Hearts We Mend To Break (Book I)

.87.

💫ANGEL💫

THE MOMENT I ARRIVED at the pub, I noticed how packed it was. Seeing a dozen familiar faces, being greeted by past friends and associates, yet emptiness invaded my heart. I found the darkest corner, planted myself in the booth, and immediately ordered four shots of tequila and a margarita.

"Need help drinking those, stranger?" A familiar face approached me.

I looked up at her face, having the hardest time putting a name with it. Instead of embarrassing her, I took down two of the shots and slid one over to her. She smiled, offered the empty seat in front of me her company, and began talking about a bunch of shit I had no problem tuning out.

"You seem occupied." She sighed.

"Um...What?"

"Did you hear anything I just said?" Rolling her eyes, she stood to her feet.

"I'm not in the mood for conversation."

"Clearly." She huffed, storming off to rejoin her friends.

My mind wandered in so many different places, from Angelina, to Bria, to her daughter, then back around to Giselle, my mother's illness, my poor father fighting to take care of the love of his life. There were just too many aches and pains to choose from. So many discussions to be had and decisions to be made. I had to start with Bria. Once upon a time, I loved her with everything I had. It was my purest form of love because it was the first. I hadn't known heartache or the let downs of having high expectations. All I knew was that I cared for a girl who cared for me.

We once did everything together. I'd get up, walk to her house and then we'd walk together to school. We ate lunch together, laughing and talking about nothing at all. And when went to bed every night, we were glued to the telephone until we fell asleep. The months leading up to when she left town were rough. She'd taken four at home pregnancy tests, two reading pregnant and two reading not pregnant. Her parents found them while we were in school and when I walked her to her door around four pm on a Thursday, they were waiting with cruel words and their fingers pointed. Apparently, it was all my fault, and I was ruining their daughter and her future. They never thought I was a good match for her. Using the infamous judgement of finances, feeling as though my family wasn't fortunate due to our lack of showboating. My father owned the most acres of land than anyone in town. Living off of old money and hard work, he was taught to invest his funds for the long run, only live off of what was necessary, and never overspend or try to outdo the next person. That's what he was taught and that is what he taught me. I hadn't even seen lump sums of money until my grandparents passed and twenty-five million was signed off to me. Followed by Lina's passing and me getting her twenty-five million plus her fifty million. I was officially loaded with no plans on ever going crazy about it.

"Your pizza." My waitress interrupted my thoughts.

"Thank you." I nodded, only looking up at her for a second before returning my eyes to the table.

"Are you okay?" She whispered, trying to be discreet.

"Another four shots. Two more margaritas please."

"Are you expecting someone? Because I can't serve you all of that."

"Yes. Yes, I am. She'll be here soon."

Almost two hours passed. Midnight was approaching and I hadn't heard from Bria. No, "I'm on the way" text or "Sorry, I'm running late" message. No calls. Nothing. I even found myself staring at Giselle's message thread, reading old messages of "I love you", "I'm on my way to your place", "What do you want for dinner tonight" messages. It brought me back to the week she spent cooking for me. We spent so much time picking each other's brains and just laughing and enjoying being together. We'd gone from taking it slow to pushing quickly through major steps.