[NowStop]

"Two Jack and Cokes, please," I said once I had caught the bartender's eye.

He nodded as he tipped an empty glass at a 45 degree angle beneath a Blue Moon tap and pulled the handle, causing an amber rush of beer to flood into the mug. I smiled as I saw him pull what was easily a perfect draft.

The smoke-filled area I was standing in was a sorry, dimly lit affair. The bar top itself was an old, stained, wooden slab that bent in an L-shape towards the loud kitchen where doubtlessly crappy pub food was made for people who would have the courage - or stupidity- to order it. There were a ton of study stools halfhazardly arranged flush with the counter so that people could lean against it when they started to seriously put away the drinks while the night waned on.

"Do you want to start a tab?"

"Nah, I'll just pay up. How much do I owe you?"

"Twelve-fifty."

"Okay, gimme a sec."

I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my faded and cracked leather wallet. Flipping it open, I started to thumb out the green crumpled bills there to pay for the drinks, plus a decent tip to top it off.

"Not a bad choice, mate." came a voice to my left. I looked over and saw a man sitting there with an almost empty Budweiser beer bottle in his hand. He had brown hair and a messy goatee, as if he was trying to say that he honestly couldn't be bothered with the effort needed to keep it trimmed and clean everyday.

"Its one of my favorite drinks, and a new friend of mine that I happened to meet tonight loves it as well." I said as I placed the money down on the counter in front of me. The bartender told me that I was a couple of drinks in line back, and I was perfectly content to wait.

"You and me both. My girl's in the bathroom at the moment, powdering up. Or so she says, at least." My new brother-in-arms grinned at me, his faded blue eyes lighting up mischievously at the same time.

He then laughed and then took a heavy swig of his beer, damn near polishing it off in the process. "This is my secret place, where I can blow off some steam, get fucking drunk, and not have to worry about running into people that I know."

I gave a single acknowledging nod. "You and me both, though I haven't ever been here before. I met this girl just a few hours ago, and she suggested we go get a drink and this happened to be the closest bar."

It was at this point that a jaw-droppingly beautiful, slightly short girl with long, raven colored hair and clad in a fight, form-fitting blue dress that showed off her rack and perfect ass walked up to the guy I was making small talk with. She ignored me and gave him a deep, long kiss as her hand dipped between his legs and gave his package a sudden, sharp squeeze that made him gasp in surprise and mild pleasure.

"DEREK. WHAT. THE. FUCK."

I turned around with surprise to see Autumn stomping towards me, her jacket floating off slightly about her as she stormed across the room.

"Derek?" I said, more than a little bit confused, not quite sure what's going on.

Conversation in the bar stopped and everyone turned around to stare at Autumn as she shouted.

"Oh shit," the guy I had been talking to said softly as he heard her voice and then saw her once he turned his head.

Autumn grabbed one of the two Jack and Cokes that had been dropped down onto the bar edge when I wasn't looking, and slammed it back down her throat, her head tilting back as she literally drained the glass without gulping. She then slammed the empty back down on the bar, grabbed the other full one, and then threw it in the guy who I've been talking with's face before slapping him across the face.

"WHO. THE. FUCK. IS. SHE?" Autumn shouted at him in a loud, clipped voice, her green eyes burning with an intensity that made me take an involuntary step backwards in fear. The girl that was just moments before all over Derek gave Autumn a look of utter disgust.

"His girlfriend. Who the fuck do you think you are, bitch?" she snapped back, placing a hand on her hip.

"His girlfriend of five years, cunt. Now get your fucking hands off!" Autumn shouted back.

I looked over out of the corner of my eye, and I could see the bartender edging slowly to the phone, most likely to call LAPD if a brawl actually broke out.

I then looked back at Autumn and saw her fists clench and ball up at he sides.

Check that.

WHEN a brawl broke out.

Before Autumn could throw the first punch, Derek coldly turned away from her, and then grabbed his mistress and pulled her gently against him, his hand then encircling her waist as he did so.

Autumn's eyes widened up in surprise.

"What...the...fuck..." she said quietly, almost to only herself, in a disbelieving voice.

*****

Autumn's face snapped up towards me as I asked her that question. I looked into her eyes and I saw a brief glimpse of deep hurt that was almost instantly replaced with only an intense, pissed off look locked away in the twin green furnaces that were suddenly ignited with a hellish fury.

"ALEX. WHAT. THE. FUCK." she shouted at me before slapping me across the face. Immediately, my flesh burned with her hand print and I involuntarily sucked in a breath of air as the pain started to sting and the flesh began to welt up.

"YOU SAID YOU WOULD NEVER, EVER, EVER SPEAK ABOUT THAT AGAIN."

She paused, gathering up her rage again before she lashed out at me again.

"EVER. YOU FUCKING PROMISED."

She tried to backhand me again but I somehow managed to clumsily block her strike with my forearm.

"ITS THIS KIND OF SHIT THAT MAKES ME SERIOUSLY WANT T-" she started to say before she cut herself off and shook her head, looking down at the ground, at the bean bag chairs, at the remaining now-cold food, at the Xbox controller. In the very-near distance outside, I could hear a sudden cloudburst begin to rage, the thunder clapping loudly and reverberating around us.

"No, I'm not doing this." she said quietly to herself as she stood up.

~fin Chapter Seven: Betrayal