Chapter 3
Bri
“Bye!” I called to my last student. I wished it meant my day was over, but alas, it was not, not by a longshot. I liked to get ahead on my lesson plans so this wasn’t an issue, but with all the mess going on with Damon, I hadn’t been able to work on them.
I put my phone on a streaming radio station and hummed as I went through and made plans for the next week. I didn’t have the energy by far to do any more than that. By the time I finished, I was beyond ready for a drink.
Kaylee was a bad influence on me. I’d drank more since moving to Bluewater than I ever had in my life. But shit, I’d married Damon way too young and he never wanted to go out and do anything. Now that I was free, I felt like a young adult again, ready to take on the world and have a little fun.
I just wanted to do it responsibly, in a safe environment, with my good friends, no guys, and my daughter safely at home with her grandparents. As opposed to how I might’ve done it nine or ten years ago when I first turned the drinking age.
Skye wasn’t free to go out, not with those little bitty babies.
It was too hard to get away from them when they were that young.
Plus, she probably didn’t want to. I’d had no desire to leave Hayden until she was nearly a year old.
Not that I could have even if I had wanted to.
After I left Damon, I realized how much he had controlled my actions, including whether or not I went out.
I pulled my phone out as I packed up the rest of my things and shot a text off to Kaylee. She was always up for a party. I also texted my parents to make sure they didn’t have plans that meant they wouldn’t be home to stay with Hayden.
Kaylee responded first. Meet me at Jace’s Place in an hour. I’m down.
Jace’s and the small nightclub next door were about the only offerings Bluewater had unless we wanted to drive a good forty-five minutes away. Besides, I felt safe at Jace’s. He’d been the one who’d helped me with Damon the night that he found me here.
My parents replied with the affirmative. They’d picked Hayden up for me and were heading to get some dinner. I let them know not to buy any for me and headed to my apartment. I called Bianca on the way. “Girls’ night?” I asked in a way of greeting.
“Hell, yes.” She sounded emotional. “I broke up with Caleb.”
“Wait, what happened to Andre?” She’d had him at breakfast less than a week ago, Saturday morning. Not that I was surprised.
“He broke up with me on Sunday. I met Caleb on Monday and he tried to tell me he wanted his future wife to stay home with their kids. I can’t date a man who would require something like that.”
“Want me to pick you up?” I offered.
“Sure. I’ll get ready.”
Hayden and I were still staying with my parents, but it was nice to be able to get ready in peace. If I’d gone to their place and Hayden caught me, she would’ve wanted to do my hair and makeup. And that was a look not for public consumption.
When I got home, I just double-checked the lock on the door, then stayed aware of the noises in the place. If I had to, I could barricade myself in my bedroom and go down the fire escape.
It made me sad that I had to be this paranoid and careful. I should’ve been able to just go home and change. It didn’t have to be a whole production. Except that with Damon, it did have to be a whole production.
I was starting to think maybe my Dad’s request that I start carrying wasn’t the worst idea.
After grabbing Bianca, I headed back toward town. “Are you excited about seeing Jace again?” she asked.
I rolled my eyes, but that did remind me that I’d never properly thanked him for coming to my aid and interfering with Damon.
At the same time, it was so embarrassing that he’d seen it at all.
“Not really. I hate that he saw it happen. And I appreciate that he stuck his nose in when so many wouldn’t nowadays.
I guess I’ll thank him and pray that he forgets all about it. ”
“And that Damon drops off the face of the earth,” she muttered.
“Yeah, that too.”
Kaylee was out front waiting for us. She lived in a loft apartment over the delicatessen, a big open-air studio thing that had lots of natural light for her live streams. The owners of the deli had made her soundproof the place because they were getting complaints when she worked during their business hours.
Skye had helped her nail up egg-crate foam and then they hung curtains all over the walls—It had helped add to the sexy effect anyway.
After hugs and girly cheek-kisses, we headed in to find the place packed.
No surprise on a Friday night. Kaylee had called ahead and reserved a table.
The owner, my hero, Jace, treated Kaylee pretty well, both because we were friends with Skye, his best friend’s new baby-mama, but also because Kaylee was such a good customer.
“No VIP?” I asked in a loud voice over the roar of the packed bar.
“No, it was booked. I was lucky to get a table at all. Had to prepay for our drinks, so tonight is on me!”
I’d learned not to argue. Kaylee made more money in a week than I made in two months. She loved lavishing it on her friends, and I’d learned to love to let her.
A server set drinks down in front of us within minutes of us claiming our table. “Perks of being an internet celebrity,” Kaylee said and held up her glass. We toasted our girls’ night and got busy.
“Teach me your ways,” Bianca said.
“Oh, no. That’s okay,” I replied and shot Kaylee a look. “Nothing wrong with what Kaylee does for a living, but you better think long and hard before you consider that career path. It’s not as easy as Kaylee makes it out to be.”
I arched an eyebrow at her. “Is it?”
She shook her head. “Definitely not. It takes a lot of work and patience, and an extremely thick skin. Not everyone is as accepting as your sister is.”
Bianca nodded and chewed her lip. “Still, the money is tempting.”
Kaylee laughed. “Honey, the money is divine!” She jumped to her feet and began to dance. I wasn’t nearly drunk enough to join her, but as the night progressed, eventually I did. The drinks were plentiful and free, and nobody bothered us.
Jace wasn’t behind the bar. I’d looked around the room several times trying to see if he was working, and I’d even taken a peek in the VIP section, which wasn’t visible from the floor.
Jace’s Place was an odd mix of dive bar and an upscale bar.
I guessed in a town this small, he’d had to adapt to be somewhere anyone would want to come to drink.
He had cheap, nasty beer all the way up to some pretty high-dollar wines and liquors.
I tried to stay near the middle when I drank. I couldn’t stomach the cheap stuff but wasn’t buying anything snooty, not on a teacher’s salary.
Eventually, I gave up on looking for Jace and just enjoyed myself, dancing, playing darts, and eventually when the room cleared out, pool in the back room.
I’d only been sipping on my drink, having too much fun to drink that much. But eventually it got to me, and I excused myself to go to the bathroom. I’d paced myself so I had a nice buzz but wasn’t so drunk that I felt like going to the bathroom alone wasn’t a good idea.
So, when I walked in and heard the unmistakable sounds of someone getting it on in the last stall, the big one, I knew it wasn’t my brain being fanciful.
But still, I had to pee. With a shrug and biting back a laugh, I tiptoed into the farthest spot away from the amorous couple and peed as fast as I could.
Hey, at least someone was getting some. The bathroom had cut off the sounds of the bar, and all I heard was the sound of my own pee and grunts from the horny couple.
They whispered a little, but I missed what they said.
I walked out of the stall thinking about how damn long it had been since I’d gotten some.
Way too long. Maybe I should think about a booty call. I’d never even considered one before, but my vibrator was getting so much use I was afraid I was going to wear it out.
I walked out the door and got halfway back to the table when I realized my cell was still sitting on the counter by the sink in the bathroom.
I’d set it down to wash my hands. Whirling around, I hurried back, afraid it would be gone if someone else had gone in there in the short time since I’d left.
As soon as I opened the door, Jace walked out of the stall, zipping his pants. He’d been about to say something to the woman who stood at the sink washing her hands. She finished quickly while I waited, frozen in the doorway, unsure what to do or say.
He turned and saw me and froze with his mouth half open. “Oh,” he said. “I, uh...” I met his eyes and mouthed soundlessly at him. What was I supposed to say?
“Excuse me,” she said as she wiped her wet hands on her pants and edged around me with her hand on Jace’s back, pushing him forward.
I jumped out of the way. “Sorry,” I exclaimed.
“I just left my cell in here.” Lunging forward, I grabbed it and rushed to leave.
It was mortifying, for some reason, knowing who was in the stall.
I didn’t know the woman, but she looked about my age, and actually looked a little like my sister, which was strange.
It embarrassed me more. It meant he was into girls that looked like me.
He could’ve just asked me out. But then, I wouldn’t have done what that chick did in that stall, so…
why did it bother me that the girl he’d been with looked like me?
I hurried back out into the bar totally confused and mostly sober. Why seeing Jace coming out of that stall bothered me, I had no clue. But my face was flushed and hands nearly shaky.
When I sat down, the back of my neck tingled. I turned toward the bar to see Jace there with his gaze on me. “I need more drinks,” I told Bianca and Kaylee as I tore my gaze away from the bar area.
As if like magic, another rum and Coke appeared in front of me. “Damn, I’m so glad you’re a celebrity tonight,” I told Kaylee, and raised my fresh glass for another toast with my girls. “To Kaylee.”
I focused on my friends and tried to go on with my night, but it was damn hard to ignore him at the bar, serving up drinks and talking to customers.
My gaze flitted that way more times than I wanted it to, and I just couldn’t get into my drink again.
I sipped the same rum and Coke until it was gone, then asked for water.
I still wanted to thank him for coming to my aid the other night, but the thought of talking to him after he’d been in there, doing that… No. Couldn’t do it.
I finally had to call it a night. “Ladies. It’s nearly two.
I’ve been up since five. I gotta call it.
” They nodded and agreed, all of us getting pretty damn sleepy.
“Come on. I’m sober, I’ll drive you both home.
” I hadn’t been able to drink after that bathroom scene.
Ugh. I checked my watch. That was at least four hours ago. I was good.
Kaylee shook her head. “I can walk!”
She’d had more drinks than I’d been able to count. I hefted her up with one arm. “It’s just down the road, I can drive you that far.”
Again, I felt someone’s gaze at my back and turned to see Jace looking at me. His stare was so intense, like he was about to say something private and intimate. But he was across the bar, so if he’d spoken, I never would’ve been able to hear it. It gave me chills.
I hauled Kaylee to the car, and Bianca followed obediently. She’d drank far less than Kaylee but also had a lower tolerance. She was pretty soused.
“Can you get in?” I asked.
Bianca giggled. “Of course.” She climbed in the back seat while I attempted to get Kaylee in the car without taking her head off. Finally, I had her stuffed in and wondered if it would’ve been easier to walk her home and walk back than get her in this seat.
I turned to walk around the front of the car and nearly slammed right into Jace’s chest. He stood on the curb and I stood on the asphalt, so it made him seem a good four inches taller.
I looked up at him expectantly. “Hello.”
He held out his hand… with my phone in it. I groaned and took it. “Thank you so much. I’m not normally this forgetful. It’s been a long week.”
“You don’t seem to make very good decisions, so I can’t say I’m that surprised.” He arched an eyebrow and pursed his lips like some sort of judgmental granny.
Shock spread through me. I couldn't believe he’d said something so insulting to me. “Excuse me?” I whispered. “I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
Everything in me wanted to slap his face, but for one, I couldn’t reach it. And two, he’d saved me, possibly saved my life, the week before. His horrible insult didn’t negate that.
“You leaving your phone twice after being assaulted behind this very bar indicates that you’re not thinking very clearly. You really should be smarter.”
I gasped as his words sank in and I tried to process how far over the line he’d gone. I was normally level-headed and able to hold my temper, but his words got to me. “Well, I’d be more offended if I valued the opinions of a man who chooses to get blowjobs in public restrooms.”
He narrowed his eyes as I raked my gaze up and down his front and put a haughty look on my face. “You lack class.” I glared at him. “Maybe you shouldn’t be throwing stones when you live in a glass house?”
Pushing past him, I circled the front of the car and got in.
I didn’t give him a chance to say anything or try to insult me again, just backed out of the spot, and pulled onto the main road.
My anger bubbled, still reeling as I pulled into the deli parking lot to drop Kaylee off.
Damn him! I’d thought he might’ve been a nice guy.
And I could’ve gone past him getting a quickie in the bathroom, but his words to me in the parking lot were unforgivable.
He was clearly an asshole, and I wanted nothing to do with that shit.