Chapter 1
Mia
Another busy shift, just my luck. I’m exhausted, my car wouldn’t start today so I had to walk to work, I arrived late which resulted in getting a lecture from my boss. Now here I am, eleven hours into my twelve-hour shift, and all I want to do is crawl into bed and hibernate for the winter.
“Sweet cheeks, can we get another round over here?” One of the guys from the back shouts over the music. I turn and offer him a polite smile and a nod, before making my way to the bar.
“Can I get another five bottles of beer please, Shawn? Put them on table thirteen’s tab,” I tell the bartender on shift tonight, resting my tray on the sticky bar and stretching my arms out. I pull my long brown hair up into a messy bun and sigh.
“You got it, love,” he says, grabbing them from the fridge, pulling the tops off and putting them on my tray.
“Thanks.” I smile. Shawn is one of the only people here I get on with; he’s got a wife and two kids at home. Both of us need the money, which is why we put up with this hellhole. It’s a job, and they’re not the easiest of things to come by around here.
Making my way back to the table of rowdy guys, I hand out their beers and turn to make my way back to the bar when I feel one of them grab my arse. Turning around, I slap him on instinct. The other guys laugh, but the one I hit looks livid. His lips curl and his eyes are black. Feeling the fury emanating off of him, I take a small step back.
“What the fuck, you crazy bitch?!” he shouts, holding his cheek and glaring at me as if I’m the one in the wrong.
“I don’t like being touched,” I say slowly, turning to head back to the bar. The other guys are still laughing as I make my way back over to Shawn, making fun of the guy who had the nerve to grab me. What the hell is wrong with people?
“You ok?” Shawn asks, looking sympathetic when I reach him. Leaning on the bar he looks over at me with a look of concern. He’s in his late forties and with his greying hair and crooked smile, he always put me at ease.
“Yeah, just another day in paradise, right?” I smile at him, leaning on the bar with a sigh.
“Mia! My office, now.” Tom, my boss, shouts over the noise of the bar and I groan internally. Could this day get any worse?
Chapter 2
Jackson
Taking another swig of my cold beer, I check my emails to catch up after my meeting ran over. I wasn’t expecting to spend so long in that godforsaken meeting, so I decided to stop off at a bar on my way home, needing a drink to unwind. Loosening my tie, I scour through more emails, deleting what I can.
This place is a dive, not somewhere I’d normally frequent, but it’s served its purpose and I’m feeling slightly less tense after the day’s events. Being a CEO is great, but it isn’t easy. Taking another swig of my drink, I look up when I hear her voice. The waitress that caught my eye earlier. Her long brown hair is wrapped up in a messy bun on the back of her head, her black dress is knee length, and she is wearing kitten heels. She’s beautiful, and I can’t help but check out her legs as she leans over the table across the room from me to hand out drinks.
Hearing the men at the table making smart remarks, I bite my tongue. Why she works in a dive like this, I don’t know. The money must be good. As she turns to leave, one of the men grabs her arse and she slaps him. I try to contain my chuckle. Good girl. She’s got a backbone, I like that. As she leaves, I go back to my emails.
An hour or so later and I think I’m all caught up. Checking my watch, I see it’s gone midnight. Time for me to get home. I text my driver, asking him to bring the car around and go to the bar to pay my tab.
Making my way out of the bar, I turn to go down the alley that leads to the car park round the back. My car should be waiting. As I make my way down the dark path, I notice it splits off into two. Straight ahead leads me to my car, and a right turn takes me elsewhere. Carrying straight on, I shake my head when I hear them. They’re laughing, clearly drunk and obnoxious. Typical young lads, I think. I’m making my way down towards the car park when I hear her. The waitress from earlier. She sounds scared and I hate it. Turning around, I make my way down the split in the alley.
Mia
After getting chewed out by my boss about customer service—the guy attacked me for goodness sake!—I finished my shift and got my bag and coat. I wasn’t looking forward to walking home in the dark, but I had no car and couldn’t afford a taxi. This wasn’t exactly a well-paid job, but it was a job. And right now I was thankful for it.
Turning down the alley that leads to town, I pull my thin coat tighter and start the long walk. I hear them before I see them. The unpleasant laughter of the drunk idiots from earlier. I can’t face dealing with them again, so I turn around ready to take a different route home. As I turn, I come face to face with another two of the men from the bar; they’re smiling sinisterly down at me and I feel my heart race.
“Hey sweet cheeks, fancy seeing you here,” one of them says, walking toward me with a smirk.
I walk backwards, backing away from him. Unfortunately, I back right into the rest of the men. I jump forward when I bump into one of them and they laugh cruelly. One of them grabs my arm and pulls me close.
“I think you owe our friend an apology, sweetheart. You hurt his feelings earlier,” a blonde guy with cruel eyes says, laughing. His beer breath makes me cringe.
“Please, just leave me alone,” I say quietly, trying to pull away, but he isn’t having it. His grip stays strong and I’m powerless.
“You need to say sorry, sweet cheeks. He doesn’t like being made a fool of,” another one says, closing in on me, with a lit cigarette hanging out of the corner of his mouth.
I try to remember to breathe. “I’m sorry.”
“Not good enough sweetheart, maybe you should kiss him better?” They all laugh and the one holding my arm shoves me into the guy I slapped earlier. He looks down at me with his callous eyes and pulls my head back by my dark hair. I cry out in pain and can feel the tears starting to fall.
“Aww, you’re hurting her, Ty.” One of the others chuckles darkly, enjoying the scene that is unfolding.
“You’re a prick tease, and someone needs to teach you what happens to prick teases,” Ty says, grinning down at me. He leans in and I can smell the alcohol on his breath. The tears are falling freely now and I would do anything to be back in the shitty bar with Shawn.
“Cry all you want, slut. It won’t make us go easy on you.” Another one of them laughs as he grabs my arse from behind. I cry out and try to free myself, but Ty’s hold on my hair is too strong.
“I think it’s time for you gentlemen to go home,” a velvet voice says from behind us.
“Who the fuck are you? Mind your own fucking business,” Ty barks at the stranger, menacingly, not loosening his grip on me.
“No can do, I’m afraid. The police are on their way, and I don’t want to get in trouble for fleeing the scene of the incident,” he says in a calm tone.
“The police? Fuck,” one of the other guys shouts. “We don’t want no trouble.”