He copped a feel. She skittered away to the other side of the table, and kept taking his order like all he’d done was sneeze. He laughed and tried to motion her around again, but she stayed put.
Fuck that shit.
I didn’t think, and instead just hopped out of my car and headed in.
It was crowded, and I lost sight of her—but I could still see the fucking creep. He was grinning, watching some girls who were putting in an order at the bar. This wasn’t exactly the kind of place I usually went anymore, but in my college days I would have killed for a bar like this.
I approached his table and stood there until he looked at me.
“Fuck do you want?” he frowned. He had a grisly beard, brown at the end but white at the base, like he’d tried dyeing it once to keep it looking young.
“Lay a fucking hand on that waitress again and I’ll kick your ass,” I said plainly.
“The fuck do you want? That’s her job, to keep guests entertained.”
“Her job is to serve you drinks without spitting in them, not to be groped by your hairy fucking hands,” I shot back. “You touch her again, and I will break your fingers,” I made myself clear. I didn’t usually use my size to threaten people, but I spent fifteen hours a week in the gym—I was going to use every muscle I had to make this man’s life hell.
“Here’s your beer and some pretzels,” she announced as she made her way back to the table.
Shit.
I turned and hoped she wouldn’t see me, but she recognized me on sight.
“Dale?”
Fuck.
“Hey,” I murmured.
“What are you doing here? This place doesn’t feel like your kinda scene.” There was a laugh in her voice.
“It’s usually not, but I heard you can get some great beer here,” I lied.
“Oh! Sure thing, let me pour you something on the house.” She smiled, and it was worth being caught. “Do you know him?” She motioned to the perv as I followed her back to the bar.
“No, he just seemed like an asshole who used to work for my dad, so I had to check,” I lied.
I had to get better at following her around if I’d already gotten caught.
“He’s a regular, but you pegged him right as an asshole.” She laughed. My blood boiled thinking about how he’d probably done this before. Hell, he probably touched her more than I had at this point, and there was something fucking wrong with that.
“You look mad. What’s going on?” She set my beer on the bar counter and started up another one.
“Something from work.” I shook my head. “Why do you work here if customers are creeps?”
“Because I have to pay for college somehow.”
She said it so matter-of-factly.
I, again, wanted to just unload a shit ton of money on her to solve her problems. I also wanted to fuck her, and kiss her, and—fuck, it was back to not wanting her to think I was paying her off for sex. This was the most frustrating fucking thing I’d ever encountered.
I stayed until that obnoxious asshole left, and he didn’t lay another finger on her the whole time.
Good.
Even though she said the beer was on the house, I left a twenty-dollar bill under my bottle to tip her in some way.
I planned on going home, but I ended up driving through the city listlessly.
I made my money because richer people weren’t able to hold on to their own. Hell, my dad made his own money from investing in businesses and having money in the first place. She was actually working so fucking hard, dealing with the worst people, and still going to school—and she was broke.
It didn’t feel right.
Somehow I ended up back at her place.
I parked a block away from her apartment, and was surprised when I watched her walking home from the bus stop. She’d had a long-ass day, literally passed out the night before, and acted like it was nothing. Another girl was in the apartment and welcomed her home, and I stayed for just a moment before leaving.
It didn’t feel right following her around.
Still, I needed to make sure she was safe.
Some fucked-up base part of my brain thought of her as mine, and although I knew that wasn’t the case, I still felt possessive flares in my mind. I wanted to snatch her away from this shitty apartment, from the men who groped her and harassed her, from the overpriced school she went to.
I knew that wasn’t an option, but I wanted to do it.
It felt risky, but the job be damned. I wanted to spend more time with her. She gave me her number before I dropped her off in the morning, so I fired off a quick text.
“Hey, want to have dinner tomorrow?”
We could deal with the consequences later.
Pulling my car out of her street, I told myself I’d actually focus on work the next day.
5
Danielle
“So where’s he taking you?”
My sister decided the best way to help me get ready was to lounge on my bed and eat snacks she brought home from her job. I was a little jealous that the bar she worked at was a lot less seedy than mine, but I wasn’t going to try to get a job with her.
We worked fine as roommates, but if we worked together too we’d drive each other up the wall.
“I don’t know, he’s just going to pick me up at six.” I turned around in my almost-full-length mirror to check how the dress was hanging on my body.
“What if he takes you to my bar? I could make your drinks with a little extra than the usual customer gets,” she teased.
“No.” I laughed. “I just want to get to know him.”
“I mean you already spent the night with him—I think you know him.”
Rolling my eyes, I laughed at her again. She’d been so panicked when I got home the next morning that I’d had to give her all of his contact information so she could trust I wouldn’t vanish again. She was a good sister, even if she gave me shit about things.
“How’s this one?” I showed her the dress I’d picked. It was black and teal, with color-shifting qualities that showed off my body—it was one of the dresses she got for work.
“I think he’ll rip it off of you.” She laughed, and then got playfully serious. “Please don’t let him rip that dress off you, that was a gift.”
“I won’t.” I smiled.
“Mhm. God, I wish I was going on a date—if you have any more cute coworkers, send them my way,” she moped. I stole chocolate off of her tinfoil tray, and she shot me a look of fake disgust.
“If I find anyone who likes girls who don’t pick their wet towels off the bathroom floor, I’ll let you know,” I prodded.
“Har har.” She rolled her eyes at me. I smiled back and sighed. She was going to leave me someday and start her acting career, and she was going to be awesome. I could feel it. For now, she was just my almost-too-annoying sister whom I could drive crazy.
Before I could shoot another snarky comment, my phone buzzed.
I’m here. It was from Dale.
“He’s here.” I shoved my phone into my bag and did one last turn around in the mirror.
“I can tell, you’re smiling enough to show it.”
She smiled and I huffed out a laugh as I slid into some shoes. “I’ll be back late—don’t watch the new episode of Ash Park without me,”