Derailed (Clayton Falls #1)(4)
Author: Alyssa Rose Ivy

“Don’t lie. I look awful. Your fiancé already made sure I knew that. But I’m doing fine.”

“Fiancé? So you told her, Kelly?”

“Yup, my maid of honor is on board.” Kelly beamed, and Tom kissed her. Way too much PDA for me.

“By the way, you couldn’t look awful if you tried.” Ronny scooted his stool closer to me.

“Thanks. You really know how to boost a girl’s confidence.”

“I can do a lot more than that.” He wriggled an eyebrow.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I smiled at Ronny’s playfulness. “But isn’t there a special someone who would come after me?”

“Nope, I’m as single as they come. Surprising, I know.”

“Shocking.” I took a few swallows of beer, enjoying the bitterness on my tongue. It actually surprised me that Ronny was single. From what I knew, he was a successful insurance agent, and he certainly wasn’t bad looking.

“What about you? I heard a rumor someone was getting married.”

I hesitated for a moment. This was it, the first time someone had asked the million dollar question. “No, no wedding.”

“Oh. Did I hear wrong, or did you decide you didn’t want his sorry ass?”

“He left me, actually.” It wasn’t a complete lie. He was the one who’d left.

“Wow, what an idiot.”

Tom threw me a look over Ronny’s head. I hoped Kelly had given him the order to keep his mouth shut.

“Well, his loss, I guess.” Ronny gave me a sympathetic glance, and I was definitely glad to be hiding the truth. Sympathy for being spurned was better than sympathy for him dying. Much better. People broke up all the time; most didn’t have their fiancé die in his twenties.

“Well, look what the cat dragged in.”

My chest tightened as Jake Mathews stumbled over to us. He was obviously drunk, but that did nothing to play down his boyish good looks. Although not nearly as attractive as his older brother Ben, he looked eerily like him, and his brother was the last person I wanted to see.

“Watch it, Mathews,” Tom warned as Jake took a seat a few stools down from me.

“Let’s get a table.” Kelly took my hand as if to emphasize the point.

“Good idea.” I let her tow me along.

I pulled out a chair and sat between Ronny and Kelly at a small table in the corner, hoping Jake wouldn’t decide to follow. I wasn’t that lucky.

Straddling a backward chair, he sat down directly across from me. “What’s made you decide to grace us with your presence?”

“Mathews,” Tom growled this time.

“Can’t I ask the girl a question? If she’ll just answer me, I’ll leave her alone.” He talked as if we were virtual strangers, and even though his behavior wasn’t unexpected, it still stung.

“I’m back in town for a while. What else do you need to know?” I drank the last drops of my beer and placed it down on the table in front of me.

“When are you leaving? It can’t be soon enough.”

I braced myself on my chair as I felt tears threaten. I hated how emotional I’d become.

“All right, that’s enough.” Tom stood up, grabbed Jake’s arm, and towed him away from the table. Even over the chatter of customers and the music, I heard the rest of their conversation. “Leave Molly alone. She has enough to deal with without your crap. You got it?” Tom looked ready to punch him.

“What’s she got to deal with? Finally realizing how much of a bitch she is? She has some nerve coming back here after what she did to Ben.” Jake crossed his arms over his chest as if he couldn’t care less what Tom threatened him with.

“What she did to Ben? She broke up with him, and she had every right to do it. She can’t help that he flipped out over it.”

“She nearly destroyed him. She nearly f**king destroyed him.”

My chest tightened again. This was exactly what I didn’t need to hear.

Tom, likely realizing I could hear every word Jake said, pulled him further away, and I lost the rest of the conversation.

Ronny slid an arm around my shoulder. “Don’t let him get to you. Ben’s a big boy. He doesn’t need his little brother mouthing off for him.”

I shifted in my seat. “I can’t imagine Ben even cares about that anymore. It was five years ago.”

“Five years is a long time.” Kelly’s casual voice made me doubt the sincerity of her words.

“Are the Grizzlies playing tonight?” Ronny asked.

“Wait, they’re still together?” Kelly hadn’t mentioned Ben or his band in a long time, and I’d never been the one to ask after him.

Kelly bit her lip. “Yeah, same as always. And no, they aren’t here tonight; I think they’re playing tomorrow.” She watched me, waiting to see my response.

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. There was no way I could handle watching Ben play tonight—or possibly ever. I wasn’t sure how I was going to avoid him in a town the size of Clayton Falls, but I hoped my stay would be short enough that it wouldn’t be too big of a problem.

“I need another beer. Should I grab this round?” I started to push out my chair.

“Don’t worry about it; I’ve got the next one.” Ronny put a hand on my shoulder letting me know to stay put.

I nodded, not in the mood to argue. Tom came back over to the table, thankfully without Jake.

“I’m sorry about that, Mol. I guess some things never change.”

“It’s not your fault, but I appreciate you stepping in.”

“Of course. We’re here for you.”

“Trust me. I’d make Tom sorry if he didn’t take care of it.” Kelly grinned.

Ronny returned to the table with a round of beers, and I quickly downed mine, waiting for the two beer buzz to hit me. I had my drinking down. One did nothing, two gave me a buzz, and the third started pushing me into numbness territory, the place I liked to be.

“Hey, guys, mind if I join you?” The man looked to be in his late twenties. He was incredibly tall and broad with dark hair. I definitely hadn’t seen him before.

“Hey, man, take a seat.” Tom gestured to the table.

Flipping around the chair that Jake had vacated, he sat down. “Hi there, I don’t think we’ve met.” He held out his hand. “I’m Gavin.”

I accepted the firm handshake that lasted a moment longer than it needed to. “Molly.”