Chapter 7
7
BAILEY
“ S o he hasn’t said anything else to you? At all?” Ophelia looked at me through the mirror on her vanity as she put on her makeup.
“Nope. We’ve made eye contact and I’ve tried waving to him, but he never comes up and talks to me. Not since I had to use him as a decoy a few days ago. Maybe I freaked him out.” I worried my bottom lip as I searched Ophelia’s closet for something to wear.
“Maybe he’s just shy. You are stunningly sexy. If I were a man, I’d be intimidated by you too. Maybe you should try to be more ugly,” she quipped before laughing at her own joke.
It was Saturday and a couple days had passed since Hank and I spoke at the gym when he saved me from the creep who had gotten too close. Not even a hello. There were times where I would catch his eyes on me in the mirror or feel like someone was watching me. When I would swing my head around to look, I would catch him looking away once I found him. I would smile and start to wave at him just as he would hurry to look away or walk in the other direction.
Maybe he had a girlfriend , a voice in my head said.
“Well that would be a real fuckin’ bummer,” I grumbled to myself.
“What was that?” Ophelia asked, looking at my reflection again in the mirror.
“Nothing. Just talking to myself. What about this?” I pulled out a daisy printed sundress and held it up in front of me.
“Cute! You should totally wear that tonight.” We were heading to one of the bars on the water for a drink. Since the majority of my closet was workout gear, she was letting me borrow something from hers.
“Okay, I’m going to go put it on,” I added, heading to my own room to change.
“And put some makeup on. Not that you don’t look incredible without it, but think about how drop dead, boner inducing you could be with some blush,” my friend yelled at me through the walls.
I rolled my eyes and ignored her comment. Makeup wasn’t something I ever got into. Not that I had any issue with women who enjoyed wearing it, I just thought it was a waste of money. And whenever I tried to wear some I always ended up looking like a drunken circus clown.
I stripped out of the loungewear I had been wearing and pulled on the dress. It hugged my hips and fell just above my knees, showing off my muscular, defined calves. Doing a spin in the mirror, I looked at myself and leaned in to study my face. I pouted at myself and ran my fingers through my shoulder-length hair. I felt pretty. Hell, I looked pretty. And I knew it.
“If only Hank wasn’t so fucking shy. Maybe I could be getting a drink with him instead of Ophelia,” I whispered as I turned to look at myself one more time in the mirror. I slipped on a pair of brown strappy sandals and grabbed my bag off the bedpost.
As I exited the room, I caught my reflection one more time in the mirror. Without warning, the image of my bloodied lip and bruised eye flashed in front of my eyes and the sounds of me crying rang in my ears. I felt my feet stop where they were as my hands covered my face.
“B, are you okay?” Ophelia’s concerned voice pulled me out of the memory.
“What? Yeah. Yes, I’m fine.” I gave her a fake smile I hoped was convincing. “A bug just flew into my face.”
“Oh my god, I wish they would spray for those. The last thing we need is a god damn bug infestation in here.” She rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse off the bar before turning to me. “You ready?”
“Yep,” I chirped, trying to push the flashback out of my head for good.
Tonight was about having fun with my best friend, not about digging up past traumas and dwelling on them. She was going to be with me the whole time. I was safe. Nothing was going to happen.
And besides, even if anything did happen, I would be ready. I had been working hard to get stronger over the last two years for a reason.
To be able to protect myself. To be able to fight for myself. To make sure that no one would ever be able to hurt me again.
As we walked into the bar, the loud pumping music filled my ears and Ophelia turned to me with a grin. This was definitely more her scene than mine but the view was pretty and I knew how excited she’d been when I told her I would go out with her tonight.
We found an open hightop and took our seats. Looking around the bar, I could understand why it was so crowded.
The place sat right on the water and had a wall of opened doors leading out to the patio which then led to a dock that you could pull your boat up to. The white walls and plush chairs gave it a modern look, while the worn wooden floors and decorations paid homage to the history of the place. They were playing country music through the speakers and there was a live band out on the patio for people sitting outside. It had a luxe feel to it while still maintaining a homey atmosphere.
“This is my favorite place to come for drinks. The bartenders are amazing here and the food is so fucking good,” Ophelia hummed, looking at the drink menu. “What are you drinking?”
“Uhhh….” I wasn’t much of a drinker so I didn’t really know what to get. “Maybe just a mule?”
“Oh come on, not a mule, you always get those. Get something fun for once. First drink is on me, so the price doesn’t matter.” She gave me a wink and bumped her shoulder into mine. We had been friends for over five years, meeting at an event I was organizing at my old job. She came up to me to complain that none of the servers were cute and we had been friends ever since. She was there for me after the night that changed everything and I was grateful for her friendship. She never made me feel bad for being between jobs and always offered to help me when it came to money.
Some people might be embarrassed to be in my position, but I was grateful. I didn’t have any family here and Ophie had become more like my sister over the last few years. Plus, I would be paying her back for everything plus a little more on top once I figured things out again.
We both ordered our drinks, Ophelia ordering me some $14 fruity cocktail I would most likely hate, and were chatting as music played loudly over the speakers. The weather was perfect for this time of year—hot but not stuffy. With the patio doors open and being right on the water, a warm sea breeze passed through the crowded bar, mixing together all the scents and smells of the drinks and people inside of it.
Ophelia was telling me about some guy at work she thought was cute when my eyes glanced over to the bar. All the stools were filled and people were crowded around it, attempting to order a drink. My time as an event planner made me keenly aware of people and how they interacted. Watching people like this was one of my favorite things to do. When someone stepped away from the bar, my eyes caught the image of someone I’d seen before.
Someone I’d seen in the early morning hours of the day for the last couple weeks, hoping he would come up to me and say hi. There, sitting at the bar with two other guys, was Hank.
He was wearing dark faded jeans and a black T-shirt that showed off his strong, caramel toned arms. The tattoo on his left arm flexed as he spoke with his friends. When one of the guys he was sitting with said something, he threw his head back and laughed deeply, causing my thighs to squeeze together in response. There was nothing I wanted to do more than go and run my fingers through his dark curls that had grown out over the last couple weeks. I couldn’t peel my eyes away from him until Ophelia’s voice cut through my brain like a knife.
“Bailey…hello? Are you even listening to me?” She gave my arm a shove which pulled me from the trance I was in. She followed my gaze to see what I was staring at. “Holy shit, what a beautiful specimen of a man HE is.”
“ Ophie ,” I hissed at her. She was nearly yelling and the people seated around us had all turned to see what she was looking at. The last thing I wanted was for Hank to notice and realize I had caused everyone in the bar to stare at him.
“What? He’s so cute,” she leaned in and whispered, wiggling her eyebrows at me with a smirk.
“That’s the soldier,” I explained, a smile blooming across my face. He was a fine specimen of a man and seeing him out of the gym and in normal clothes continued to prove that to be true.
“No fucking way.” Ophelia’s mouth fell open and her eyes grew into large, round saucers.
“Yes fucking way.” I rolled my lips under my teeth before taking a sip of my drink with a smile.
“Girl…” she fanned her face with one of her hands and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I’m gonna go say hi.” I wiggled my eyebrows and gave my friend a sly grin. My belly did a flip as I thought about approaching him with his friends around. I don’t normally get nervous like this around guys, but something about him was different.
“That’s my girl,” Ophelia encouraged as I hopped down from our hightop and headed towards the bar. I made sure to swing my hips a little more dramatically as I approached him.
Hank had his back to me so he didn’t notice me coming. As I got closer, one of the guys he was with noticed me and gave me a smile. Not here for you buddy but I appreciate it.
“Hey there, soldier,” I hummed once I was close enough.
“Soldier?” the guy to the left of him exclaimed, “Hank, do you know this beautiful woman?”
He turned around in his chair and when he saw me, his face morphed into a stunned expression, surprised to see me standing behind him in the restaurant.
“I’m Bailey. Bailey Brown,” I stuck my hand out to the guy who had just spoken and shook his hand. “Soldier and I go to the same gym. Don’t we?” I smiled at him and waited for him to say something.
He didn’t.
Instead, the guy to his right slapped him on the back which seemed to snap him out of whatever thought he was lost in.
“Sorry our friend here is being rude, I’m Kolbi.” The man who just slapped Hank on the back extended his hand towards me and I shook it. “The moron on the other side of Hank is Conrad.”
“So Conrad, Kolbi, and Hank,” I said as I pointed to each of them. “It's nice to meet you both, and see you again Hank.” I looked at him again and waited for him to say something.
Anything.
He didn’t.
After an awkward pause, a bartender from behind the bar came up behind the guys and looked at me.
“Who is this beautiful woman? And why is she so close to you idiots?”
I blushed and tried to stifle a smile. Never in my life had so many men called me beautiful all at once.
“This is Bailey. She knows our Hank here, who seems to have forgotten how to speak,” Conrad chaffed, looping an arm around Hank’s shoulder and shaking it. Hank was still staring at me, his mouth slightly ajar.
“Well, I’m Malcolm and these three idiots are my best friends.” He reached across the bar and shook my hand. “They like to come here on the weekends and bust my balls while I serve them drinks and slip them free food.”
I smiled at the group of guys who I could tell were close. I thought it was nice that Hank and his friends would come and visit their friend at work.
“That sounds fun. I’m actually here with my best friend Ophelia.” I flipped my thumb over my shoulder towards our table. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw her watching the entire exchange go down. She wiggled her fingers in a wave as the five of us looked towards her and took another sip of her drink with a flirty smile.
“You look really nice tonight, blondie.” Hank finally spoke, breaking his vow of silence. I turned back to look at him and he had a small, shy smile on his face. His eyes were flashing between my dress and his shoes.
My heart squeezed at his words and how sweet he was. He’s hot as fuck but still shy. Who would have thought such a man existed.
“Blondie?” Conrad barked from his seat. Kolbi smiled at his friend.
“Thank you, soldier.” I reached out and brushed my fingers across the top of his knee. I felt him stiffen as the pads of my fingers brushed along his jeans. “You look nice tonight too.”
I didn’t miss the slight color change in his cheeks and how his eyes flashed back to his shoes.
“Welp, I’ll let you boys get back to your drinks. I just wanted to come and say hi. Will I see you in the morning?”
“Y–yeah. Yes, I will be there.” He finally looked at me and when he flashed me a smile, my insides began to burn.
“I look forward to it. I’ll see ya later then. Gentleman.” I gave the group a small nod before turning from them to head back to my table.
As I walked, I swung my hips back and forth and stood with my shoulders pressed back. I knew they were all watching me, but I only cared about one pair of eyes.
When I reached my seat, Ophelia was already starting to ask me a million questions. My eyes peeked back to where he sat and I found him looking back at me. His eyes burned into me and brought a warm feeling to my core that I hadn’t felt in a long time.
I picked up my drink, took a sip, and winked at him before turning back to my best friend to answer all of her questions.