Beverly’s customer grabbed his wallet out of his pocket and fumbled with some bills with shaking hands.
“M-My mistake,” he stuttered angrily, careful not to look Beverly in the eye, probably for fear that she’d attack. “I meant to give you twenty percent, of course,” he said before hurriedly sliding out of the booth and rushing out of the restaurant.
I heard Licia’s heavy sigh as the front door slammed after him. I doubt we’d be seeing him again.
I threw Beverly a look, but she didn’t see it. She was too busy greedily counting her money. For a second, I wondered if maybe I should try her tactics for a while, she certainly got tips. It would take a while for the customers to run out…right?
“Beverly, in the back,” snapped Licia. Beverly squared her shoulders as if readying to march into war and headed back towards the stock room, where Licia had begun to walk towards.
I shook my head, half amused, half annoyed, and started wrapping silverware while I waited for those cheese sticks to come out. Our cheese sticks were really good. Hopefully, the wife would be too busy enjoying them to come after me when I returned to her table. Even so, maybe I should take her knife away…just to be safe.
The bell attached to the front door rang, and I automatically called out a welcome to the newcomer before even looking to see who had come in. I was faintly aware of the person settling in at the bar while I finished wrapping the last of the tray of silverware I’d been working on.
When I could feel someone’s gaze drilling into me, I finally looked up to see who had walked in.
My silverware crashed to the ground when I saw who it was.
It was Sterling, one of Alistair’s enforcers. My hands were shaking as I crouched to the ground and tried to pick up the silverware. I could feel other people’s eyes on me as I fumbled around, clattering the forks and knives together as I tried to give myself time to think.
How had he found me? There was no way this could be a fluke, right? No way that Sterling had just been in the neighborhood and somehow found his way here?
Fuck, fuck, fuck. What was I going to do?
“Order up,” the cook called. I wiped my sweaty palms on my apron and stood up, trying to keep my face blank and not convey the panic I was feeling. Out of all of Alistair’s enforcers, Sterling had been the one who thrived off panic. He loved anytime he had the opportunity to lord over those weaker than him. He had a special fondness for using his authority on girls in the pack. I’d heard their screams sometimes from the backrooms in the house that Alistair used for “pack business.”
I barely suppressed a shiver as I walked over to grab the steaming plate of cheese sticks along with the ranch dressing we served it with. I studiously ignored Sterling as I passed him to get to the table. I set the food down, barely registering the murderous glare from the woman. She was the least of my problems at the moment.
I looked around the room, seeing if there was anyone else that needed something that I could use as a distraction, but everyone looked fine.
Still, I grabbed a water pitcher and began topping off already full drinks as I tried to stretch when I would meet my ending.
I wished that Licia and Beverly would come back, but really…what could they do? Even Beverly, as fierce as she was, wouldn’t stand a chance against a pack enforcer like Sterling.
I took a deep breath and just decided to get it over with. I knew Alistair was going to come after me. Not only was I his fated mate, rejected or not, but I’d freaking cut out the guy’s eyeball and drugged him and all of his men.
I’d just hoped that he wouldn’t succeed with his search. As I walked behind the bar to face Sterling, it was like I could almost hear a death knell playing in the background, telling me with every step how utterly and completely fucked I was.
And not in the good way I’d been after Wilder had left my room the other night.
“What can I get for you?” I asked Sterling, still working hard to keep my face blank, like I didn’t recognize him, even as my tone dripped with disdain.
Something twitched in Sterling’s cheek at my insolence. For as long as he’d known me, I’d been practically mute. “Yes, sir. No, sir… Please don’t, sir.” Those had basically been the only words I’d said to him.
Sterling stared at me with a little smirk on his face as I catalogued his features. He was good-looking, like all of Alistair’s men had been. He was dressed in a preppy collared shirt with the collar popped, a visual representation of the douchiness of this man. Evidently, he still hadn’t been told by anyone that popped collars weren’t in. Pity.
Sterling’s hair was perfectly cut with what I was sure were fake highlights streaked through his hair. I thought he even got his eyebrows waxed, because they’d always looked a little bit too perfectly shaped to be real.
The thing about Sterling though, he may have looked like a preppy boy who’d run away at the first sign of trouble, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. He had a cruel streak a million miles wide. I’d seen him personally in the fight nights that Alistair held to fix pack grievances, knocking the utter shit out of men twice the size of him.
I’d been afraid of him since I’d met him, but right now? Right now, I couldn’t summon up any fear. All I felt was hate. This town might have had a lot of problems. It may not have been the most welcoming place at the moment either. But at least it had felt a little bit like mine for a moment.
And now here Sterling was, leaking Alistair into the air around me so I wouldn’t be able to envision this place without envisioning him here too.
Why did everything have to suck so bad?
I squeezed my fists together in frustration and gasped when I felt something cut into my skin. I’d evidently grabbed a knife without even looking.
“It’s good to see you too, Rune,” Sterling purred, and I winced at hearing my name come from his lips. “We’ve all been so worried about you since the little incident.”
Incident. Is that what they were calling it?
A little snort sneaked past my lips, but my heart panged as I thought of Alistair.
Surprisingly though, thinking of him didn’t quite hurt as bad as it used to.
I leaned in close, dropping all pretenses. “I’m not going back with you,” I swore to him, and I hoped he could see the resolve in my eyes. I hoped he could see how much I would kick and scream and make it as difficult as humanly possible for him to get me from this place.
It had taken everything in me to escape the first time.
And I knew I’d never get a chance to do it again if Alistair got his clutches on me once again.
Sterling looked a bit shocked at my words, which I didn’t blame him for. I scarcely recognized myself nowadays. In a way, I’d been reborn when I’d escaped from Alistair. I wasn’t saying that I liked who I was becoming, but at least it was different from the weak creature I’d been before.
I pointed the knife towards Sterling, trying to hide it from the sight of the customers… I was kind of proud of myself that I was only shaking a little bit.
“You need to leave right now,” I told him, trying to put as much bravado as I could.
He threw his head back and laughed. “You know this whole time, we pitied Alistair for having you as a mate…thought he’d done the right thing casting you aside, even though it had to have hurt him like hell. A little mouse like you…with the next Alpha? It was insulting, Rune,” he said silkily, leaning closer toward me. “But after what you did to get away and what I’m seeing right now, I’m beginning to think he messed up.”