“But you’re going to give me a chance?”
“It’s not my chance to give. I will stand by whatever decision Allie makes. If she says you’re a piece of shit, then you’re a piece of shit.”
“Okay.” I chuckled. “That’s fair.”
“But, if you hurt her again, I swear on my life that Beck is going to kick your ass.”
I looked over at my best friend as he winced.
“Deal. If I hurt her again, I will gladly get my ass kicked by him.”
“Good.” She took a step back. “Now let me go get your drinks.”
As soon as she walked away, I spotted Allie behind the bar. She was laughing with the bartender as she placed some drinks onto her tray. She looked so damn beautiful.
Her hair was tied back away from her face, and she was in her plain uniform that the rest of the staff wore. But it didn’t look plain on her. It looked anything but.
She lifted the tray in her hand and laughed as she walked away from the bar. She hadn’t looked up at me, and I didn’t know if she was aware I was here. I figured Josie would have told her, warned her, but she was walking through the restaurant like she didn’t have a care in the world.
And it could simply be that she didn’t care that I was here at all, but I had to believe that wasn’t it.
After I kissed her at community service yesterday, she looked so torn, so hurt, and I wanted to do anything I possibly could to take that look away from her. But she didn’t give me a chance. She ran before I could say or do anything.
I had told Mr. Sneed that she had gotten sick. I knew that he didn’t believe me. He made that perfectly clear, but I had stayed an extra hour to make up for her being gone.
She went to a table a few away from us, and she smiled at the guests as she sat their alcohol down in front of them. I watched her as she worked. She was so good at her job, so friendly and personable, and it made me wonder what she was going to go on to do.
Allie was capable of doing or being whatever it was she wanted, but I didn’t think she believed that. I had probably helped plant any seeds of doubt that she had.
And I wished that I could take every second of that away.
I wished that I could take back so much of what I had done and said, but I couldn’t. The only thing I could do now was be different for her, but I didn’t know if I was capable of that.
She walked away from the table and her steps faltered when her gaze finally landed on me. She looked around the table quickly before storming toward where I sat.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed, and I knew that she was still pissed about yesterday or everything that happened before yesterday. Either way, she wasn’t happy to see me.
“Eating dinner.” I motioned around us as if that fact should have been obvious. That only pissed her off more.
“There are a hundred different restaurants in this town. Couldn’t you all have found somewhere else to go?”
“In all fairness, my dad owns this place, so we come here a lot.”
Allie’s gaze snapped to Beck, and he quickly shut up.
“I didn’t realize that you worked tonight,” I lied to her. “I also didn’t realize that it was such a big issue for you to see me.”
“Well, now you know.” She tucked the tray she was carrying under her arm. “I’m already forced to do community service with you. You could at least give me a night off.”
“Forced?” I raised an eyebrow at her, and I knew I should have stopped talking, but getting a rise out of her was so entertaining and such a damn turn on. “I thought you were enjoying our time together.”
“Wrong.” Her answer was instant.
Josie walked up behind her and looked back and forth between us before sitting our drinks on the table.
“You didn’t enjoy what happened yesterday?”
“What happened yesterday?” Josie asked, and I watched as Allie’s face reddened.
“Nothing happened.”
“It most certainly did.” I looked back and forth between them. “Allie might be pissed at me, but she didn’t stop me from kissing her.”
“That’s a lie. I did stop you.”
“After you thoroughly enjoyed it.” God, it had felt like she enjoyed it.
“Then I came to my senses and realized that I was kissing the asshole who had just broke me.” Her fist was clenched at her side, and she was staring directly at me. “Don’t worry. I will never let it happen again.”
“It will.” I said it with so much power because I truly meant it. I would do whatever it took to make sure it did.
“No. It won’t.” She finally looked away from me and around the table. “Go ahead and make bets about it if you need to. It’s not going to happen.”
Then she stormed away from the table and back to the kitchen.
Josie sighed, and I looked away from Allie’s retreating form to look up at her. “I had, like, the tiniest bit of faith that you could pull this off, but you lost that. If you all take bets, put me down for a hundred on him not getting the girl.”
Then she flipped me off.
Chapter Five
Allie
I was pissed.
More than pissed, actually. I was so angry that I couldn’t think straight and spending another day alone with Carson was the absolute last thing I wanted to do.
Because I knew that getting under my skin had become a dang game to him.
He pushes and pushes until I can’t take anymore, then he laps up my anger like it’s a damn drug to him.
I managed to get to community service before he arrived, and I was glad. I didn’t have the energy to deal with him or avoid talking to him as I tried to start whatever job Mr. Sneed wanted us to do today.
I walked up to the front door, and there was a note taped to it. I rolled my eyes at Mr. Sneed’s writing, where he thanked Carson for something he had done to the original woodwork before asking us to start working on the kitchen.
I left the note where it was so Carson could see it, then I walked into the house. It was pretty creepy without Carson here, but there was no way in hell I was going to stand there and wait on him and give him any sort of ammunition over me. No. I was just going to pull up my big girl panties, check behind me every five seconds, and get to work.
I was doing exactly that by the time Carson walked in. He was singing the lyrics to some song I didn’t know, and I tried to ignore him as I used the broom to sweep all the cobwebs that covered almost every inch of the forgotten kitchen.
“Hello.” Carson’s friendly tone made my back straighten and my heart race.
I nodded in his direction but didn’t respond. My heart was racing, but I tried not to let it show.
“Okay.” He chuckled and turned away from me. He started working. I had no idea what he was doing, but I also didn’t care. I wasn’t here to worry about Carson or the way he may or may not have made me feel. Or what it was like when I kissed him the other day.
Nope. I definitely wasn’t here to think about kissing him again.
It wasn’t running through my mind over and over and tying my stomach into knots.
“Did someone piss you off?” Finally, he looked back up at me.