Page 94 of Bastard Bartender

NICOLÁS

When I woke up this morning, my first thought was that my head ached like a bitch. Then, I needed water, and as the doctor fussed over me for a while with that damn flashlight in my eyes, I asked for my girl.

The nurse said she was here, had been to see me three times while I was out. The guys eventually came into my room but not with Evette. They let her sleep. While I wanted to see her, I was just so happy she was here. She cared, they said. Cried all night. My body was throbbing in pain, but my heart was happy.

I was alive, and she was here.

How the hell I went from that euphoric feeling to now feeling like the shittiest man in the world is beyond me. I hit the pump for more morphine, but I doubt another drop will dispense. Doesn’t matter. There aren’t enough drugs to ease this horrible pain in my chest.

Or my bad mood.

“You’re just gonna let her leave like that?” Logan’s bald head appears in the doorway.

I try to sit up but wince as a prickle of knife-like pinpricks shoots from my arm, making me even more frustrated than I already am.

“What the fuck do you expect me to do? Limp down the hall, calling out her name?” I bark at him.

“Sounds like a plan.” He fully walks into the room.

“Fuck off.”

I throw my head back and then grab my side, where my rib is cracked. At least my arm can have a cast. The ribs and collarbone are the worst spots to break because you have to pray you don’t move in the wrong direction while they heal since there’s no legit way of holding them together in the meantime.

My phone, which is by my bedside, is glaring at me. I should call her, but for what purpose? She’s leaving, and it’s for the best.

For the first time in my life, I was honestly happy with a woman. It’s crazy how I didn’t realize it at first. I think knowing she wasn’t interested in dating me helped me let my guard down. For once, I could hang out with a girl and not worry about her getting too attached or wanting more from me.

Evette worked her way into my life and made herself a home right there in the middle of my chest. I wish someone could please explain how I’m the one who got attached and she’s the one who walked away.

Instead of leaving me the fuck alone, Logan shuts the door behind him. Without saying a word, he grabs a chair and pulls it up to my bed, sitting down and folding his arms. I try to ignore Logan’s stares and judgment.

After a few minutes, I finally give in. “Are you going to say something or just sit there?”

He shrugs. “I’m totally fine, just sitting here, while you figure out what the fuck is going on in that head of yours.”

“Nothing’s going on.”

He tilts his head, giving me a stop it glare. I close my eyes and raise my good hand to give him the finger.

“You two broke up. I wouldn’t call that nothing.”

“Why did you have to come in here? Why couldn’t Dro or even fucking Mario be the one to notice she left?”

“Must be fate, I guess.”

“You shouldn’t have been eavesdropping,” I say, and Logan stays silent, waiting for me to say something else. When I don’t, he just raises his brows and purses his lips. “What?”

“If you want my opinion—”

“I don’t.”

“Well, I’m gonna give it anyway.” He grins. “I don’t believe she planned on taking that job. Sounds to me like she was choosing a life with you here.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Shall we add clairvoyant to your list of supernatural abilities?”

He shrugs as he crosses his arms. “I do have a way of predicting the future, and that woman was meant to be in yours, but you’re messing it up.”

There’s a twitch in my gut, telling me he’s right, yet I fight it off. He’s acting like I’m gonna have a broken heart over this when he couldn’t be further from the truth. “I’m sitting here, in a hospital bed, lucky to be alive, and she’s the one who left.”