The Silver Lining by Jennifer Raygoza Read Free Book Online Page B

bar.
    “Okay, James,” he shouted back.
    I walked around from behind the bar and headed for the exit. The door led to the back of the bar. Nobody was out there, but her. She was posted up against the brick wall waiting for me. When I say waiting, I mean the girl had her white panties dangling from one finger. I walked over and grabbed her hand pulling her to an area that was dimly lit. I gently pushed her up against the wall, and kissed her hard. My hand slid up her thigh to a damp area. No panties equaled easy access. I can’t lie. I was as hard as a rock. Her hands were all over me. She reached down and placed one hand on the top button of my jeans and the other over my pants on my bulge. She started to massage and squeeze the area. I really missed sex. This was exactly what I needed.
    “James?” I heard a female voice say.
    I swung around to see Emily standing there holding something. As soon as she made eye contact with me, she dropped whatever was in her hand and took off walking at a ridiculous pace back into the bar.
    “Shit,” I yelled, and pulled away.
    “Is that your girlfriend?” the nameless redhead asked.
    I ignored her and ran after Emily. She had already walked through the bar and out through the front doors by the time I caught up to her.
    “Emily, wait up,” I said, breathing hard.
    “What?” She spun around with eyes on fire.
    “What are you doing here?” I asked.
    “I made you dinner, and figured I would just bring it down to you. I thought about what happened earlier and decided I may have overreacted, but now I know I didn’t.”
    I felt like shit. I fucked up on a whole other level. How do I fix this?
    “You said you didn’t want anything.” I rubbed my neck in confusion.
    “I don’t.”
    “Then why are you so angry?”
    “I don’t know,” she shouted hard.
    I exhaled and shook my head.
    “What do you want me to do here, Emily? Because I’m lost.”
    “Go back to work. There is a redheaded whore over there waiting for you, right?” she said with disgust.
    I turned to see the bar girl standing out front looking at me. Ugh. Son of a bitch. I turned back around to notice that Emily was already in her car. The engine started up and she squealed out.
    “Fuck!” I yelled.
    I walked back toward the bar, and from the corner of my eye I could see the red headed girl eyeing me.
    “Are we going to finish what we started or what?”
    “Get the fuck away from me!” I yelled. It was my fault. I took her up on her offer, but yet I was blaming her for the cluster fuck of a night.
    “Well fuck you too,” she yelled back.
    I went back to work, but all I could think about was Emily’s face. The sadness I saw in her eyes and the angry tone in her voice. It stuck in my head all night. Talk about bad timing. She saw it all. She witnessed me making out with that bar rat. Was it jealousy? It seemed like it to me. Emily was sending mixed messages and broken signals. I didn’t need to be dealing with this. I was trying to get my life back on track. This was absurd.
    At the end of my shift I said goodbye to Mike, and prepared for a long walk back to Emily’s. I contemplated using my tips for a hotel, but I needed to save money. I’ll just go over there, and we could talk rationally about what happened tonight like two adults. I thought about what I would say the whole walk there. I had to keep asking myself why it mattered though. I knocked on the door, because technically I didn’t live there, nor did I have a key. She swung open the door and looked at me.
    “Can I still stay here, or are you that pissed off at me?”
    She moved to the side which signaled I could come in. She closed the door and folded her arms across her chest.
    “Can we talk about this?” I leaned my head to the side.
    “Go ahead.” I watched her lips pucker up.
    “Why are you mad? You said this was a business arrangement. I stay, I pay. Nothing more.”
    She stared at me in silence. The anger from her face