work here, Evan.  Do you want
to get me fired?”  There are butterflies in my stomach as I try my best to
maintain an air of aloofness.

Derek senses my discomfort and comes right over to rescue me if
necessary.  “Jette, is everything okay here?”

Evan offers his hand to Derek and introduces himself.  “Evan McGuire,
Juliette’s boyfriend.  Nice to meet you, Darren is it?”

“Derek, actually.”  Derek extends his hand.  “Wait, did you say Evan McGuire? 
The
Evan McGuire?”  He looks at me in confusion.

“Ex-boyfriend, actually,” I correct Evan, “and he was just leaving.”

Ignoring my remark entirely, Evan continues talking to Derek.  “Right, Derek,
sorry.  Hey, I owe you a drink to thank you for taking such good care of my Juliette
a couple of nights ago.  It’s good to know she’s got friends watching out for
her when I’m not around.” 

Once again, I find myself without the power of speech, so I resort to
shooting Evan a fierce look of warning.

“Yeah.  Name the day.  Hey, think you could get me a couple of tickets to
a home game?”  Great, now Derek is under his spell, too.  The two men continue
talking about sports and I just walk away.  There are customers waiting to be
served.

The crowd at the bar thins out a little, and Emmy finally notices the
bromance brewing on the other side of the bar.  “Jette, who’s that guy Derek is
talking to?  He’s hot.  And he looks so familiar.”

“Nobody, just my ex-boyfriend who won’t accept the fact that I broke up
with him.”  I can feel Evan’s burning gaze directed at me as I try to shake the
queasy feeling ratcheting through my system.

“Jette, I know who that is.  It’s Evan freakin’ McGuire, isn’t it?  Do
you mean to tell me that you just had hot, sweaty, toe curling sex with Evan McGuire,
then promptly broke up with him?”

“Emmy, I told you I don’t want to talk about it.”  She sets her hands on
her hips and plants her feet in front of me.  I’m going to have to give her
something.  “Do you have any idea how many girls he’s slept with?  They have
pictures of him all over the internet with rich and famous women.”

“Yeah, so what?  It doesn’t look like he wants any of them at the
moment.  By the way he keeps looking over here at you, I’d say he’s crazy about
you
.  You lucky bitch!”  She swats me on the butt with her bar rag and
busies herself serving some customers.

Derek returns to help out at the bar.  “Did he leave?” I ask.

“No, he’s hanging out with his manager for a while.  He’s very protective
of you, Jette.  He wants to make sure you get home safely.”  Wait, he’s here
with his manager?  I quickly scan the room and I locate them in the back of the
patio.  He’s here with Adam.  Well, that’s another puzzle piece that I should
have put together sooner.

Swarming around like moths to a flame is a horde of flirty girls, all
trying to get Evan to notice them.  I see camera phones flashing and it makes
my blood boil.

The bar starts to get crowded again, and I return to focus on making
drinks.  I pour a dozen or so beers on tap, pop the cap off a dozen more
bottles of beer, and make a round of Sex on the Beach shooters.  I try to focus
on my job, but it’s nearly impossible. 

I look over to Evan and I see one overly ambitious girl trying to engage
him in conversation.  She places her hand on his shoulder and leans in closely
to his ear.  My reaction is immediate.  I can feel the blood rushing to my ears
and the muscles in my stomach tighten.  The feeling is mildly assuaged when
Evan removes her hand from his shoulder and abruptly moves away from her.  I
notice Adam intervene while Evan looks over to me.  I am overcome with a bevy
of emotions.

Quite a few of the girls hovering around him are extremely pretty.  From
everything I’ve read and seen, they are the exact type of girl he would
typically hook up with.  But tonight, he doesn’t even seem to see them. 

As I continue to fill drink orders, my mind is preoccupied with thoughts
of Evan.  Why does this have to be so damned difficult?

My next customer is a young man around my age, and he looks vaguely
familiar.  “Hi, what can I get you tonight?”

“Jette, is that you?  Juliette Fletcher?”  He knows me, but I can’t place
him. 

“Yeah, I’m sorry, but I don’t,” recognition kicks in and I identify the
man standing before me.  “Oh, my God, Ty?  Is that you?  I hardly recognize
you.”  Ty lived next door to me until we were about twelve or thirteen.  He
moved away to Florida and I never heard from him again.

“Wow, it’s great to see you.  Last I heard, you moved to Colorado.  Did
you move back home again?” he asks.

“I did.  I’ve been here for almost a month now.  How about you?”  God,
it’s great to see him.  We were very close growing up.  He was like a brother
to me.  I always suspected he felt differently, but at such a young age, it was
never an issue.

“No, I’m just here for Easter.  I’ll be heading back to Pensacola on Monday. 
You should stop over and see Mom.  I know she’d love to see you.”  I didn’t
realize his mother was back in town.  I really would like to see them both.

Ty has aged well over the past ten years.  His jet black hair is short
cropped, and he’s got the same five o’clock shadow as Evan.  Tattoos fill one
arm and peek through the neck of his shirt.  He looks very badass.  I wouldn’t
be surprised if I saw him riding a motorcycle home later tonight.

We exchange phone numbers and I lean across the bar to give him a kiss on
the cheek before I grab him a Heineken.  I return with Ty’s beer, and for a
moment, I’m happy again.  The moment is short lived when I glance over and see
Evan glaring at the both of us.  Ty sees my obvious angst and turns to see
what’s gotten my attention.

“Who’s that?  He’s staring at you like he owns you.  Wait, is that Evan McGuire?” 
Jesus H. Christ, am I the only person on Earth who doesn’t know who Evan Thomas
McGuire is?

“Yes, sorry about that.  He’s a little possessive.  Just ignore him,
please.”  I really would like Ty to hang around so we can do a little more
catching up.

“Listen, I’m going to go find my girlfriend.  She probably thinks I got
lost.  Besides, I’d like to keep my teeth right where they are.  McGuire could
seriously kick my ass.  Good luck with that!  Call me.” 

The rest of the night is uneventful.  Derek holds back from flirting with
me.  He is definitely intimidated by Evan.  The DJ announces last call and the
bar begins to empty out.  Among the last to leave are Evan and Adam.

Evan and Adam are walking directly towards me.  I try to ignore them, but
Emmy has other plans.  She walks over and takes the bar towel from my hand. 
“Go say good night.  Act like an adult, will you, please?”  The last thing I
want to be is childish, so I concede.

I walk over to Adam and offer him a friendly hug good night.  Evan
watches and I can see a hopeful gleam in his eye.  He knows he’s wearing me
down.

He leans over and breathes in my ear.  I can feel my skin prickle from
the sensation.  “Where are you parked, Juliette?”

“I didn’t drive.  Auggie dropped me off.  I was too upset to drive.  Emmy
is taking me home.”  Shit, I was so preoccupied all night, I never asked her to
drive me home.  I’m sure she will.

“I’ll never be able to adequately tell you how sorry I am about that. 
It’s not how I wanted you to find out.”  Evan walks away and before I can
process what’s happening, he’s talking to Emmy.  She nods and smiles at him. 
The next thing I see is both of them taking out their cell phones.  Seriously? 
I walk over to put an immediate end to this.  Evan and I broke up. 

“Emmy, it was nice meeting you.  Please call me when she gets home
safely.”  They shake hands and Evan walks out the door.

Food for
Thought

I
arrive home shortly after two in the morning and waiting for me are
bouquets of flowers scattered throughout the house.  Eight are budding white
tulips with dark green stalks standing tall and proud.  Two are purple hyacinth
bouquets with a beautiful white ribbon tied around the vase, each bearing a
card.

Opening the first card, I am pleased to see that it is written in Evan’s
own handwriting. 

I think back to our first accidental meeting on the beach, and I believe
it was exactly ten days ago.  So much has happened in that short time.  I knew
at that moment that he was way out of my league, but I allowed myself to be
deluded by hope.  I stopped listening to reason, and listened only to desire. 
Look where that’s gotten me ... miserable and heartbroken.

The second card is also written in the same handwriting.  As I read it,
my heart softens, just a little bit.

I know that quote immediately.  It was spoken by Emilio Estevez in St.
Elmo’s Fire, one of my favorite Brat Pack movies.  Evan knows me, he knows my
heart.  How can he in such a short time?  In all the time I was with David, he
never once made me feel the way Evan does.

Do I acknowledge the gesture with a text to thank him?  What message
would that send?  What message do I want to send?  He has me twisted into
knots.  It’s too late to be able to reason through this.  A good night’s sleep
will give me the fresh perspective I need.

I
wake with the sun, getting so much less than a good night’s sleep.  My
overactive mind kept me tossing and turning.  There’s no point in trying to go
back to sleep, so I may as well get up and go for a run.

Maddy and I arrive at the beach.  I will not allow Evan to take the joy
of that away from me.  There are miles and miles of ocean, so I find a part of
it that will not lead me towards his house.  I grab my iPhone, my headphones,
and Maddy’s leash.  As I walk towards the surf, I receive a text.  Curiosity
gets the best of me, and I check the message.  Sure enough, it’s from Evan.

Evan:  Good morning running grl.  Enjoy ur run.  I won’t bother u, but
I’ll be home if u want to talk.

Resisting the urge to text him back, I plug in my headphones and start my
slow jog.  Today’s run will be a brief one.  I’m just too tired.  Tired from
lack of sleep and tired from worry.  Why can’t Evan just let me go?

Maybe I need to get out of my own head.  I could talk to Auggie about it,
but I know what he will say.  He doesn’t want to see me get hurt, so he’ll
definitely tell me to cut him loose, let him go, and move on with my life. 

I think I know what will happen if I talk to Emmy about it.  She will
definitely tell me to take him back.  She’ll most likely even have some advice
on exactly what I should do with him (and to him) once I do.