Breathe Again (20 page)

Just hearing her name was like getting stabbed in the eye with a thousand knives. Why she continued to haunt me was anyone’s guess.

Slamming my clamped fists into my pockets, I narrowed my eyes at Jack, desperate to grab onto my rapidly increasing frustration. “Why haven’t you kicked her out?”

“I didn’t know she was here until about a minute ago,” Stevie, my burly bouncer, stated with a look of failure sweeping his face.

“Okay, look, just stick with the door. I’ll go over and ask her to leave...as nicely as I can.” I took off to the sounds of Jack calling my name but I refused to wait around and allow Chelsea to stay in my bar any longer than she already had. My only thought was getting her and whoever the hell the poor soul she had latched on to and brought to my bar the hell out of it. I didn’t have time, and to be honest, I couldn’t give a fuck about dealing with her shit. A ban was a ban.

What I found stopped me dead to the spot and suddenly a wave of nausea hit me. What the hell kind of world had I just stumbled into? There, sitting at the table that everyone knew as Tanzi and Sav’s was Chelsea and my father and she was sitting on his lap, looking like a two-dollar hooker. Blake stood before them, looking like he was ripping them both new assholes, his arms flailing everywhere and the roar of his voice being heard over the pounding of the drums from the band.

“Here he is. I was wondering when you’d show,” my pathetic excuse for a father spat. After more than two years of having nothing to do with him and barely thinking about him, all it took was one sentence and he had singlehandedly ripped open the gaping wounds he’d caused—the same wounds I had been desperately trying to heal.

“What the fuck could be your reasoning be for being here?” I questioned, begging every bit of confidence I had to shine through; I refused to allow him to see what he had truly done to me. “What part of never wanting to see you again don’t you understand?”

Chelsea stood from his lap and moved towards me on unsteady feet. As she stood before me, I looked her over in pure disgust. She placed her palms square on my chest as she looked up at me through drunken eyes. “Where’s the slut?” she vindictively questioned, a smirk filtering over her lips.

I took a step towards her, pressing my body firm against her palms, and glared at her with fuel burning within me. It took everything in my power to restrain the thoughts running riotously in my head. “Watch what you say, Chelsea.”

“What are you going to do about it, Tate? You tried to ban me and that didn’t work so what the fuck are you going to do?”

This time, my father stood and moved beside her, looking at both Blake and me. Déjà vu hit me. We had been in this exact spot when both Blake and I had confronted him before, the last time he’d barged into my bar. Seriously, when the fuck would this guy get it through his head? My anger for my father bubbled just below the surface yet again. I needed to get off this roller coaster of emotions. I didn’t have the strength or desire to allow any more of my thoughts to be taken by him.

“Are you happy?” I directed my attention squarely at my father. “Does this make you happy?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Are you happy bursting into my bar, the bar that I have spent years building? The bar you are now standing in with the girl who just called the love of my life and the mother of my child a slut. Are you happy with that?” I took a step towards him so we were chest to chest. “I meant what I said. I have moved on from the days of wishing my dad would come home. I’ve moved on from the confusion I felt about why you left. I’ve moved on from everything to do with you. I only need you to do one thing for me and one thing is all I’ll ever ask. Just leave. I’ve lived more of my life without you in it and I’m finally at peace with that. If you do one thing for me, that’s all I’ll ever ask from you.”

His eyes flashed with regret and realization before they moved from mine to Blake, who stood beside me, silent yet tense.

“Is that what you also want?” he directed to Blake.

“Yes. You made your decision and you need to deal with that. This is Tate and me making our decision, so just leave. And while you are at it, get her out of here. No one calls one of the best girls I know a slut and gets away with it.”

Chelsea snorted and shot a smirk at both Blake and me. “Yeah you would say that, Blake, seeing as you fucked her. When will you two open your eyes and see what she really is? She fucked both of you. If that’s not a slut, then what the hell is?”

“Chelsea, I would suggest you shut your fucking mouth, turn around, and walk away.” I knew if I didn’t walk away within seconds I would say or do something that would destroy everything I had worked so hard for. That I would become the person I never wanted to be. “Blake, can you deal with her?” I shouldn’t have asked him to do that, but I needed an out and quickly.

I didn’t even wait for his response. I stormed through the bar, ignoring the people saying my name, and disappeared into the safety of my office. I breathed deeply, leaning over my desk with both palms resting on the mahogany top. My thoughts went straight back to that moment when Sav first arrived, the moment when Blake went for her and got her. It was a moment I’d tried desperately to forget, to move on from, to believe hadn’t happened, but then moments like this would happen and I’d be punched in the face by it.

A soft knock on my office door echoed through my office, and looking towards the door, I sighed as Blake’s face appeared after it opened slowly. I nodded for him to enter. In his hands, he held two glasses and a bottle of scotch from the bar. Without a word, he poured the amber liquid in the glass and handed it to me.

“They have left and I doubt we will see them again,” his deep voice announced. His eyes bounced away from mine as awkwardness swept through my office.

I nodded, tipping the glass to my lips. The scotch was gone in one swift gulp. The sting in the back of my throat made me suddenly realize that this was reality. “Thanks for that.”

“Is the whole Sav and me thing going to forever be something that will hang over us?”

“I’ll be honest. It will always be there. It’s not going to just disappear, but I need to deal with it. I know there is nothing between you and Sav any longer, and I have her. I can’t let my issues of that affect my relationship with her now.”

“Believe me when I tell you this. I love Sav, but I love her as a best friend. I have absolutely no feelings for her. The moment I found out you were my brother, that was it. I will never regret anything when it comes to Sav because she doesn’t deserve that, but you have my word.”

“Thanks, man.”

“I must admit though... When you finally let your balls drop and propose to her, it will be strange calling her my sister. If you know what I mean,” Blake said with a shake of his head. I couldn’t stop the smirk that was washing over my face.

W
ALKING THROUGH
the silence of the apartment after what had been an eventful shift at Red Velvet, I made my way down the darkened hall and straight to the protection the bedroom offered. All I wanted to do was wrap myself around Savannah and forget the rest of the world. The moment I lifted the sheet and climbed into bed beside her, she stirred and her body found mine. Sighing in pure contentment, I wrapped my arms around her body, pulling her as close as possible as she nuzzled into my chest, her lips kissing the space above my heart. There was something unexplainable about having my body covered by hers that made the rest of the world nonexistent.

“How was work?” she asked in a sleep haze, her lips brushing against my skin as she spoke. I shifted my head slightly, allowing my eyes to find her.

It was after one a.m. and I knew our bouncing and incredibly energetic boy would be awake just as the sun rose, so the thought of discussing the events of the night was the last thing I wanted to do… But that was until I remembered that we had sworn that we would never keep anything from each other. It was catch twenty-two though. I knew I had to tell her, but I also knew she wouldn’t like it.

“Chelsea and my father turned up,” I whispered so softly, begging the gods that she wouldn’t hear.

Her head shot up immediately from my chest and she pulled herself up so she was sitting beside me, looking down at me with wide, confused eyes.

“Wha…what did they want?”

“Sav, I don’t want to say it.”

“We said honesty, Tate. I can handle it.”

“She brought up you and Blake.” I rolled to my side to watch for her reaction. I hated the fact that someone who was so far in my past was still fucking up our lives. I grabbed her hand in mine and brought it to my lips, but her eyes were fixated on the sheet beneath us. “Blake and I told our father we didn’t want anything more to do with him and he left. I think this time he got the point.”

Her face dropped but I saw fire flame within her deep green eyes. Fuck Chelsea. Fuck my father. “Are you okay?” Sav asked, finally looking at me. Was she serious? Why was she even considering me in this?

“Honestly, I am more concerned about you. Don’t think that I don’t know how that mind of yours works.”

With my hand in hers, I pulled her back down so that she collapsed on top of me, her chin resting on my chest and her eyes looking up at me.

“I’m actually okay with everything, Sav. I learned a long time ago not to expect anything from anyone so I don’t. My only concern is you and Max. Please don’t worry about what Chelsea said. Everything that happened was before us. Look, I’ll be honest. I don’t exactly like the thought of what happened but it happened. He is my brother and I know he cares about you. We are a family. What happened in the past is exactly that.”

“God, I love you.”

“And I love you. However, I think we need to stop with the chitchat and either have sex or sleep because our spawn will be awake in exactly four hours and it’s my turn to get up.”

“You are such a charmer!” She giggled as her hands went down my body. Bingo!

“S
O
I’
VE
got to go to Australia for a business meeting. Some shit is going down in the Sydney office and apparently I am the only one who can fix it.” Mr. Davenport sat beside me on the bench and looked out over the ocean as we tried to regain our breathing after our now regular Saturday morning workout session. Since Max was born, this is what we did every Saturday, it was our bonding time as Sav liked to call it. “I don’t want to leave Sav and Max, but I know they are in good hands with you.”

“Are we having a moment?” I asked with a chuckle before throwing back the rest of my water.

“I think we are.” His words showed a hint of amusement. “Don’t get used to it.”

“How long will you be gone for?”

“No longer than a few weeks. It should be—”

“Would you put a damn shirt on? She’ll be up for sexual harassment and you’ll have a stalker on your hands.” Savannah’s thick Australian accent sounded behind us. Turning to face her, I saw that she stood with Max sitting on her hip. Tanzi was looking at Mr. Davenport with a devious smirk crossing her face. Tanzi winked at Mr. Davenport as they walked towards us in the shadows of trees along with boardwalk.

“Oh I already stalk him. Don’t worry about that. Simon Davenport is my number one favorite Google search.” Tanzi sat beside Mr. Davenport, who shook his head and shot a pleading look at Sav. Seriously, my sister was something else.

“Sav, I just told Tate about my trip to Australia,” he stated and Sav’s face clouded immediately. “It’s just for a few weeks. You won’t even have time to miss me.”

Savannah

T
HIS CAN’T
be happening.

My breath hitched in the back of my quickly closing throat as my heartbeat accelerated to the point of pain, leaving me to feel like I was going to crumble any second the moment I heard the heartbreaking words.
Miss Rae, there has been an accident.

This couldn’t be happening again. Was this karma coming back to fuck me over? Panic soared through my body and I was instantly thrown back to being ten years old—a ten-year-old who had no clue what a car accident could mean, a ten-year-old about to face life without parents. Now, at twenty-four, it was so much rawer, so much more real, so much more shattering. I actually understood what this could mean. I understood the ramifications of what ICU meant. I understood what critical condition meant. The scariest of all was that I understood that my life with Mr. Davenport could have already been ripped away from me and I was on the other side of the world, not able to do a damn thing about it.

“Sav, what’s wrong?” Tate’s worried voice hit me when I stepped into the living room and into his view.

I turned and stopped in my tracks. The heavy sigh escaped me as fresh tears spilled over my cheeks. Tate and Max were my life now, a life I had been fighting for years to earn, a life that finally had a sense of purpose and a future I still found hard to comprehend was mine. But even in the happiness of the future I had been handed, my heart ached for the man who had been my only family for the past thirteen years. My eyes traveled from Tate to Max, who slept peacefully propped up against Tate’s shoulder as he did most days. He was such a daddy’s boy.