They drove off as we stood on the sidewalk in the centre of town. The sky had dimmed as mid-afternoon slipped away. With a sinking feeling in my chest, I watched Jaxon’s eyes follow the car until it had disappeared from view.

“You want to grab something for dinner? There’s a good bar up the road that serves some good food.” He paused suddenly, flashing me questionable blue eyes. “That’s if you’re hungry.”

This was the first time he was actually talking solely to me since this morning’s mini-argument. I tried not to be bitter about that, so I nodded and said, “Yeah, I’m hungry. Lead the way.”

We walked only a couple minutes before we stopped at a large corner situated dive bar – probably the only bar in town, too, judging by the amount of people inside. There was a ruckus of noise within. I tried not to be weary, but my experience with bars thus far was unfavourable.

The restaurant and bar area inside were merged together. Smoke and radio music clouded the air. There were groups of people everywhere. Some were eating at the tables, others standing around the small, open dance floor next to dancing couples, drinking away. There was a pool table area where a couple televisions were propped in the corners on sports channels. Lots of chatter, lots of laughter; it seemed like a kick-back-and-relax-after-a-shit-day-watching-your-man-fawn-over-his-old-root kind of place. And I liked it very much.

We found a small table close to the bar. Jaxon slid the menu to me and I looked it over, reading the same lines over and over again. I truly wasn’t hungry. I’d had a plate of shrimp at the seafood place that had still filled me up. Jaxon watched me intently, and it was a foreign feeling having him focus only on me. When the waitress came around, I appeased him by ordering burger with fries and a tall mug of beer. Jaxon ordered the same.

While we were sitting in the loudest part of the bar, we had barely said a word to each other. I caught his eye every minute, but my voice was caught in my throat. Silence was all I could offer. After our orders were set in front of us and we’d begun eating, he finally spoke.

“I’m sorry for this morning,” he apologized, his voice soft. “I just don’t like you fading away into bones. I shouldn’t have pressed you about it. I shouldn’t have used the word disgusting. I didn’t mean it the way you think I did, but I can see why you’d think that.”

I nodded, grateful for the apology. “I’m sorry for calling you an asshole.”

He shot me a heart stopping half smile and my chest tightened. “You were always the most colourful verbal abuser. It was a bit weak for your taste.”

I bit my lip to keep from smiling. “To be honest, I haven’t called anyone a name in a very, very long time.”

His smile faded as he nodded slowly. He was withdrawing fast again, and I couldn’t understand what was so bad about what I’d just said. I’d have interpreted ten million meanings behind it, but I was sick of keeping this kind of shit to myself.

“What is it?” I asked firmly.

He shrugged. “If that’s the case, you must have been in a very… agreeable surrounding.”

I shot him a perplexed look. What was he on about?

I sighed when it dawned on me. Agreeable surrounding equalled to Remy and me. That I’d never been a colourful abuser to him. Well, if we were going to be honest, I never did call him any names. Ever. I let the awkward moment pass. I didn’t want to reassure him with a lie. His statement was true.

“So Christy, huh?” I raised my eyebrows at him in question. “That was very random.”

He licked his bottom lip – fuck the things that did to me – and nodded. “Yeah, well, I knew about the cabin and thought it was the perfect place to head off to.”

“You seem to be very well acquainted with her then. Her and her grandmother.”

“When we were…” his eyes lowered as he searched for the appropriate word.

“Okay,” I mumbled impassively. “I get it. When you were screwing her, right? Continue on.”

He glowered at me. “Right. Yeah, during that time, I offered to help her grandmother out with her medical bills. They don’t have a whole lot. Since then, I’ve been in Gretel’s favour.”

“Medical bills for what?”

“She has a lot of health problems, and around the time I was screwing Christy” - cue pointed look - “she needed a prosthetic implant in her hip. A surgery she couldn’t afford.”

“Oh.” Well, that was honourable of him as it wasn’t his responsibility to care for a root he’d told me once was nothing more. Surely he had feelings for her before I’d come along and destroyed what little they had. Way to ruin a good thing, Sara. I was being stupid, though. He was here because he wanted to be with me, and I was purposely sabotaging my good moments with anything I could use as a coping mechanism. I didn’t feel I deserved him, therefore I wanted to bring myself down every opportunity I could. I had to stop.

After I finished half of my burger, I quickly excused myself to the bathroom. I had a good mini-think in there. I had to keep this night nice and relaxed. I needed to warm up into his good graces.

I got out of the gritty bathroom stall and rinsed my mouth of the food I’d eaten. I splashed some cold water on my face and stared at my reflection. I pinched my cheeks before I left, trying to add some colour in the paleness of my face. Midway back to the table, a body shoved roughly into the back of me. I fell a step forward and felt a cold, wet sensation down my back and ass. Loud laughter erupted as I turned around and took in a large, stumbling, overweight man with a dripping, empty mug. His friends also cackled around him, pointing at my backside like it was the funniest thing they’d ever seen.

“You got her good, Carl,” said one. “Better than last night’s girl.”

The overweight man grinned. “Can’t help the slip, you know? Shit happens.”

“Seems to happen frequently,” said another with a laugh.

“I’m a clumsy man.”

“You dirty pigs,” I cursed.

I felt heat behind me and turned my head to Jaxon. He looked at my soaked clothes with icy eyes before glaring back at the slob that had “mistakenly” spilled it on me.

“You better apologize to my girl,” he snapped.

Overweight slob grinned from ear to ear. “Looks like we got ourselves a macho man over here! Fuck off, man. I slipped. Not my fault your bitch was in my way.”