𝖮𝗇𝖾

May 20th

𝔎𝔢𝔞𝔫𝔫𝔬𝔫

"Did you hear that Eli cheated on that girl he's been with for almost half a decade?" Destiny hiccups downing the last glass of tequila she poured herself.

I would never openly admit how much I hate when she would drink nor will I openly admit how much I hated when she spoke about private things that belonged to other people. They were secrets not meant for her to spill, but she does it anyways.

"I thought you don't talk to bums?" The question I thought was innocent, turns out? It wasn't. Her hazel tone eyes flared bright with her usual untameable temper.

"Who tf says I'm talking to him?" She snaps at me once.

"Your words, Des. How else would you know all of these details?!" I demand softly.

Destiny rolled her eyes at me. "I'm friends with Rory." She pauses pulling out her phone tapping and scrolling showing me a photo.

Even though I was nursing the first beef of the night taking small sips I couldn't shake the way my breath caught seeing this short brunette female filling the screen of Des's cracked iPhone. She wasn't entirely skinny, she was perfectly curvy, the position of the photo she was bent forward stretching her hand out towards the person taking the photo with a wide but fake smile plastered across her face. She was devastatingly beautiful.

"My reaction was the same." Des makes note of my silence. I try to shake it off, but my blue eyes keep finding themselves locked onto that girl.

"She'll shake it off. Everyone knows that Eli is a whole ass loser." I gently try to clear my throat taking a swig from the tall boy I've had nestled in my lap.

My eyes wander over to mine and Des's son who is safely tucked into his crib passed out. Even though I love my son and he was a blessing there have been times where I wished I would have waited until I was in love before I made the jump with having a kid.

"She's not handling it well." Des finally breaks the never ending silence.

It's always been like this with us. We can never fully get along or even see eye to eye. She's always doing the absolute most when it comes to breaking me down and causing so much shit.

"Meaning?" I ask trying not to sound too invested in this random girl. But a part of me is; a part of me is clinging onto the knowledge of this random girl for some reason.

Des swipes on her phone again. I hear the softest feminine voice pour out of the speakers. It was an intimate moment that she shouldn't be sharing with me. The chest rattling sobs were so clear and heart wrenching.

"It's hard." The girl says. "He was everything—" a pause follow by a deep exhale and sniffle. "He was my entire way of life and knowing he could break me like this; knowing he could trash me so publicly when my weight or my appearance was never the factor for almost 6 years. I wasted so much of my youth on him and now I'm lost."

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Later that night

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Des was beyond intoxicated by the time she decided to call Elijah. After lying in my face about even speaking to that bum they've been texting back and forth. While his ex girlfriend trusted Des with her vulnerability like true catty mean girl fashion she found it funny and wanted to laugh about it.

"Crodi I'm not lying when I say this shordy is like 350 lbs!" Eli slurs from the other side of the call. "Baby I don't understand why you are so bothered by that big back bitch." His ratchet high school age girlfriend calls out in the background which is followed by a bong rip.

My head immediately starts pounding. I crack open my second cold shot of the night. Searching for anything that will take my mind off of completely blowing up on all of them.

"When she started sending me voice notes crying I couldn't help, but laugh. I tried so hard to play it off nicely by saying she's pretty when in all reality Elijah was so out of her league." Destiny cackles slightly twisting the cap off of the fresh tequila bottle.

Elijah laughs also. "My new girl is so cool man. Everyone will love her when they escape Rory's toxicity and lies. She's easily 300 pounds lighter and so much more prettier."

The words alone made me absolutely sick to my stomach. Being raised by my mom and having two younger sisters I could never sit there and actively disrespect a female like this especially after hearing the way she fell apart on that voice note to Des.

I quickly said my goodbyes to Destiny and I kissed Kayden on the head as he was still passed out blissfully ignorant to how vile his mom truly was.

The city of Toronto was exploding with life by the time I got out of her run down apartment and to my car. Any form of holiday no matter how little it caused everyone to burst with life and excitement. Even though I was still basically stone cold sober I knew I needed more alcohol to shake the way a bowling ball feels weighing its pressure on my gut.

The Black Moosehead bar was a run down dive my dad took me to at 17 to have my first official beer and where him and my uncle Jinx taught me how to pick up older females. It was a comfort when I was downtown and where I needed to escape to especially when Des was being unreasonable like tonight.

The short 20 minute drive from River St where the run down ghetto Destiny demands to continue living in to the side street of Fort York Blvd right off of Spadina Ave.

It was peaceful given it's a higher end neighborhood and directly walking distance from the Roger's Centre and CN Tower. The CIBC bank remained closed with its usual homeless sleeping in the ATM lobby, the small dog salon and boutique is closed for the night while the bar next door my destination had its usual hang arounds smoking and lingering on the patio.

I parked off on the side street next to the elementary school. Walking up towards the entrance I finished smoking my spiff tossing it onto the street. The weed didn't dull my anger or even mellow me out. I prayed no drunkard triggers a fight with me.

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The Black Moosehead

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The inside dinning and bar was surprisingly quiet and slow for being a statutory holiday. The cabin feel with the wooden accents and plaid leather seats made it feel homey immediately.

I nod towards Joe the usual bartender and owner. He was leaning against the maple wood bar top talking to a young girl at the other end of the bar. I couldn't get a good look at her due to the dim lighting.

I side onto the stool in the middle of the bar. I had an eye line with both the front and rear exit incase anything happens.

"The usual, Ke?" Joe calls out to me. I nod my head in a reply pulling out the stack of lottery tickets I picked up from the gas station off of King St.

Within 2 minutes Joe set down the rum and coke infront of me on a napkin. It was my dad's usual and now became mine. Even though I hardly drink brown liquor due to it making me want to fight on sight. I needed it tonight.

"How's the boy?" The question that always brought a smile to my face.

"He's been amazing. He's walking and forming full sentences now." I take a small sip of my drink. "His momma is always doing my head in like usual."

The old man who's easily in his 50s barked out a loud laugh. "That's what happens when you get those ghetto tramps pregnant, Keannon."

He's never liked Destiny ever since I walked her in here in 2021 looking for his approval since he took the place of my father figure after my dad died during the Covid outbreak.

"Hey gramps! I'm going out for a smoke please watch my purse. I'll love ya for life." The girl from the end of bar calls out before she hops down from the stool.

"No problem, sweetheart." Joe calls out before returning his attention to me. But he always kept one eye trained on her as she swayed her full hips going out to the front patio.

She was a tiny thing. Given I'm 6'3, but she couldn't even reach my collarbone with how small she was. Her body was fully covered in curves she even had a stomach. Destiny was on the thicker side, but because she was skinnier in her youth the fat sat awkward on her body and it was mainly built from her eating whatever she could. This girl she was meant to be thick, meant to drive men down to their knees. The skimpy black short one piece she had on left nothing to the imagination. I didn't get a good look at her face just yet, but I could tell by the way Joe has his eyes on her like a hawk she's a pretty little thing.

"Who the hell is that?" I ask him completely abandoning the lottery tickets infront of me.

He raised a graying eyebrow at me. His face worn down with age and also the scar through his left eye from a knife fight he got into during his 10 year bid in prison seeing this man soft towards some young girl was shocking even to me.

"First of all don't even think about it." Joe narrows his brown eyes on me taking his attention off of her for a second. "She's new meat in the neighborhood. She works at that dog spa next door."

It must have been the look on my face or the entertainment I know lingered in my blue eyes. "She's not from here, Ke. She's not something you can toy with the poor girl got her heart broken which is how she wandered in here. Susanna has been keeping an eye on her so don't even think about it."

Susanna was his daughter. After the overdose of his granddaughter Lucy, Sue has been taking in any wayward young girl who stumbles into her dad's bar as a way to redo her failure with saving her own daughter. Similar to what my mom does with Kayden to make up for losing my sister Kylie.

The rebellious side of me kind of wanted to test Joe's patience. I down the last of the rum and coke. "Another one please!" I say to him as he walked off to refill one of her fruity cocktails at the end of the bar.

I took that as my chance to slip out to the front patio. You can still hear the thumping of his 00s r&b playing outside. He had on some T-pain track with lil Wayne didn't fit the interior of the bar at all. Normally I would blame the alcohol for why I'm so intrigued by this girl, but this is all me and my curious mind.

The girl leaned against one of big windows. The sky burning bright with the fireworks popping off all around the city. The hue of the patio string lights made her chocolate brown hair burn a golden shade. All of the usual perverted regulars avoid invading her bubble probably because Joe has warned all of them by telling his prison war stories. The old man is scary despite his age. He's managed to maintain his frame being built like a shit brick house even though he's Irish and indigenous ethnicity he's one man even my pops backed down too.

I watched lighting my own cigarette exhaling deep. Her skin glowed also due to her being so pale even though summer clung onto Toronto tight. It looked soft, but you can see traces of scars showing she's definitely lived life despite being young. Her hair was a mess of unruly curls I made a mental note it must be its natural state. She unconsciously tucked it behind her ear keeping her eyes trained on the main road infront of her. She was unfazed of her surroundings telling me she was completely intoxicated. Her ear was decorated in different sparkly earrings leaving her lobe stretched. She wasn't a typical Toronto girl so Joe wasn't wrong by saying she's not from here.

I inched closer to see her small slender hands weaponized with long dagger like nails painted in a bright lime green the same color was painted on her toes. She wore these black slides that were fluffy. Every aspect of her was tiny and perfect. I could feel the way every inch of me stood on edge for this girl. I didn't even know her nor have I even see her face since she's shying away keeping herself guarded.

"You know the longer you stare at me, the longer I'm convinced you're a creeper?" The voice from her nearly knocked the wind clear out of my lungs. It was the same voice I heard hours prior.

I tried to recover fast. I don't want her knowing me or knowing I know that she's Rory.

"I can't help that you're beautiful." The smoothest recovery I had slipped past my lips.

She snorted and finally she turned to look at me flicking the butt of her cigarette onto the sidewalk. Just like the photo I saw earlier night she was devastatingly beautiful. A heart shaped face, the cutest button nose with a stud through her left nostril and a septum piercing, her mouth deliciously shaped with a full bottom lip forming the perfect pout, and the most intense green eyes I've ever seen.

"Has that ever worked?" The sass flew from the tip of her tongue so effortlessly.

I turned to face her I leaned my arm against the window just above her head. She knows I towered over her, but like a stubborn brat she held her head up high challenging me.

"It'll work enough to have your legs over my shoulders in due time, pretty girl." I muttered half cocked.

I saw the flash of recognition across her face she knew who I was. Good. That small fact didn't dull the playful spark in her eyes. I could tell by the way they're lined with a harsh redness that she's been drinking for weeks now since she found out the truth.

Almost as if she's drawn to me in the same way I'm drawn to her she inches closer to me also. I could smell the alcohol on her breath along with fresh peach scent of her perfume. Her existence to me was so refreshing I wanted more.

"You should ask your baby momma if that's okay, Keannon." The sound of my name rolling off of her tongue made my dick twitch.

Fuck this girl. "What Des doesn't know won't kill her." I spat back.

I couldn't breathe as she leaned up on her tippy toes almost centimetres away from connecting her lips onto mine not daring to take her eyes off of mine. "Tell Elijah I said better luck next time." A small smirk played on her lips it was the first genuine reaction I've seen from her.

Aurora tried to brush past me, but the amount of alcohol she consumed she tripped over her own two left feet. I shake my head laughing to myself effortlessly lifting her tiny irritating ass flipping her over my shoulder.

Her tiny in functional fists pounded at my back. "Put me down right fucking now!!!!" She shrieked.

I laugh the first real laugh I've had in a long time. "Now that's no way for a lady to talk." I scold her softly patting her behind lightly.

She gasped dramatically. "Keannon!" She whined.

Fuck me that sound.

"Baby you're drunk and Joe will murder me if I let you get too out of hand so I'm taking you home." I kept one arm wrapped around her waist keeping her secured she finally settled down the second I carried her back inside the bar to pay her tab and grab her purse.

Joe's eyes immediately grew wide seeing me with Sue's lil pet flung over my shoulder. I felt a lecture coming on in 2.0 seconds. "I'm taking her home gramps." I say picking up her suitcase of a purse putting it on my other shoulder.

"I'll come back and pay both of our tabs in the morning and you can keep the lotto if you win you owe me half." I wave my hand as a way of saying goodbye strolling out of the side door towards my red Chevy.

I pried open the passenger door I gently flipped her from over my shoulder setting her down on the leather seat facing me. Her hair a complete mess. I leaned down taking off her sandals and putting her bag on the floor infront of her. My hands couldn't help themselves from cupping the heel of her foot I was right her skin is incredibly soft it traveled up her calf I tried to will away every perverted thought I had. I felt her eyes trained on me her body completely relaxed under my touch.

"That feels nice." She whispered leaning back against the head rest. She looked like she hadn't slept in days.

"I know how to touch a woman." I mumbled slowly turning her body to be facing the right way so I could strap her seatbelt in.

"If this is some joke Eli, it's fucking cruel." For the first time since moments ago her confidence broke and the vulnerability came out.

I smoothed back her unruly hair gently kissing the top of her head. "I'm not him." I whispered into her sweet scented hair.

Closing the passenger door I finally let out the breath I didn't know I've been holding. I told Joe I was taking her home, but my gut is telling me the best place for her is with me.