Page 201 of The Compass Series

He moved in closer. His hot breaths brushed against my skin as every hair on my body stood straight.

“I want nothing to do with you. I don’t need you checking in on me just because you work here, I don’t need you buying me shoes because you can’t hold your liquor, and I don’t want to reconnect and talk about the good ole days with you, Hailee.

You are nothing to me, and I am nothing to you.

We are strangers, and I am not interested in knowing anything about you at all. Am I clear?”

My lips parted as I tried to keep my composure. “Crystal,” I replied, standing as tall as I could, which somehow still left me feeling so little.

He released a low grumble of annoyance before turning and walking back into his room, leaving me there to gather the small bit of dignity I had left.

When did that happen? When did the sweetest boy I’d ever known turn into such a cold, cold man? The rest of the world would’ve been shocked to see how harsh Aiden could’ve been to a person, to me. But I guessed that was why he had his Oscar. His acting skills truly showed his range.

“It was that bad?” Mama asked during dinner at my parents’ house. Recently, we’d been rewatching I Love Lucy once a week at my parents’ place while Dad was doing some accounting work down at the bakery.

“I threw up on his shoes, and then today he told me he wanted nothing to do with me. In a very mean way.”

“That’s so hard for me to imagine. Aiden was always the sweetest boy.”

“Well, that sweet boy was stung with asshole serum.”

Mama shook her head. “He’s probably not sure how to handle being around you. The same way you don’t know how to be around him.”

“But I wasn’t a jerk to him!”

“Yes, but you were the one who broke his heart all those years ago.”

“It’s not like I wanted to hurt him. Besides, that’s ancient history,” I repeated like the robot I was becoming when it came to talking about Aiden.

“Just because it happened a long time ago doesn’t mean the healing has come full circle, Hailee.”

I pouted. “Whose side are you on?”

“Yours. Always yours.” She laughed and stole one of my french fries. “All I’m saying is, your break-up had to be hard on Aiden. I’m not saying how he’s acting is right, but I’m saying I can understand how he feels. Especially with how you went about the break-up…”

“Okay, can we not relive that?” I asked.

I’d already spent long enough feeling guilty about the way I ended things with Aiden all those years ago.

Could I have handled the break-up better?

Yes. Did it crush me to my core to crush him?

Of course, but I was young, stupid, and thought I was doing the best thing for us both.

I’d already felt crappy enough for the past twenty-four hours.

I didn’t need to feel even worse about my past mistakes.

“Sorry. What is it you want me to say?” Mama asked.

“Men are stupid, and your daughter is the best.”

“Men are stupid, and my daughter is the best,” she echoed.

Loyalty was Mama’s middle name.

Before we could continue, my cell phone rang. Mr. Lee’s name flashed on the screen, and I was quick to answer. “Hey, Mr. Lee. What’s up?”

“Hailee. Hey, how are you? I’d hate to do this to you, especially last minute, but the bar and grill is packed tonight, and Sarah went home sick. Do you think you can come in and cover for her?”

“The bar and grill is never packed on Sundays.”

“It is when an Oscar winner is staying at our inn. I told you Aiden would be great for business!”

At least one of us was thriving from Aiden’s arrival.

“I see. Yeah, sure. I’ll be over in about fifteen minutes.” I hung up the phone and told Mama what was going on.

She grimaced. “I have a feeling it’s going to be very hard for you to keep your distance from that boy with him staying at your inn.”

Who was she telling? I was in a constant state of sweatiness from the situation due to my shot nerves.

When I arrived at the bar and grill, I hopped behind the bar to get to work.

I wasn’t the best at making cocktails, and whenever I had to cover for a person back there, my anxiety rose to new heights.

I’d never seen the bar and grill that crowded.

Leading the crowd was the man of the hour and the man who gave me the dirtiest of looks.

I stood behind the bar, feeling my chest tighten as Aiden’s eyes locked with mine.

His smile evaporated, and the coldness came back as the lines on his face tightened, and the veins in his neck popped out.

If love was based on smiles, and hate was based on frowns, I was the girl most hated by the boy most loved.

He blinked and moved his stare away from me, stepping back into the role he seemed to be putting on for the townspeople. A big smile hit his face, and he shouted, “Drinks on the house from me!”

No, Aiden. Don’t put me through this hell.

The crowd cheered, I all about cried, and then I got to work as the orders started rolling in. He’d made it clear that he didn’t want to have anything to do with me earlier. What he didn’t make clear was that he also wanted to make my life a living hell.

As people crowded the bar, I poured beer after beer, shot after shot, and my stomach repeatedly turned from the smell of the alcohol. After last night, I’d be okay going a long time without having a drink.

At the end of the bar, Aiden sat with Tommy Stevens, the journalist for our town’s paper.

I’d overheard Tommy going on and on about a manuscript he’d written and how he wanted Aiden to read it.

Aiden engaged as if he was interested, and Tommy kept going on and on about how Aiden would be the perfect hero for his movie idea.

The more Tommy drank, the more touchy-feely he was growing with Aiden. He kept patting Aiden on the shoulder, lightly shoving him in the chest to express his point as he grew louder and louder.

When most of the crowd headed home, Aiden and Tommy were the last two remaining.

“You have to read it,” Tommy drunkenly slurred. “It’s an Oscar-winning kind of script!” He then turned back to me. Lying across the bar, he snapped his fingers. “Jones girl! Get me another.”

I saw a slight twitch in Aiden’s lip and then looked at Tommy. With a knot in my stomach, I gave him a smile. “Sorry, Tommy. I think we need to cut you off for the night.”

“What? We’re just getting started! Seeing how Mr. Hollywood is covering the tab. Right, Aiden?” he said, patting Aiden’s chest. I swore he’d touched him more in the past hour or so than I had during our whole relationship.

“I think I’m actually gonna call it a night,” Aiden said, standing. “It seems as if the bar is ready to close anyway. Most people have wandered home. You can close out my tab and charge it to my room,” he ordered me. He turned to walk away, but Tommy didn’t follow.

“Well, shit. I’ll pay for my own drink,” Tommy stated.

“Sorry, Tommy. I can’t serve you any more. It’s just a rule. But I can call you a ride to get you home if you need it.” I turned to walk to the cashier to ring Aiden out, but before I could, Tommy reached across the bar, grabbed my arm, and yanked me back toward him.

“I said I want another drink, woman,” he drunkenly expressed, spitting profusely as he spoke. “It looks like you never cut yourself off from the pleasures of life judging by your size, so how about you take your fat ass over there and get me one?”

A slight chill raced down my back. There was a time in my life when his comment would’ve made me spiral into a fit of insecurities, but I’d worked hard enough to know my worth over the years.

Tommy’s words were just that…words. They didn’t get to stick to my soul unless I brought out the superglue myself.

Before I could even blink, Tommy was on the floor. Aiden had slammed his fist into Tommy’s face, knocking him out with one swing. Thankfully, no one else was in the bar. Otherwise, I was certain cameras would’ve been going off like crazy, filming Hollywood’s sweetheart being violent.

“What the hell?” I blurted out, stunned. It happened so fast.

“What’s going on in here?” Parker, the cook, asked, emerging from the kitchen. He looked at me and noticed that I was shaken up, then looked over at Tommy, who was still on the checkered floor. Then he looked at Aiden, whose chest was rising and falling.

“Go home, Hailee,” Parker said as he walked toward me. “I’ll handle this mess and lock up.”

I parted my lips to speak, but no words came out.

Parker gave me a lazy half grin. “Go home. I’ll handle Tommy.”

I nodded, grabbed my purse, and headed straight out the door.

The moment the autumn breeze hit my face, I choked out a sob as tears began falling down my cheeks.

“Hailee, wait,” Aiden called out. “Wait up.”

I whipped around and stepped toward him.

“What’s your problem?” I barked, frustration fuming from my words.

“What do you think you’re doing going around punching people like that?

And why? It’s clear you’ve been going out of your way to avoid me.

You’ve literally crossed the road to be far out of my reach, and then, out of nowhere, you’re defending my honor? What the hell, Aiden?”

He looked confused as ever, as if he hadn’t even known what came over him. He raked his hand through his hair out of frustration. “I don’t know what came over me in there. All I know was Tommy was treating you like shit, and?—”

“And it’s none of your business. You made it clear that you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“I know, all right? I get it. We’re strangers.”

“We aren’t strangers, Aiden. We will never be strangers. I mean…I’m even open to a friendship again if you are.” He huffed in disgust, which made me frown. “When we ended things, I didn’t think it would leave you hating me.”

“When we ended things? There was no we in that equation.”

“I know how it looked…”

He parted his mouth to speak, but no words came. He shut his mouth and clenched his jaw.

What, Aiden? What were you about to say?

“Say it,” I urged.

“No.”