“Nah.” I waved off her question like it was ridiculous. “The smart women eat alone, and you look smart to me.”
A laugh burst from her and then she gasped back a sob. “I’m sorry. It’s just … it’s been a bad couple of days.”
I patted her shoulder. This was what I remembered loving. Patrons coming in, sharing their problems, looking for a shoulder to lean on, and I was able to provide a bit of comfort.
“You know what makes those days better?”
She waited and as I pointed down at the menu, she smiled. I nodded with wide eyes at her.
“Fine. Bring me the damn cheese curds. I’ll probably eat them all.” She fell back into her chair and shoved the menu my way. “If I’m fat by the end of the night, I’m blaming you.”
“Or blame the person who made your last couple of days bad.” I sidestepped Red as she buzzed by.
“Well, I can’t do that because I already dumped him.” She sighed.
“Good. He was an ass anyway.”
She giggled as I left her table. I found myself laughing too as I weaved around the customers that had crowded in. I scribbled down the order as I got to the back room and threw it on the back counter for Jude to whip up.
He nodded at me behind the fryer. “You catch on quick.”
“Not much to it.”
“Some people can’t do it at all. Cole’s about given up.” Jude pointed a spatula at me as he glided over to the grill where he flipped a few burgers. Over the past couple of hours, I’d learned he was most at ease cooking.
“On finding a waitress? Most college girls would kill to work here.” I tilted my head in disbelief.
“Yeah because they want in on our crew or to fuck around, not because they want to actually work.”
“What’s so great about the crew?” I smirked at him, wondering if he’d take my question as a joke.
He chuckled and shook his head. “You’ll find out, Zoey. And then you won’t want to leave either.”
I scoffed at his assumption. My mom’s health and my education were most important.
I needed her to stay sober, I needed to finish school to get back to taking care of things back home, not get lost in the college life.
Cole turned the music up and dimmed the lights after another hour. He offered to let me go home since the kitchen was now closed, but I opted to stay and make the extra money by serving drinks until close.
Or because I enjoyed the way I felt there.
Or because I enjoyed the way his gaze felt on me.
Red introduced me to another server and two other bartenders. Cole slung drinks quicker than I ever could. At one point, Red caught me staring at him while he shook up my drinks. His biceps were bigger than most of the college boys on campus and rivaled the football players who’d show up earlier in the night.
“He’s a freaking hottie, isn’t he?” She nudged my shoulder.
I jerked away and spun to face the crowd, back to the bar. “He’s as attractive as any of the others.”
It was true enough. Those four—Jude and his blond locks, Peter with his man bun, and the other two, Drake and Vinny, with their bulky muscled arms—had girls swarming around the bar like bees to honey. The guys moved with ease, all smiles and raw sex appeal.
“But Cole’s the alpha. He’s been taking care of this pack since the very beginning.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, trying my best not to turn and look at him again. I failed.
I watched him like he’d watched all of us tonight. He tracked each of his workers continually, almost like they were his herd. His eyes bounced everywhere when he couldn’t spot one of us. His neck muscles would tense, his mouth would drop to a thin line, and he would look almost ominous. That was the most real I had seen him, without the smile and without the fun.
“We all have our stories. Cole started managing this bar and made sure we shared them, that we healed here rather than somewhere else.”
I ran a hand through my hair, trying to take in her words without tensing up. Another song started, and she pushed away from the bar, wiggling her hips as she smiled at me. “Night’s almost over and Melanie just walked in. That means we get a break to dance!”
She grabbed my hand before I could say no. Red didn’t do anything small, she pulled her hair tie out, shaking out her long mane of bright auburn hair. She twerked to the beat against my side and waved over some of the people she’d just served drinks to.
She swung me around like we were in the middle of tangoing and yelled, “You better let loose, Zoey, or you’ll be stiff forever.”
I rolled my eyes but found myself moving a little to the beat. She whooped as if she’d won the lottery and proceeded to shake her ass like a backup dancer for Beyoncé.
The vibe, the music, the lights were infectious. I gave in to dancing near her and found that even with all of her movement, Red never let go of my hand. She didn’t make it noticeable, but I could tell it was intentional.
When I felt a body behind me, I stiffened, and she twirled me close to her, away from them. “I got you, boo.”
I’d vowed to get through college fast and with no friends. I didn’t trust anyone after the way the girls at the bar in Sun Village had treated me, but Red was instantly someone I knew I was going to break my no friend rule for.
When the football team trickled onto the dance floor, and more and more people joined in on our fun, I heard Cole’s normally playful voice cut through the music hard. “Fun’s over, Red.”
“Aw, Cole,” She groaned and yanked me to her side. “We’re just rowdying the crowd up.”
“Time to get back to work.” He shot a thumb behind him. “You know I don’t like any of you out on the dance floor.”
“No fun.” She stuck her tongue out at him and shrugged at me before skipping off to meet Melanie at the bar.
Cole looked beyond me at the massive crowd now pulsing to the music. “You taking off? Or helping close down?”
His stare was cold, distant, and a little lost. I stepped in front of his line of sight. “Do you want me to stay?”
He sucked on his teeth and his jaw popped. “Only if you intend to help, not jump around.”
My jaw dropped at his soured attitude. “It’s near 2 a.m. We were taking a ten-minute break. We’ve been going all night.”
He pulled a hand over his face as if trying to wipe away his shitty attitude. “It’s been a busy night, and you two were making me nervous. Sorry.” He spun around to go back to the bar. Then he thought better of it and stalked toward me to grab me by the elbow and drag me off the dance floor.
“Seriously?” I stuttered as I stumbled to keep up with him, weaving through the crowd. When we got back to the side bar, he pulled me close enough to physically cut off some of the drunken patrons now flooding every open area. I yanked my arm out from his grip. “What the hell?”
“I want you behind the bar from now on.” He looked me up and down, his stare territorial all of a sudden.
I wished my nipples didn’t tighten, that my stomach didn’t respond with butterflies to his words. He didn’t want anything to do with me—he’d said so himself—so it wasn’t like my body was responding to him. Just his words. I straightened my sweater and stepped back into the side bar. “Pay me out. I’m done.”