13. Lena
CHAPTER 13
Lena
A nother four thousand dollars in cash. Shit, maybe I should get my head injured more often. But right now, all I can think is the money cannot possibly be worth this shit. I’m furiously wiping down the bar from spills, trying my hardest to ignore a set of blazing green eyes aimed in my direction. The whisky he ordered over an hour ago has barely been touched. He looks out of place here. He’s in his usual all black and looks way too expensive to be in this run-down bar.
“Lena, who’s the tall, broody, handsome hunk looking your way?” Kara, one of the women I work with, asks.
At this point, it’s too hard and awkward to deny we don’t know each other, because I’m pretty certain if I get Mal, the bouncer, to ask him to leave, he’ll be the one who leaves on a stretcher. And Mal is as big as they come and twice the width of Alek, yet I’m certain Alek would definitely come out on top.
“He’s one of the sponsors of the theater company I sing for,” I say dismissively. I catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror behind the bar, admiring the red headband I had to wear today to hide the bandage on my forehead.
“Is he stalking you?” Kara asks. “If stalkers look like that, then sign me up.”
“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” I say under my breath, not loud enough for her to hear. And I’m sure as hell not announcing that I was in his bed this morning. Or that I crashed his very expensive car the evening before.
Besides, it’s not me he’s obsessed with. It’s Cinita. So why the fuck is he here?
“Hey, bartender, another one.” One of the patrons snaps his fingers at me.
I tuck the bar towel into the back of my tight jeans and snap my fingers in front of his face. “Do this again, and I’ll cut you off.”
He seems taken aback but doesn’t say anything as I grab his empty glass and pour another beer for him. I can’t help but look up as I wait for the pint to pour. Alek’s green eyes are locked on me.
I huff out a breath of irritation. Why is he here?
Is it because I refuse to quit? Not that he has any say in what I do and don’t do. Sure, it doesn’t pay much, but it never hurts to have a fallback plan in case something happens.
“Like the new belly ring, girl,” Kara says as she comes up beside me to pour a beer for another customer.
I look down past my crop top and to my stomach, almost forgetting that I’d changed it a few days ago. It has a cute little emerald in it. My only splurge for the month.
“Thank you,” I say, finding something small to appreciate for the day.
“Matches your new boyfriend’s eyes, doesn’t it?”
I turn the tap off and grit out, “He’s not my boyfriend.”
I turn back to the customer and hand him his pint. He puts down cash and includes a generous tip. Good.
I put the money for the drink in the till and the tip in the tip jar. Popping my hand on my hip, I face Alek, who’s still staring.
“Kara, I’ll be two secs,” I tell her. It’s a quiet night, so I can slip out for a moment. I approach Alek and glare at him.
“Most people don’t flirt with their whiskey and actually drink it.” I mean, he did purchase the most expensive whisky in here and gave me a two-hundred-dollar tip. The least he can do is actually drink it.
“You should stop wearing things like that.” He motions to my shirt.
My eyebrows shoot up, and I stare at him in disbelief. “Like a crop top?” Are you fucking kidding me? “Please don’t tell me you came all this way to tell me how to dress.”
He says nothing.
Oh my god, this asshole.
“Cinita isn’t coming here. She never has and never will. She doesn’t even know I work this job because she didn’t exactly stay around long enough to find out.”
“I’m not here for Cinita.”
“Then what are you here for, Alek?”
His jaw clenches, and he focuses on his glass as he swivels it in one spot.
I throw my hands in the air. I’m done with this conversation. When I turn to walk away, he speaks again.
“I wanted to make sure you hadn’t died. That’s all. ”
My eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and I swing my dark-brown hair over my shoulder to stare him down. “Most people would send a ‘hope you get better soon’ card.”
His brow furrows in confusion, and it’s strange to see this man offer any type of expression. “You could be dead in the time I mail a card.”
“I’m not dead, Alek. Clearly.”
“No. But he will be if he keeps staring at your ass.” His jaw tightens again as he flicks his gaze to the patron who snapped his finger at me earlier. “And that crop top,” he adds with a hint of sass. I almost want to laugh at how strange it is to see him be anything but serious.
“Why does that even matter to you? If he’s tipping well, I don’t care.”
“Were you not satisfied by the funds you received this morning?” he says, and it looks like he’s about to shatter the glass.
Kara walks past as he says it, and her eyebrows shoot up.
I step forward, closing my fingers like a beak in front of him, miming that he should shut his mouth. “Can you not say things like that?” I lean over and quietly whisper, “You make it sound like I’m some kind of hooker. ”
“There are plenty who make good money from such services. I don’t know why you’re looking down on it.”
“I’m not looking down—” I stop myself. “You’re awfully chatty tonight, and you can direct that to some other woman to fixate on. I am not Cinita. I don’t know where she is and want nothing else to do with this absurdity. If you keep showing up to my workplaces, then I’m tearing up that contract,” I say and walk away before he can reply.
Did the motherfucker really comment on how I look? As far as I’m concerned, he’s the only one who can’t stop staring.
When I return to the bar, I notice the patron who’d snapped his fingers at me has left. I notice him in the back of the bar, past the pool tables, stumbling to the door that leads to the back alley.
“Sir, no, that’s not the exit!” I shout, then curse under my breath. Why do they always go that way? It’s a closed-off alley that leads to nowhere, yet even when there’s a sign that clearly says “‘NOT AN EXIT,”’ a drunk fucker does it every time and sets the fire alarm off.
Annnd… off goes the alarm. Yep, just like said. I roll my eyes, and Kara is quick to bite out a curse. A lot of our regulars don’t ev en flinch as I go to find the man while Kara deals with the alarm. I look around, but Mal, the security guard, must be on his break.
I open the back door and find the man vomiting into the trash can. I sigh. Maybe quitting this job isn’t such a bad idea.
“Come on, sir, you can’t be back here. Come back inside,” I say with arms crossed over my chest.
He wipes away the vomit, and I notice then that tears are in his eyes. “She left me for him!” he sobs.
He steps toward me, arms stretched as if to hug me, but I put my hands up. “I’m sorry to hear that, but you need to come back inside.”
“You wouldn’t leave me, would you? You seem nice,” he says. A cold chill runs down my spine, and I put my hand on the pepper spray in my back pocket. It’s always there because a girl can never be too safe.
“You need to come inside,” I repeat, opening the door. Alek steps out as the man reaches for me. It all happens so fast that I can’t even scream.
Alek grabs his outstretched hand and breaks it, then slams his head against the dumpster. My hands cover my mouth, shocked by his violent outburst. Any fear I might’ve had from the drunk man is quickly replaced by this monster. When he looks back at me, those piercing green eyes stare at me as if from the darkest corner of hell .
A dog barks in the distance as the door slams shut behind me. I realize I’m aiming the pepper spray at Alek now.
“You intend to spray me with that?” he asks, brow raised.
“He didn’t deserve that,” I say, but my words sound distant.
“He also doesn’t deserve to put his hands on you.”
He goes to step toward me, but I raise the spray higher. “I will, Alek. I don’t care if you’re a sponsor.”
He steps forward, and I press down on the button. He’s so fast. His gloved hand covers the spray and my hand. His other lands on my hip as he slams me against the brick wall.
My heart races as I stare into those forest green eyes, my breath coming in hot and fast, my chest rising and falling as he consumes me.
His jaw clenches, and I know it’s because he’s touching me. It physically pains him to do so, but then, unexpectedly, his gaze drops to my lips, and the atmosphere changes. Fear begins to mingle with… a warmth spreading down to my core.
No .
I can’t be turned on by this, can I?
“I’ll send a card next time, sunshine,” he says as he pushes away from me and the back door opens .
Kara and Mal take in the drunk who’s sobbing and holding his hand with blood oozing from his forehead.
“Oh my gosh, Lena, what happened?” Kara asks as Mal looks between Alek and the drunk man.
“He tried…” I clear my throat as I try to bring my thoughts into focus. “He tried to grab me.” I might be scared of Alek, but when I recall the events, the man had tried to grab me. And that is far more terrifying.
When I look around, I see Alek has already slipped back inside.
Mal is quick to deal with the sobbing man as Kara rubs up and down my arms. I don’t hear what she’s saying as I walk back inside and notice his expensive whiskey still untouched. And Alek is gone.
What the fuck just happened?