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Chapter 19

Names

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THE SUN WAS DOWN WHENI pulled up to Sutter's bar. The event had cleared out, but there was still a crowd drinking, some playing pool, others just talking in groups in the corners.

Aubrey waved at me when she saw me enter. “Over here, stranger.”

“Hey,” I said, sitting on a stool. “I got all the text messages you sent. I couldn't download the videos until I was a few miles away from the farm. Everything looked great, though.”

Tilting her head to one side, she squinted at me, her rouge lips puckering. “Yeah, yeah. Tell me what happened between you and Conner.”

My heart jumped into my throat, I couldn't respond for a few seconds. “How did you know something happened to us?”

She gestured with her beer bottle. “You're not wearing your ring.”

“You noticed.” I held up my hand, flexing my fingers. “You have a keen eye.”

“That's why you keep me around.”

Laughing lightly, I ordered a beer for myself. “That's one reason. Thanks for always being here for me. In friendship, and in work stuff. You saved me today. I owe you, Aubrey.”

“Eh.” Pushing her shoulders up nonchalantly, she finished her beer with a yawn. “My work isn't done.”

“How do you mean?”

“You're pretending I didn't just point out your bare finger. Tell me why you're all depressed about your fake fiancé.”

I cringed at the label. “Don't call him that.”

“Why? It's true. He wasn't really going to marry you.”

“If you're trying that trick where you make me so mad I defend him, I won't.”

“Geez. He must have really done you wrong.”

Looking off to the side, I scrunched my body deeper into my jacket. “I was an idiot to trust him. I should have known better. Especially after what happened with Ben.”

Aubrey put her hand on top of mine on the bar. “You never told me what Ben did.”

I looked down at her perfect pink manicure. I could easily push her away. I had before, after all. Aubrey had wanted to know about my ex and I'd always dodged.

Not anymore.

“Once I tell you, you'll look at me differently,” I warned her.

My friend smiled at me so affectionately it scattered my heart into pieces. “And what if I do? Do you really believe that would change our friendship?”

Grinding my knuckles on my forehead, I laughed sourly. “I don't know. I don't know anything anymore.”

“Tell me what Ben did to you, Maya. I'm here to listen. I promise that nothing you tell me will change how much I care about you.”

“I'm so tired of promises,” I mumbled. When I spoke next, I kept my head down, my hair cascading over my face. “Ben broke up with me because I asked him to do something he didn't want to. I guess I thought, since we'd dated so long, he wouldn't freak out. I'd seen him peeing with the door open, for gods sake.” My hand tensed on the beer bottle, knuckles bone white. “It was my 25thbirthday. We were a little drunk, just a buzz, really, to give me courage. I came out of the bathroom wearing this school girl outfit. Pigtails and all.”

“Then,” I said, speaking quietly so only she could hear, and barely that, “I asked him to pretend he was a police officer who'd found me skipping school. I'd even bought a damn uniform for him, a badge, to help him get into character.” I shivered, feeling as vulnerable now as I had then.

“What did he do?” Aubrey asked gently.