Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

Barrett

" W hat the fuck is wrong with you this morning?" Abel gives me a glare, his hands on his hips. He only does that when he's really annoyed. "You've been answering everything in monotone grunts and half-words. What's going on?"

Since Abel is happy with Kara now, he wants everyone to be riding the rainbow of love like him. Little does he truly know how badly I fucked up the beginnings of what Gabby and I had. "It was a long night last night. I don't know if you heard or not but Get Baked had an attempted robbery. I was walking downtown and saw the glass window broken out. I lost about ten years off my life. All I could think about was someone being inside and hurting Gabby. It scared the shit out of me, and reminded me how much I miss her." I drag my hand through my hair. "Ended up having to get Colt help me cover the window. Cops came out and everything. I texted her this morning, and she hasn't texted me back, which has me irritated."

His gaze is understanding, and not as annoyed as it was previously. "While I can understand what you're going through, I'd be terrified if it were Kara, I'd love for you to actually use words to tell me what you need help with today. Trying to figure out what your grunts mean is really hard."

I sigh heavily. "Got ya. What have you been trying to talk to me about? I'll do my absolute best to be engaged the rest of the day. Fair?"

"Fair. I need your help with what we should do on these cabinets up here." He points to the bathroom, and I follow him in to take stock of what he's asking. "Alright, so here's what I would do..."

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It's been a long day, and Gabby still hasn't texted me back. My common sense tells me I should take that for what it's worth, but the part that really cares about Gabby wants to make sure she's okay, it's worried as fuck, and I need to know. I don't wanna play games, and all I wanna do is make sure she's dealing with what happened. I recognize she's strong, but at the same time we all need someone to lean on. I debate on whether I want to stop when I drive by and see her car still parked in the back of Get Baked. There's a real chance that she doesn't want to see me; there's an even bigger chance that I just need to make sure she's okay. I want to set eyes on her.

Parking next to her car, I get out and walk to the back door. I knock twice, waiting for her.

"Who is it?" She calls through the barrier.

"It's Barrett. I just wanna make sure you're alright. I'll leave if you want me to after I see how you're doing." I hurry those words out in a rush before she can interrupt.

The sound of her unlocking the door makes me smile. The fact that she takes her safety seriously makes me happy. With a sigh, she opens it, staring at me. "As you can see, I'm okay. It's going to take more than what happened to bring me down. The shop might be a little bruised and broken, but I'll make it through."

"I have no doubt that you will, Gabs. I just want to make sure you're good. You never texted me back, and I was worried."

She sticks out a hip, throwing me a little bit of attitude, which I love. "I didn't know I was required to text you back, Barrett. We broke up, remember? I wasn't sure that after the way we left each other, either of us would want to hear from the other."

That's a fair assumption, and the shit that happened to us previously was because we didn't communicate well. I refuse to have that happen again. Especially when I'm right here, and so is she. All we have to do is speak to one another. "I care about you, I always have. I can't turn that off because we've had some shit happen between us. I worried you were hurt when I saw that someone had broken into your shop, Gabby."

"I know..."

"No, you don't. You'll never know the fear," I interrupt her, as gently as possible. "I know I don't have the right to be here, because I fucked up what we were building."

She interrupts me, holding her hand up, her gaze softening. "No, we both fucked that up, Barrett. It wasn't just you. That was a team effort." She exhales loudly, but there's a slight smile on her face. "Let's start over."

I inhale, close my eyes, and then let the breath out slowly. "Hey, girl, hey."

She laughs, which is what I hoped she would. It lights up those eyes of hers and my stomach does a flip. "Hey."

"So, I texted you earlier, you might not have gotten it, or you were busy. But I wanted to make sure you're okay. There's been some crazy shit happening in the neighborhood lately." I grip the door facing to keep from reaching out and cupping her hip in my hand. That's probably a little too familiar for right now.

Her head dips down, before coming back up. "I did get your text, but I was busy, and then when I thought about responding, I was tired. I'm fine. The window will be replaced next week, and until then, I've posted on social media. Kara mentioned it in her live stream today. I'm not hurting for customers, people have been extremely supportive, and I'm sorry I didn't respond to you."

"It's okay. I'll leave now that I know you're not hurt. I gotta take a shower anyway." I'm dirty, and dusty, and just want to get all of that off. I love my job, but I'll never be the type of guy who can get off work and then head out immediately afterward. All part of living that blue collar life.

"Barrett, do you wanna come in and eat something? You came all the way over here, when I know more than anything after work, you want to go home." She pushes a piece of dark hair behind her ear. "You were worried about me, and I appreciate it. Let me at least feed you."

Little does she know I want way more than for her to feed me, but right now I'll take whatever she's offering. Whatever it takes to get me the second chance I've wanted for months, I'm going to do. "I'd appreciate it, but you don't have to."

"I know, and the one thing you should know about me is I don't do things I don't want to do."

I grin, tilting my head back. "That's the damn truth. What are you feeding me?"

She rolls her eyes. "I have leftover pot roast that I'm making quesadilla's out of."

It's one of my fucking favorite meals. I groan, rocking back on my heels. "It's like you knew I'd be here."

"Oh, God, c'mon in you little shit."

And with those whispered words, I know that for tonight we'll be okay.