I laugh. “I know!”
We work side by side for another few hours as the bar picks up. At about nine p.m., I take my break and head outside for some fresh air. I find a seat and sit down with a glass of water and a granola bar. I see a group of men walking towards me, and I smile when I see it’s Kelly, Keanu, Liam and . . . oh man . . . Nate. Kelly grins at me and when they stop, he leans down and presses a kiss to my head.
“How’s it goin’, Av?”
I shrug, trying to avoid Nate’s gaze. “Busy. You guys here for a drink?”
“You know it,” Liam says, walking inside.
Keanu is gathering the attention of women to our left, and he’s grinning at them like he wants to eat them alive. God, he’s such a womanizer. Nate is also garnering attention, only he’s not paying any back. Instead, his eyes are on me.
“Avery,” he murmurs.
“Hey Nate,” I say, trying to sound as casual as I can.
I stand up, needing to get back in and needing to get away from his penetrating gaze. I rush behind the counter and begin serving again. I take a round of drinks to the guys and see Keanu already has three women in his booth. I roll my eyes and do a round looking for empties before heading back to the bar.
“Bianca.”
I turn at the sound of the older man’s voice. He’s back at the bar and is grinning at me again. “Hi,” I say, forcing a smile.
“Can I have another drink?”
Well, derr.
“Another whiskey?” I ask, pulling out a glass.
“Only if you’ll have one with me.”
“I can’t drink on the job, sorry.”
He smiles at me, a leery, disgusting smile, and then he takes the glass I hand him. As he goes to get some cash out, he knocks the glass off the bar and it smashes onto the floor. Sighing, I rush around and bend down to pick up the glass before someone gets hurt. It’s then I feel his hand on my ass. On. My. Ass. I straighten quickly and spin around, glaring at him.
“Please keep your hands off my backside.”
His grin widens and his hand curls around my hip, pulling me closer.
“Don’t pretend you’re not interested. I saw you watchin’ me. I’m a wealthy man, Bianca. I can do things for you . . .”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, my name isn’t Bianca. If I wanted you, I would have given you my real name. I didn’t, because I’d rather fuck a pointy broomstick than let you anywhere near me.”
His eyes flash and his hand tightens on my hip as he yanks me forward.
“Don’t you ever speak to me like that again, or I’ll have your job.”
“Let me go,” I growl. “Now.”
He doesn’t.
“Let me go.”
“Let her go.”
I hear Nate’s deep, gravelly voice come up behind me. The man looks over at him and glares. “This is a private conversation.”
“I said,” Nate grinds out, “let her go.”
The man lets me go and stands, taking a step towards Nate. “Be careful, boy.”
“Or what?” Nate growls.
I stare at the two of them, feeling my heart beginning to pound. Great, of course I’ll be the one to cause a bar fight in my second week here.
The man throws his head back and laughs, and then he launches a punch right into Nate’s mouth. I scream, Nate lunges at him, and chaos breaks out in the bar. I watch in horror as Nate drives his fist into the man’s face, and then receives yet another punch. Blood trickles down his chin from his split lip, and his eyes are wild.
“Break it up!” Kelly and Keanu yell at the same time, leaning down to take one man each.
Kelly has Nate and Keanu has the older man. Nate has a swelling eye and a split lip, and he’s panting with fury. “If a girl says no, she means fuckin’ no!” he roars.
“You’ll pay for this,” the old man bellows.
Kelly drags Nate from the bar and I begin to panic. I rush around to Quinn, who is watching with wide eyes.
“Are you okay?” she asks.
“I’m okay. I’m going to see if he’s good to get home. Is that all right with you?”
She nods. “Josh is away tonight, so he’s left me in charge. Jessica will be here in ten minutes so you’re okay to leave. I’ve got this, go.”
I hug her quickly. “Thank you.”
“Text me later,” she says as I throw my apron down and rush out.
Kelly is outside with Nate, who is pacing up and down the sidewalk. When he sees me, he charges over. “You okay?”
“Shit, Nate,” I say, staring at his battered face.
“He needs to go home, Av,” Kelly says. “I can’t drive. I’ve had too much to drink – we were down the road drinking before we came here so we’re all out.”
“I’ll take him.”
Kelly nods and glares at Nate. “Sleep it off, bro.”
Then he gives me a quick hug before going inside again. I stare at Nate, feeling my heart swell with emotion. “I’ll take you home.”
“Don’t wanna go home,” he grunts.
“Where do you want to go?”
He looks me in the eye. “With you.”
“Nate . . .”
“Just let me hang at your house for a few hours, Dancer. I can’t go home like this.”
“All right, I’ll take you home and clean that up,” I say, pointing to his eye. “Then we’ll work out what to do from there.”