Chapter 45
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
BELLATRIX
Bobby dropped the drink off at the guy’s table—didn’t know if he told me his name was Bobby or I just remembered it from the other night—and glanced over his shoulder like he was being watched.
He was. By me. But for some reason, I didn’t think I was the one he was worried about.
I raised my glass in his direction and he shook his head, grumbling as he stomped his way back behind the bar.
He didn’t make eye contact though. It was probably better for both of us that he didn’t.
I didn’t know how long I’d be staying upstairs, and from what I’d heard, it wasn’t a great idea to piss off your neighbors.
Wouldn’t know from experience. Vee, Gabby, and I never really had any. Not the traditional kind. Just people we took in, or on the occasion, people who took us in. And usually we were all too desperate to piss anyone off but each other.
When I turned back around, letting Bobby continue to grumble to himself, the guy from across the bar was sipping from his new beer and staring at me.
His mouth tipped into a half-smirk and his neck doing that jerking motion that was supposed to tell me to “come on over” but looked more like a chicken pecking at loose pieces of corn.
I slammed my empty glass onto the counter, loud enough to get Bobby’s attention.
Because what girl doesn’t enjoy an audience when she’s about to do something she shouldn’t but was gonna do anyway because someone told her she shouldn’t and she didn’t like being told what to do.
Then I slipped off the stool and closed the distance, using my hip to nudge my new friend over a few inches so I could slide in beside him.
“Hi.” He grinned.
“Hi.” I extended a hand. He looked down for a moment before taking it. “I’m Bells.”
“Ain’t the guy supposed to be the one buying the drink?” he said, instead of telling me his name, which told me something else. He didn’t want me to know it.
I didn’t see a tan line around his ring finger when he finally shook my hand. So probably a girlfriend or a fiancée. It was also why he didn’t mind taking the free drink, even though he made a point to complain about it. When someone was buying for you, you didn’t have to explain the receipts.
I couldn’t tell you how many wives and girlfriends came to our door with piles of receipts and a breakdown of what each item should cost for one person and didn’t. The devil was always in the details. If you were gonna lie, you had to lie well or don’t bother doing it at all.
“I think a guy deserves a little pampering now and then, don’t you?” I reached a hand under the table and began rubbing along the inseam of his too-tight jeans.
A slamming sound had me jumping and looking up, my palms raised like I’d just been caught sneaking cookies on a high sugar day.
Bobby nudged the new glass closer to me. “The usual.”
It was deliberate. The fact he wasn’t announcing to the whole bar that my usual was a Diet Coke and lime. There was nothing a bunch of drunks hated more than someone who wasn’t getting drunk with them, so I knew he was trying to do me a solid. I just didn’t know why.
“Thanks but I didn’t order this.” I pushed the glass back in Bobby’s direction.
“It’s on the house,” he replied, nodding towards No Name before giving me a tight smile that said what he wasn’t. His interruption was deliberate too. He was worried about something. More likely someone.
I wasn’t worried about anything except starting where I left off, my hand in my new friend’s pocket while my fingers fished around for his wallet.
As soon as Bobby walked away, the guy turned to me. “You know each other?” He hitched a thumb towards the bar.
“Not more than anyone else ?round here.” I shrugged, my fingertips slowly climbing up his thigh again.
“It’s just… That was weird.” He rubbed at the back of his neck, clearly not paying attention to what I was doing under the table. Which was as useful as it was disappointing.
Way to take the fun out of it, Bobby.
“What was weird?” I tucked the wad of cash into my bra when the guy leaned forward to get a closer look at the bartender.
“Bobby… He keeps staring at us.”
“Maybe I’m just nice to stare at.”
He waved a dismissive hand. “Nah, it’s not that.”
I cocked a brow, but the fucker still wasn’t looking at me. He was too busy staring across the room.
“Right, well, it was nice getting to know you… Mike.” I’d gotten his name off his ID. He wasn’t paying attention when I did that either. “But it seems the bartender is more your type.”
I patted him on the shoulder as I pushed up off the table and slid back out.
Mike glanced over at me. “Wait? What?”
He stood up, knocking his knees and falling back into his seat before he could make it out of the booth. I waved a middle finger in his direction and kept on walking.
At this rate, it would be another hour before he realized his wallet was gone. Usually I just swiped the cash. The rest of it was too easy to trace. This go-around, I took the whole thing out of spite.
I pushed my way through the side door of Sullivan’s, walking a few steps down the block and tossing the wallet into a nearby alley. Pausing in my tracks when I didn’t hear it land. I looked to the side and watched as the wallet was propelled back at my face.
I caught it midair. “What the fuck?”