I didn’t manage the bar for any of my employees to feel unsafe. I’d been in enough situations before to know I’d never let those I cared about be in danger ever again.
I shouldn’t have overreacted and pulled her off the dance floor. Then, once we were behind the bar, those doe eyes begged for me to fuck her over it. Suddenly, she was all I saw. As she walked past me behind the bar, as she served customers like a pro, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.
I turned to my crew and found that most of the bar was set to go for the next day. “We do well tonight?”
Drake smiled big and bumped fists with Vinny. “Seems like Zoey’s a good luck charm. We made about as much as we do on Saturdays.”
Melanie and Red took their wads of cash and waved them around as they danced to the beat of a song.
Jude came out from the back and shook his head at the girls’ antics. “Guessing y’all had way too much to drink tonight?”
“I probably should have had more,” I grumbled, although everyone knew I didn’t get buzzed on the job. Too many things could go wrong without someone sober in charge.
“Judy, boy,” Red whined, “come dance with us.”
That man’s cheeks heated so quick, no one, not even him, could deny he had a crush on her. I clapped him on the shoulder. “Go have some fun. You cooked your ass off tonight.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He leaned in to whisper before he walked away. “Don’t scare her away before we sink our claws into her, huh? She looked petrified after going down the hall.”
“You should have stopped her,” I grunted and scratched at my chin.
“You should have thought twice about burying yourself in that viper another time,” he shot back with a smirk on his face.
Instead of answering, I combed a hand through my hair. Then, I went to lock up the registers so I could leave them to have fun if they wanted. I needed to get the hell out of there and recenter myself after my night.
Zoey had unbalanced me, and I wasn’t sure I would get my footing anytime soon.
Before I left, I snatched her number off the counter. “I’ll call her to see if she’ll help us out next week.”
“Sure that’s all you’re doing?” Drake asked with one dark eyebrow raised. I flipped him off and left.
For the next couple of nights, I thought about texting her. If I thought I wouldn’t see her again, I would have.
Instead, our week started with me sitting in the back of the lecture hall like I always did. I expected her to barrel in half a mess like she did the whole week before. She didn’t show up. I texted her ten minutes into class.
Me: You didn’t make it to class. Want me to take notes?
It was neutral enough ground. Other than the fact that she knew I was watching for her to walk through the doors.
Zoey: I’m here. How did you get my number?
My head swiveled around, seeking her. She wasn’t in the back row anywhere. I searched row by row and, of course, the last row I looked at in the very front of the class sat Zoey, back straight and head completely forward.
So, I’d seen her at her worst last week. Today, she didn’t look at all frazzled from behind. She was nodding to whatever the professor said and, from afar, I saw she was scribbling notes by hand while everyone else typed.
Me: Do you normally sit all the way in front?
Zoey: I normally want to pay attention. Stop texting me during class.
Smirking to myself, I put my phone on the corner of my desk and waited until the professor ended class.
Right as he did, I texted again.
Me: Want to grab a coffee?
Zoey: No. I have homework.
Me: It’s due in a week.
Zoey: Better to start on it now then.
Me: We have to talk about your next shift.
Zoey: I have an interview with a cafe tomorrow. So, there won’t be a next shift.
My head shot up to find her still sitting in her chair as students bustled out of the lecture hall. She packed up slowly, letting everyone pass her, a complete juxtaposition to how she was while bartending.
Zoey gave life to Heathen’s and radiated a loud, booming personality. Customers had flocked to her when she was behind the bar, and she’d juggled them all effortlessly.
Yet, she hid it all.
She shoved her red hat on before saying, “You need to fix my computer.”
“Right, I got a guy at the campus’s IT. If you’ve got time and your laptop with you in your bag, we can walk there.”
“I wasn’t going to come to class without it. But you said you were fixing it, so I figured this was my best shot at getting it done. Turns out, you’re not actually doing the fixing?” She stood and threw the bag over her shoulder.
“I’m getting it fixed for free, woman.”
“It was a deal, an even exchange,” she tossed back.
“I think you made enough to buy a computer last night, am I right?” I stalked after her, floored the woman showed me no appreciation. “I figured you’d be thanking me for all the cash in your pocket today. You had fun working with us, admit it.”
She only slowed down to shove her arms into her massive black coat and then she hurried out of the lecture hall toward the exit doors. “I’m grateful for the cash.” She looked like it pained her to admit it. “I’ve never made that much in one night bartending.”
I nodded solemnly, not about to spar with her on this serious subject. “The first time I made over five hundred bucks in one night, I swore I’d never work at a fast-food restaurant again.”
She stopped before we got outside to peer up at me in question. “You?” She pointed animatedly as a smile crept over her face. “You worked in a fast-food restaurant?”
“Yeah.” I scratched the scruff on my chin like it was no big deal. “Why are you acting like it’s so hard to believe?”
A giggle, one as carefree as those she let loose while waitressing with Red the other night, bubbled out of her. “Because … because it is.”
Before I could respond, I was chuckling at her bent-over laughing.
She wrapped an arm around her stomach and tried to get more information from me through her laughing fit. “But … what did you wear? Your leather jacket? Or was there a uniform?” More laughing. “Did anything even fit you?”
“Woman, I don’t wear this leather jacket everywhere.” I feigned offense by holding out the leather and glancing down at it with a frown on my face. “You don’t like it?”
“Of course I like it,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes as her giggles subsided. “Everyone likes it and knows you for it around here. It’s like how the city would describe you if someone asked.”
I motioned for her to walk through the exit doors with me, and we curled into ourselves as a cold breeze hit us. “This way to the IT building. On the way, you can tell me what you think my city description is.”
“If the city described you, it would say you’re Broody Cole with the leather jacket and swarms of girls around you.”
“No swarms today.” I glanced around us with wide eyes, mocking her assessment.