"Who is asking?" I motioned for Jake to pour me another shot. "The doctor or Dan?"
"I am asking, darling."
"Then the answer is no. Besides, you do not appreciate being seen with me in public." I shrugged my shoulders, trying to pretend I didn't give a damn and failing.
I could feel the tension in my whole body; I was practically vibrating.
"That is not freaking true, and you know it," Dan snarled, and I could feel him getting closer to me, something I didn't want.
He couldn't touch me.
I wouldn't be able to hold back the tears if he did, and I wouldn't give him my tears.
I slammed back my shot, jumping off the barstool, and I wobbled a little.
Both Dan and Dr. Davies Miller jumped to steady me.
"Do not freaking touch her," Dan growled at Dr. Davies Miller, pulling me towards his body in a possessive hold.
I felt the dam inside me start to shake, and it took everything in me to get my words out without it cracking.
"You made your decision. Now abide by it."
I tried to push past him, but he grabbed me by the arm and I turned, directing all my anger at him.
I had to hold on to that anger until I got out of this bar.
"You are too wasted to drive."
I didn't even respond to his words.
I just called out Mark's name. "Mark has me," I said, hoping that really affected him.
Dan may not want everyone to know we're together, but I knew he doesn't want to share me. Double standard, much?
Dan clenched his jaw again, but what could he really say?
Everyone in the bar was staring at us.
"Answer your phone," he gritted out at me, but I was having no part of it.
"Go away."
With that, I grabbed onto Mark's arm, and he pulled me closer, probably because he saw the distress on my face.
"Take me home, please," I whispered to him as the tears started to fall.
Dan
"You are in over your head." Dr. Davies Miller said the words, but I didn't look at him.
I kept staring out the door Joey just walked through, taking a part of me with her.
When she hadn't returned my text messages I got a little worried, but when she sent that last text, it felt like the bottom of my world dropped out from under me.
I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists, trying to get my anger under control.
I only had myself to be angry at.
I played this all wrong.
The last year of my life has been miserable and freaking lonely, and the last two weeks were the best I'd never known.
I'm not letting it slip through my fingers so easily. One way or another, she's going to listen to me. "As long as I am somewhere with her, I will accept it."
It's the truth.
I'll take my girl any way I can get her.
I may be in over my head with her, but that's fine with me.
I'll drown in her, and it will be the sweetest death a man could ever ask for.
I walked out of the bar and made it in time to see her get into Marks Mark's car.
I knew they're just friends, but damn did it burn to see him taking care of her.
She was hurting when I walked into the bar, and it isn't Mark she should have been calling out for. No, it should've been me.
But I messed up.
I want to be the man she runs to when she needs someone to lean on.
I'd almost gotten all her trust, only to see it go up in smoke.
"Damn!" I screamed out to the empty parking lot before heading to my cruiser.
I didn't give it a thought.
I held onto the stirring following them, my lights on.
Mark pulled to the side of the road and I followed suit, turning off the lights. Mark went to open his door, probably to argue with me, but I gave him the same voice I used on my patient's caregivers at the hospital when I'm working on the patient's report only to realize the caregivers weren't doing their work well.
"Keep your hands off that car l and do not so much as freaking move a finger."
It's a jerk move, using my power for my own ends, but I can't bring myself to care.
There isn't anything I won't do to have my sweet Joey, even jeopardizing a year-old case.
I'll find another way.
I went over to the passenger side, pulling the door open.
Reaching in, I popped her seatbelt and pulled her out of the car and slung her over my shoulder. She gave me a little bit of a fight, but she's just so tiny it's easy to get her under control.
Mark hopped out of the car and I stopped looking at him.
I could tell from the indecisive look on his face that he was debating what he wanted to do.
He may want to come at me, but I'm still his boss at the hospital.
"You caused her to cry. I have never witnessed her cry before, Dan."
His words were like stones dropping into water. The first impact was brutal, the aftermath ripped through my body, reaching to my soul.
I did the very thing I was trying to prevent, and now I'm going to lay my cards on the table.
"I am going to rectify it," I told him, letting all my emotion out in my words.
I wouldn't get any points with Joey if I knocked her best friend out on the side of the highway because she's not going with him.
Over my freaking dead body.
"I am not playing with you, Dan. Fix it or Dr. Davies Miller and I will be extremely upset with you..."
"Mark! What in the world? You are just going to allow this deceitful bastard to take me?"
She started kicking her feet again, and I slapped her backside.
I was trying to get her under control before she tried to buck off my shoulder and I landed her butt on the hard blacktop.
"Call me in the morning, Joey." Mark got back in his car and took off, but Joey still yelled until she realized he's gone.
I went to the passenger side of the car and placed her on her feet, caging her in.
She bucked against me, trying to free herself.
She was hitting at my chest while tears streamed down her face.
Each verbal blow she landed was a direct hit to my heart.