Page 40 of You for Her (The Edge of Retaliation 2)
I just want this to be over and done with so I can go home and finally get on with my life.
I reach the diner and go inside, glancing around. It’s clean and smells great. There are quite a few people here, so I look around for an empty table. I notice Tanner sitting alone, staring down at a cup of coffee. His face is already bruised and battered from his fight with Tatum the other night, so I just added to that. It would have hurt; I know because my hand kills.
I go the opposite way and find an empty table, my heart aching in ways I wish it wouldn’t. My brain needs to start doing some of the work and tell my heart to stop feeling so heavily over all this, but unfortunately my brain is currently having a little vacation.
I sit down and a waitress comes right over. She’s bright, bubbly, and pretty. She smiles, flashing a row of perfect white teeth, and asks me, “What can I get you tonight, darl?”
Ugh.
Darl.
I hate that word.
She’s super friendly, though, so I’m not going to judge.
“A coffee and a burger, please. Thanks so much.”
“No problem, it won’t be long. While you wait, there is some pretty nice eye candy for you to feast on.” She grins, nodding in Tanner’s direction.
Right.
Sociopathic eye candy.
“Oh, yes,” I say, staring at Tanner, who has now looked up and is glancing my way.
“He’s looking over here.” She flushes. “This is a great night.”
She disappears, and I fight the urge to roll my eyes. I don’t look at Tanner or give him any indication that I want him over here, but a few moments later, he’s standing at my table. He takes a chair and pulls it out, forcing me to have to look at him.
“I didn’t invite you over here,” I say, my voice snippy.
“I don’t care. We need to talk.”
“We need to do no such thing,” I mutter. “I made it clear how I felt, all I ask is that you stay away from me. We find Chase, we deal with all of this, and we go on with our lives.”
Ignoring my little statement, he says, “Your hand is sore.”
“No shit, you have a hard face.”
I stare at his face, trying to see if there are any fresh bruises, that might make me feel a little better.
“It hurts like fuck, if that makes you feel better.”
I give him a sarcastic smile. “It really does.”
“I know you hate me, Callie …”
I cut him off, putting a hand up. “No, Tanner, I do not hate you. Well, at least I didn’t. Now I’m not so sure. You know, when I found out what you were doing, I honestly couldn’t believe it. I just … didn’t see it coming. I believed that I had actually met good people, real people, but it turns out you’re not even close.”
“You don’t know anything about me,” he growls.
“I know you’re a liar, you’re manipulative, you’re probably some sort of psycho, and you don’t care about other people’s feelings. That’s all I need to know.”
His jaw tics, and I know I’ve made him angry.
If only I cared.
“That’s the man you see, because you’re choosing to look at your side of this and nobody else’s. It’s all about you, isn’t it, Callie? How you feel? How this affected you? You ever stop and fuckin’ think of how it affected us? How we feel? Of course not, because you’re as fuckin’ selfish as I am.”
My mouth drops open, and his words hit me like a slap to the face. Selfish? Me? Is he kidding? Is … Wait … am I selfish?
I shake my head.
I didn’t ask to be tormented, I didn’t ask to hit Celia, I didn’t ask for any of this.
But neither did he to be fair.
Maybe I haven’t considered just how it truly felt for them to lose Celia. He’s right about that. I don’t know his story, I don’t know anything about him, or Celia, or their family. I mean, I know the basics, but I don’t know the bones of it. I don’t know what their life was like growing up, the things they experienced together. I don’t even know how many girlfriends Tanner has had. I don’t know any of it.
Dammit.
Now I’m second guessing myself.
“You’re right,” I say, my voice still angry. “I don’t know about how it feels for you. I don’t know how much losing Celia hurts but I can guess. I don’t know what you’re going through. I do know that you made a choice, though, to hurt another human being. You didn’t have to do that. You didn’t have to do those things to me, so, maybe I am selfish, but so are you, Tanner Yates.”
His eyes flash, but he says nothing more because the waitress appears with two orders. She glances at Tanner and says, “Are you sitting here now?”
