Page 19 of The Editor’s Choice

Surveying the crowd again, spotting a few newcomers, I let my mind wonder to decidedly happier times. Times before I moved to this tiny town, before editing was my main source of income and I had to do maintenance on rundown apartments to make ends meet and have a place to lay my head at night. Back to the life I lived before.

Wrong direction. Definitely don’t need to be going back there. Because the truth is, that’s also the time I was the most unhappy with work. The most scared for my life every time I shut my eyes to try to get some much-needed sleep.

That’s when I was a “debt collector”, as I had told Jade. And in truth, that’s exactly what I was. Except people never paid with cash. They paid with guns or drugs, sometimes a finger or maybe a hand. Then there were the ones who couldn’t pay or had pushed their luck too far. Those were the cases I hated the most.

Those were the people who paid with their lives or the lives of the people closest to them, depending on the situation.

Those are the ones that haunt my dreams, turning every night into a nightmare. Honestly, they haunt my waking hours too. I see their faces everywhere, wonder if they have people of their own out here looking for me.

Throwing back another drink, I banish the thoughts, hellbent on escaping them for just one night. I can go back to being haunted in the morning when the hangover takes over and I’m miserable anyway.

The bar tender sweeps up the empty glass before placing another in front of me. When she sees my confusion, she nods to the pool table where I find a man looking my way. I recognize him, but I’m not sure why. I’ve probably seen him here before.

I raise the drink in my right hand before sucking it down greedily, adding to the growing warmth in my belly. I’m starting to feel the alcohol now, slowly numbing my racing mind.

The stranger slides onto the empty stool beside me, putting a friendly hand on my shoulder. “Hey, there,” he says as he settles in, flagging the bartender.

“How’s it going?” I ask, though I’m not at all in the mood for conversation.

“Oh, ya know. Living the dream,” he says easily enough.

“Thanks for the drink,” I offer. “But do I know you?”

“Probably not. I know you though. Heard all about you,” he says, causing a red flag to wave around in my head.

“Oh really? Who are you, if you don’t mind me asking?” As quick as the words pass my lips, realization hits and I know exactly who is sitting beside me, pretending to be a newfound friend.

“You’re catching on, buddy. Nice to see you’re not a complete idiot, even if you are fucking my old lady,” he chides, the arrogance spilling from his lips.

“Wait, what?” I question, taken aback by the accusation.

“Listen, I’m not stupid. I get it. She’s hot. She’s also off limits, so I suggest staying away from her. Got it?”

“What the hell are you even talking about? Jade? We’re just friends,” I stammer, though it sounds ridiculous, even to my own ears.

“I’m not trying to cause an issue here, buddy. I just wanted to introduce myself and meet the newest man in her life, that’s all. I also wanted to let you know it’s time for you to move on. She’s coming back home where she belongs,” he continues, a stupid looking smile plastered across his face. It’s about as genuine as a knock off Gucci bag.

“Yeahhhhh, no offense, but I don’t think she’s too interested in coming back to you, man,” I say honestly. It’s a laughable notion from what she’s told me about her past.

“You’ve got it all wrong here. She’s coming back home to me. I’ll have her begging me to take her back, especially now that her best friend isn’t around,” he concludes, confidence oozing from every pore. It’s sickening how delusional he is.

“Alright, whatever,” I concede. I just want this interaction to be over at this point. Whatever I need to say to get him to shut up and go back to his pool game.

“That’s what I thought. You’re a smart man. Don’t wanna end up like Emily with your throat cut in the middle of the woods somewhere,” he says threateningly, holding my gaze long enough to make sure his words snake past my alcohol haze.

Once he’s made it back to his game, I flag the bar tender down and pay my tab. I’d rather be in my slowly enclosing apartment than stuck in this bar with him for another minute.

Chapter Twelve

Jade

The majority of the day is spent unpacking and organizing the last few boxes I picked up from Dawson’s. There’s a sort of finality to this step. Although the relationship is over, that was a huge chunk of my life and most of my memories in the last several years have revolved around him and Emily.

Now the memories are all I have.

I pull out a framed photo of me and Em from a trip we took with my parents sophomore year. We’re standing on the beach, clad in our matching bikinis, arms thrown around each other’s shoulders with blinding smiles plastered on our faces. I smile, even as the tears prick my eyes.

What I wouldn’t give to go back to that time. To not know how things would turn out in the end for us.