18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Sam
S he saw me, I know she did. Watching Caden follow her around like a puppy has me seeing red. He’s a grade A asshole and has no business having his grubby ass hands on her.
While fighting every instinct of mine to punch the guy, I make my way to the bar instead. Theo sees me and heads over.
“You see who your lady friend has tailing her?” Theo’s eyes find Caden in the crowd and he juts his chin out.
“She isn’t my anything, and yes. Of course, Caden latched onto her like the parasite he is.” Resisting the urge to look in their direction, I rest my arm against the bar.
Caden grew up in this area. He went to a different school but when you’re that big of a douche, everyone within a fifty-mile radius knows. I’ve known him since high school, and it’s safe to say those were his glory days. He would be the poster boy of “peaked in high school” if there was one. I almost disliked seeing her with him as much as I disliked seeing her with her date the other day. He appeared respectful and successful. And for reasons I refuse to admit to myself, I hate it.
“Keep telling yourself you’re not jealous. It’s written all over your face.”
My head snaps back to Theo. “How about you shut the fuck up and pour my beer? Some bartender.”
He just chuckles. “Yeah, you’re totally fine. And I would have poured your beer if you had ordered one. She was right about the stick up your ass. You should get that checked out soon.”
He plops my beer down on the counter and I swipe it and walk away. Theo is one of my best friends—he really is. But if he keeps running his mouth, I’m going to have to drop his ass into the middle of next week.
I hear his chuckle behind me as I swerve through the sweaty bodies on the way back to the Flambé crew. A handful of us go out together after rough dinner services, and tonight definitely fit into that category. We had not one, but two large groups of twenty or more. Working in a kitchen and trying to get twenty dishes done all around the same time is literal hell.
We hired a new cook in the kitchen who definitely lied on his résumé. If I had to guess, he holds the world record for most burned pieces of toast in a lifetime. And Chef decided tonight would be a good training exercise. So, I got to watch over the whole kitchen. It was a clusterfuck of herding cats. A shit show. Usually, I get here and get to relax, but while Addie is being followed by the city’s scum, I cannot do that.
“Damn, you couldn’t get me a beer?” Charlie asks. He was hired not long after me, and I quickly learned we share a lot in common with asshole fathers and being the black sheep in the family. We spend just as much time together watching football and slinging beers on Friday nights as we do serving up main courses.
“Sorry, I bailed out of there pretty fast. You can have mine. I didn’t drink out of it yet, and I don’t think I’m in the mood for drinking tonight.”
“Ain’t gotta tell me twice.” He swipes the beer from my hands and gives a good, hearty chug, immediately followed by a belch.
“Nice.” We both chuckle.
My sister catches a glimpse of me and waves her arms at me. Liv was always my favorite. Since she’s five years older than me, she acted as a second mom the older we got. When shit went south went Dad, I shut her out, too. I’d be lying if I said I don’t miss her.
“I’m going to go say hi. I’ll be right back,” I say, and Charlie nods. But this place is packed tonight, making it incredibly hard to sneak through.
Finally making it through the crowd, Liv’s face lights up as I lean in to give her a one-arm hug.
“It’s so good to see you. How have you been?” Her excitement bubbles up. Now that I’m up close, I can see the flush in her cheeks.
“Good, thanks. What are you guys doing out tonight?” I’ve been here quite frequently since Theo took over, and this is the first night I’ve seen her out and about.
“Addie’s coworker decided we were due for a girls’ night, and I couldn’t resist.” She shrugs and takes a sip from the cocktail straw, the drink looking closer to empty with every second that passes.
The rest of the girls are on the dance floor. Isla is doing more hopping and jumping than she is dancing, and the girl I don’t know at least has some rhythm. My sight lands on Addie, and I see Caden grinding up on her. His hands keep riding up her waist. I watch her push them down three times. Her body language is getting more and more tense as the seconds pass. She tries to take a step forward, but he won’t let go of her waist.
I try to decide whether this is somewhere I should intervene. Surely, one of the girls with her has noticed. While glancing through the crowd, I quickly realize all three are inebriated beyond compare. Even my super attentive big sister is a little out of it. And because Liv was so much older, she didn’t go to high school at the same time as him to know he’s an ass.
Addie manages to wiggle away and whispers something in the ear of the girl I don’t know. Then, she starts to walk toward Liv and I, leaving Caden behind. His eyes track her every movement and I hate it.
“You having fun?” Liv asks Addie, putting down her drink.
“Yeah, it’s getting a little hot and too crowded. I’m just going to take a step outside for a minute.” She does a little nod toward me, all while hiding her eyes. Something is definitely up.
My eyes dart back to the floor. Caden tries to come up behind Addie’s coworker, but she slips out before he can get a grip on her. The rumble in my ear leaves me to believe my sister is having a one-sided conversation with me, as I am too engrossed in watching this asshat make a fool out of himself. He rolls his neck and beelines for the same door Addie just slipped out of. The way he is bulldozing through the crowd sends my hackles up.
Yup. That’s enough of that.
“I’m going to be right back,” I mutter to Liv as I stride to catch up with Caden. Theo gives me a concerned look from the bar. I just give him the eye and he knows. That’s the best part of knowing people well; sometimes, no words are needed to get the hint.
I get out the door and see Addie a little down the sidewalk. The low light of the building flickers above her head, letting just enough light in to see what’s going on. Lo and behold, there’s the scum of the earth. She pushes him away and I pick up my pace.
“Please stop touching me.” Fear drips from her voice, as she squares her body off and her shoulders stiffen, every bit of her trying to close off this douche fuck.
Caden cocks his head to the side. “What, you think you can be a little tease and just leave me hanging?” He grabs onto her upper arms with both of his hands. Her face loses its hard creases, and panic fills her eyes. And now, all I see is red.
My walk becomes a run. Pushing against his chest, my words come out in a snarl. “Get your fucking hands off her.”
“Mind your own business, Sam.” He recoils from my shove and grounds his feet further into the cold pavement.
Addie stays huddled next to the building, watching us face off.
“She is my business. Now get your hands off her and get the fuck out of here.”
Puffing his chest, Caden gets in my face. Apparently, he thinks he’s intimidating. That’s cute.
“Or what? We all know your family is nothing but pretty boys.” A puff of breath leaves his mouth, before he reaches for Addie. “Come on, Addie.” He tries to drag her by her forearms. A flash of panic crosses her face, and that does it for me. I've had enough.
My fist meets his face before he even registers what happens. He grunts as he hits the ground with a satisfying thunk .
“That’s what. Get the fuck out of here and don’t bother coming back.” My hand points to the street, just in case his dumbass didn’t get the message.
“I know they say not to kick a man while he's down, but…” Addie walks over and drills him right in the balls. That’ll hurt. “Don’t ever fucking touch me again. You are pathetic.”
“And you thought getting your ass kicked by a pretty boy sucked. Be sure to tell them that the pretty girl did the most damage.” I spit the words out as he rolls to his side in pain.
I walk Addie in the opposite direction, my hand instinctively going to her lower back. “Do you want to go back inside?” I ask, unable to read her.
“I don’t want to go in there and deal with them all freaking out. I’ll probably just Uber or something and shoot them a text. What an ass. Tonight was supposed to be my first night out on the town.”
A little desperate to make her feel better, I say, “Well, I didn’t drink anything, and I drove here. How about we drive around town?”
She looks at me for a while, and I am half expecting her to say no.
“You sure your lady friend would be okay with that?”
It takes me a second to register what she means, but then I realize my dumbass never told her that my coworker made it seem like we were a thing when we most definitely are not.
“She isn’t my girlfriend. She’s just a coworker.”
“Sure seemed like more.” She turns to walk away from me, as if not believing a single thing coming out of my mouth. But after the night she’s had, I don’t blame her.
“Addie, I’m not lying.” Reaching out, I grab her hand. She whips back around, her eyes meeting mine, and I feel her searching through mine for the truth. “She’s had a thing for me, but it was completely one-sided. I swear.” Dropping her hand, I put my hands up in surrender. There’s only one girl I have a thing for, and she’s looking right at me.
After staring at me through critical eyes, she tilts her head back and lets out a sigh, her defenses finally dropping. “Okay. I’m in.” A smile stretches across my face in response. “Only if you buy me a milkshake.” I’d probably buy her anything she wants at this point.
Her arms erupt in goosebumps from the chilled air. I didn’t even think about how cold it is outside right now.
“Here.” I shrug off my leather coat and sling it over her shoulders. I can’t help but notice how good she looks in it.
She looks up to me, her eyes swimming with emotion. “Thanks, Sam. And not just for the coat.”
“He had it coming. I’ve been itching to deck that fucker since high school. You just gave me a good reason. The kick to the balls was a nice touch.” Gravel and dirt crunch underneath our feet as we walk up the dimly lit street to my car.
“He’s lucky I didn’t hack it off. I should have listened to the alarm bells and creeper flags that were flying. This is what I get for trying to be a nice person and for wearing my ‘buy me drinks’ dress.” She looks down at herself, and I can’t believe she thinks this was her fault.
“You being a nice person was definitely not the problem here. You looking smoking hot is also not the problem.” Someone needs to come shut me the fuck up right now. I know she’s going to run with that.
“So, you think I'm smoking hot, huh?” She flips her hair and shoots me a wink.
My eyes roll. However, the denial gets stuck on the tip of my tongue, because she is undeniably beautiful.
“You’d have to be legally blind not to notice you. And in a dress like that.” I shake my head and unlock the car door. Walking to her side of the car, I open the door, and she looks a little taken aback.
Looking from my hand on the handle to my face, she asks, “Well, Prince Charming, since when are you a gentleman?”
Dropping all expression from my face, I reply, “I’m not a neanderthal, but thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“He knocks a guy out and opens the car door, what a packaged deal.”
I roll my eyes at her and close the door behind her once she gets comfortable in the seat. Walking around the car, I grin to myself. This is my one shot to make up for our first almost date, and there won’t be anyone to fuck it up this time.
“Okay, shortcake, where we headed?”