16. CHAPTER 16 #3
“Im just saying, that I hope you’ll keep any extra curriculars discreet.”
I lower my chin. “You’re gonna need to be more specific.”
“How much clearer can I make it?”
“Pretend I'm an idiot.”
Biting his lip, Tek's gaze drops to the table, and when he looks at me again he says, “If you fuck someone in the shop, do it quietly.”
I splutter, my skin flashing hot. “Yeah. Real funny.”
He tilts his head. “I’m not joking. We’re all adults…"
I feel like I’m going to explode.
I don’t even need to dig that deep to reach conclusions, because Tek doesn’t lean back or move his body in any way. He just keeps staring like he’s testing me.
All the things I’ve been holding in are racing over my tongue.
I’ve been drinking. I have an excuse. Just like when I lifted my shirt and teased him, I can easily pretend that it was just the alcohol loosening my inhibitions if things—
A pair of hands slap onto the edge of the table between us. It’s Brooklyn, leaning in, tits first. With a sugared voice, she says, “Congrats on second place.”
Tek gives her a slow once over. “Nice dress. Where’s the rest of it?”
She smiles wide, acting unphased. And with a quick glance at me, she says, “He used to be so much sweeter. I don’t know what you’ve done to him, Carey.”
“He saves all his compliments for me, now.” My voice is smooth and arrogant, and I'm pretty sure Tek taps my foot beneath the table in approval.
Brooklyn lingers a little longer, her gaze darting between Tek and I like she’s just as desperate to figure out mine and Tek’s relationship as I am theirs.
Straightening out, she looks past us to the small dance floor where Anaise and Austin are even closer than they were before. “You two coming? Or are you gonna sit here and stare at each other all night?”
Tek dusts some invisible dirt from the table top. “Hard pass.”
“I’ve got no rhythm.” I give a half-assed little shrug. “I’d only embarrass you.”
Brooklyn’s eyes roll like she could care less. “Suit yourselves.” She pivots, and struts towards the writhing, drunken mass of bodies.
Within thirty seconds she’s got two men vying for her attention. With one on each arm she keeps glancing at us but Tek gives her nothing but the back of his head.
“That woman is like a raccoon with a piece of scrap metal.”
“She wants you pretty fucking bad,” I say, half under my breath, because I want him to know that it bothers me, but I’m too chicken shit to say it with real conviction.
With a nod, Tek says, “Everybody wants something,” and turns around to look at the dance floor for the first time.
Brooklyn notices in an instant, shaking off the two men to move closer to Austin.
With an arm around Anaise, she starts swaying with her, then spins their bodies so she's wedged between them.
Austin looks at us with an expression that says what the fuck is she doing? then mouths the words, “Help me.” But he doesn’t look unhappy in the slightest.
Tek watches for a beat, then turns back to me. “She’d eat him alive.”
I laugh. “I think he’d be into it.”
“They’d be horrible together.”
“Is that really your business?”
“She’s too insecure, and he’s too nice.”
“That doesn’t sound like a horrible pairing to me.”
Tek agrees. “It’s not, in theory. But in their case, he’d be doing all the work.”
“Okay then, mister therapist. Who would be a good match for Austin?”
“That’s none of my business.”
“The hell? You were just—” I’m cut off by just how blank Tek’s face is. I want to slap him until I see something burning in his eyes like I did on Thanksgiving. “If you’re gonna be like that,” I continue. “I’ll talk about Brooklyn some more.”
Tek’s head tilts to the opposite side.
“Have you thought, even once, about if it would have been better to hire her?”
“We’ve already talked about this.”
“I’m serious. When Eden comes back, that’s another man in the shop. Having a woman would bring a different dynamic.”
“I don’t need her.”
I know we’ve been here before, but I push again. “Not even aesthetically?”
Tek’s brow creases. “Are you bored of looking at me already, kid?”
“Not at all. I’m just…” I struggle to find the right word. “Curious, I guess.”
He blinks slowly. “About what?”
I’m baiting him fully at this point. “About whether or not it might be good for business to hire some eye candy.”
“You’re not ugly,” he says with a smirk.
I put my hand over my heart. “You really should stop flattering me.”
“If you’re worried the shop needs more sex appeal, why don’t you change what you wear to work?”
I clear my throat, trying to break the tension that’s wound so tightly into every part of my body, but I can’t stop. I need to keep going. I need to know how far he’s willing to let me go with this. “If you’re into it, I could start wearing pencil skirts.”
“Nah.” Tek shakes his head; his nonchalance is so fucking sexy. “I’d prefer to keep it casual. Just wear a cute tank top.”
“I’ll pick some up if it’ll make you happy.”
“I’m not joking.”
I don’t know if that’s true or not. It feels like banter, but I really really don’t want it to be. If he can tell how riled up I am, he doesn’t show it, and that makes it worse. He just keeps staring at me, all smug control, letting me flounder in the depths of my own secret need for him.
I wish we weren’t here.
I wish we were anywhere else—outside even, in the alley beside the bar where people go to smoke.
Just not here.
I need it to be quieter.
I need no distractions when judging his intentions.
I wish I hadn’t had anything to drink.
I wish Austin hadn’t started buying us whiskey.
Then, out of nowhere, I’m jolted back to the present by a body slamming into the side of mine and a long arm slumping itself around me.
Austin is back, all sweat and overstimulation.
“Dude,” he cries out, his voice still pitched like he’s beside the speakers.
“I’ve had like, three different girls ask me about you.
They’re all cute. If you wanted, you could clean up tonight.
” He jerks his chin towards the end of the bar where a cluster of women are all standing, pretending not to look over, but doing a terrible job at it.
I smile at them, and wave.
It feels good to be wanted.
Austin’s other hand reaches across my body. He plants his cheek on my shoulder, and shakes me. “They want that fresh meat.”
My head wobbles from side to side.
“You gonna go over?”
I look at each of them, one at a time, like I’m actually contemplating it. When I focus back on Tek I expect him to be waiting for my eye contact, but instead, he’s fishing through Anaise’s hand bag.
“Where the fuck are my keys?” he demands of Austin, who removes his hands from me to hold them both up in surrender.
“Carey?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Tek’s eyes drag down my body as far as they can go, then drop further, burning my legs through the table. He looks like he’s about to accuse me, but instead, he stands up and turns around to look at Anaise.
When he turns back, I’ve risen too, and we’re at a standoff.
I take my jacket from the chair and put it on without a word.
“Carey,” he says again, and I take a step backward.
I look towards the bathrooms, then the front door. The bathrooms are closer, but there’s a clearer track outside.
I don’t know why I do it, but I start walking.
My eyes are locked on the exit sign, and my ears are ignoring the way Tek calls out my name.
I push the door open with both hands and the outside air hits me like a headbutt; my first breath of frigid air making my eyes water.
I turn right.
The alley between the bar and the building beside it is packed thick with people smoking.
I turn down it anyway, shouldering my way through until I’m almost at the back of the bar.
Tek calls my name again, and on impulse I change directions.
I'm behind the bank, I think.
There aren’t as many lights here, and the music is so faint I can hear the footsteps behind me.