Page 88 of Catching the Coach
I snort. “That’s none of your business.”
Judd raises his eyebrows at me. “It’s gonna be like that huh?”
I take another drink and suck my teeth. “Yup.”
Judd nods his head, but doesn’t say anything. Instead he pulls his phone out of his pocket and taps on the screen. A few seconds later he joins me in the living room, taking a seat in one of the arm chairs. Judd props his feet up on my stupid coffee table. Seriously, why do I have this table? It’s awful, and cold, and ugly. It reminds me of my life before Lucy, not that my life was awful. Just… empty, like I feel now. A burst of anger shoots through me thinking about all that’s happened in the last few hours.
“Why are you staring at the table like it stole your girlfriend?”
Not answering him, I get up and head to my spare room where I keep all my random shit. Looking around, I grab what I was looking for and charge back out to the living room. Judd looks up from his phone, eyes widening when he sees me coming out of the bedroom with a sledgehammer. He lets out a yelp and pulls his feet back just before I slam the hammer into the table. The glass top shatters into a million pieces, scattering across the floor, but the frame remains intact. I pick the hammer back up and swing it again. Denting the metal frame. Not satisfied with the destruction in front of me, I raise the hammer again and again until the heap of metal in front of me is unrecognizable as a table and my chest is heaving, sweat dripping down my face.
Judd’s staring at me from behind a throw pillow he grabbed to protect himself, his legs tucked up to his chest. He slowly lowers the pillow and stares at me. I toss the hammer onto the floor and plop back onto the couch. Grabbing my drink from the side table I take a sip. Judd sits forward and puts his feet on the floor. “What did that table do to you?” he asks, staring at me like I've grown another head.
“It’s not Lucy’s,” I say simply.
“Oookay,” Judd says getting up and coming over to me, grabbing my glass out of my hand. “That’s enough for you tonight.”
I don’t even protest when he takes my glass from me. It’s not making me feel better like I want it to. The only thing that could make any of this better is something I can’t have right now.
“Have you talked to her?” Judd asks, returning from the kitchen where he put my glass.
“Yep,” I say, popping the ‘P’ like Lucy does.
“I take it, it didn’t go well?” he asks, nodding at the coffee table.
I shake my head still staring at the remains of what used to be my coffee table.
A knock sounds at my door again.What is this? Grand central station?Moving to answer it, Judd stops me. “I got it.”
“It’s my apartment,” I grumble, but sit back down.
Reese and Brent’s faces appear from behind the door Judd opened.
Fucking great.
They walk in both emitting a long low whistle as they take in the damage. Brent sets two plastic bags down on my kitchen counter. Whatever’s in them smells fucking amazing. My stomach grumbles in agreement and I try to remember when I ate last.
“What happened here?” Reese asks, walking the rest of the way into the living room. He has his hands on his hips as he surveys the damage.
“I haven’t seen your apartment this trashed since our last offseason poker night when we finished those two bottles of whiskey,” Brent comments.
“Apparently someone was mad it wasn’t Lucy’s coffee table,” Judd explains.
“Riiiight,” Reese says, giving me a concerned look.
My stomach grumbles again, louder this time, making me get up from my spot and wander into the kitchen where Brent is taking white take out containers out of the bags.
Chinese food.
He hands me a container and chopsticks without a word. Opening the top, I inhale the delicious aroma of my favorite lo mein, my mouth immediately waters.
Taking a seat at the breakfast bar, I dig in, not stopping until half the container is gone. When I look up, three sets of eyes are staring at me from various places in the room. Brent, beside me in the kitchen, Reese and Judd in the living room.
“What?” I ask, shoving another helping of food into my mouth.
Reese raises his eyebrows and gives Judd a look before turning back to me. “You’re seriously going to ask us ‘what’ like you didn’t just destroy a perfectly good coffee table for no reason?”
I shrug my shoulders. “I had a reason.”
