His lids narrowed as his tongue slowly licked across his bottom lip. “You’re intriguing. More so each time I talk to you.”
The same was true about him.
But so was something else.
“Ashe, you’re a dangerous distraction.”
He laughed, a deep, honest noise that made him even more attractive. “That’s an interesting choice of words.”
“If you knew me, you wouldn’t think so.”
“That’s all I’ve been trying to do. But every time you’re within my grasp, you run from me.”
I held the tray even tighter, the plastic rim digging painfully into my ribs. “I’m afraid tonight isn’t going to be any different.”
His lips parted, their fullness almost taunting me, causing me to imagine what they would feel like to kiss.
That certainly wasn’t what I needed.
And that was why I stuck with men who weren’t tempted to ever call again, whom I wouldn’t ever grow feelings for.
Because feelings were the very last thing I needed.
I forced myself to take a step back and another.
“Where are you running to now, Pearl?”
I chewed the corner of my mouth, a heaviness lodging deeper into my chest the more I separated us. “I have to get back to work.” My thumb had been holding his cash, so it wouldn’t fall onto the floor. I waved the twenty in the air. “Thanks again,” I said, and I turned around.
When I reached the bar, I was out of breath. Not from the short distance I’d walked or the speed I’d used. All the air in my lungs was gone because of him. His eyes, his presence, the sensations he caused each time I was around him.
“Are you all right?” Erin asked, lining up several shot glasses to make me another round. “You look like you were just ravished against a wall.”
I reached up, flattening the top of my hair and then pressing my cold hand against my warm cheek. “I feel like I was.”
My fingers returned to the bar top, clinging to the edge. I could feel Ashe’s stare, the intensity like a fire burning me from the inside. It was strong enough that I glanced over my shoulder, searching for him in the space we had just been standing in.
But the spot was empty, Ashe no longer there.
That should have made me relieved.
Except it didn’t.
Six
Before
Ashe
“She works here,” I said to Dylan as I returned to the back of the bar, where we’d been sitting.
He turned toward me as I took the seat next to him. “Who?”
“Pearl, the girl from your study group.”
“She does?” He glanced around the space, as though she were standing close by. “Where is she? Let’s buy her a drink.”
“One, she’s working. And two, she doesn’t drink.”
He dropped his arms against the small table, moving in closer. “Who doesn’t drink their way through college?”
I laughed. “She’s the only one I know.” I paused to really think about it. “It’s admirable.”
Dylan and I had come from a town of partiers, so we’d gotten a good taste of that life before coming to college. Our first two years in the dorms were mayhem. We had calmed down a little since moving off campus and my classes had gotten tougher, but we were both turning twenty-one this year, and there would be no need for fake IDs. I could only imagine what those birthdays were going to look like.
“When are you taking her out?”
I lifted my glass off the table, hauling in a long sip through the straw. “I can’t get her to talk to me long enough to ask.”
“That’s not like you, man.”
I stared at the ice bobbing over the top of the vodka. “She’s different, Dylan.” I glanced up to see his eyes urging me to say more. “I don’t know how to describe her; she’s not like anyone I’ve dated before.”
“Can you pin her down and get her number?”
A waitress came to the table, delivering another round. I downed the rest of what was in my glass, and we handed her the empties.
“She runs before I get even close to asking,” I finally answered.
He leaned in further, his elbow almost touching mine, fingers gripping his cocktail as though I were about to reach for it. “Here’s what I’ve learned about women like Pearl: when they’re fast on their feet, they want to be chased.”
“You really think so?”
He nodded. “She wants to make sure you’re worth it.” He clinked his drink against mine. “It’s a good thing you are.”
Seven
Before
Pearl
Since the bar had gotten busier around midnight, Frank didn’t end up cutting me, and I stayed past last call. We were fortunate to have a cleaning crew come in after hours, so the only closing duty I had was to make sure all the glasses were picked up from my section. That only took a few minutes to finish once the bar was cleared out, and then I was heading for the back room to get my things.
Too tired to change into my regular clothes, I just zipped my coat over my tank top and hoped the fishnets kept me warm enough in the cold. I carried my bag through the empty bar and hurried out the front entrance.
There were several people standing outside, the sidewalk almost as busy as the front of the bar had been, and within a few steps, I heard someone yell my name, followed by, “Come over here.”
It was Dylan, standing off to the side with Ashe and a guy I didn’t know.
As Dylan waved for me to come closer, I could tell from his voice and the movement of his hand how many drinks he’d had. I’d had that ability from a young age, even able to detect if drugs had been mixed into the booze.
A human breathalyzer, I liked to call it.
“Hey, gentlemen,” I said as I went over to them. My feet hurt from wearing these boots all night, and the wind was whipping past my legs, causing me to shiver.
Dylan and Ashe separated, and I stood in between them. Ashe immediately introduced me to his other friend.
“How did I not know you worked here?” Dylan asked.
I laughed. “I don’t know. I haven’t been hiding.”
Dylan draped his arm around my shoulders, a gesture that was only friendly. “We’re practically family at this point. I think that calls for a discount on all future shots.”
“Family, huh?” I continued to chuckle. “Like you’re my brother from a different mother?”
“I was thinking, more like a sister-in-law.” He took a step back, lifting his arm off me, and Ashe caught him to help keep him steady.
“I think our friend here has had plenty of shots,” Ashe said.
And so had Ashe, but he wasn’t nearly as drunk as Dylan. He wasn’t slurring, and his feet were much steadier on the ground.
For some reason, that pleased me.
“Next time you guys come in, I’m sure I can arrange something,” I told Dylan. “But that depends on one thing …”
Dylan shifted his weight, and I knew it wasn’t on purpose. “Talk to me, Goose.”