21. Rogue
“Ididn’t know you were coming in tonight.”
I search Skye’s gaze for any signs that she’s not happy to see me, and my cock hardens painfully when all I spot is undisguised desire.
“I wanted to see you,” I divulge. “Is that okay?”
Her cheeks flush, and she smiles. “Yep.”
“How about a drink?”
“Sure.” Skye moves toward the cooler. “What can I get ya?”
I walk around the bar and grab her hands. “You don’t have to serve me. Go sit down.”
“Oh, I don’t mind at all,” she insists. “It’s my?—”
“Don’t you dare say it’s your job,” I snap, and her smile falls.
“But…” She takes a deep breath. “It is my job.”
“No, Skye.” I cup her cheek, and she leans into my touch. “It’s after hours so your job is done for the night. Now, go sit. Lemme take care of you for a change.”
Skye smirks. “Pretty sure you’ve done that a lot lately.”
“Ha ha.” I grab the bottle of Fireball off the liquor shelf as well as two shot glasses and bottles of beer. “I’ll take care of you like that any time you want.”
“What if I want it now?”
I lift my head up and lock eyes with her. She’s leaning against a table, her tits thrust forward and her body inviting.
“Fuckin’ hell, you’re a witch,” I growl.
“Clearly I’m not witchy enough because you’re still all the way over there,” she teases.
Groaning, I carry the booze and glasses to the table and set it all down. Then I slide my hands to the back of Skye’s neck and tug her forward so I can fuse my lips to hers.
She reaches for the hem of my shirt and pulls the fabric up so she can flatten her hands on my chest. I moan into her mouth and hold her tight. The kiss is deep and full of the kind of need that could drive a man to kill.
Stop… this isn’t what you came here for.
I gently extricate myself and lift her onto the table. Skye pushes her bottom lip out in a pout, and I have to shove my hands in my pockets to keep from climbing on top of her and taking everything I want.
“Is everything okay?” she asks quietly.
“No,” I blurt, but I shake my head. “I mean yes.”
She chuckles nervously. “Well, which is it?”
“Everything is fine,” I assure her. “But I want more from you than a quick fuck, and you deserve more from me than to treat you like that’s all I want.”
“Oh.”
My nerves suddenly kick into overdrive. I’ve had plenty of women in my life. Hell, I’m not a monk. But Skye is the first one to worm her way past my dick and into my heart. I like her, probably more than I should.
“So, uh…” I pause and hop onto the table to sit next to her. “How was your shift?”
Skye averts her eyes and stares at the wall. “It was fine.”
“I might not be the smartest man on the planet, Skye, but even I can spot a lie.”
She huffs out a breath and faces me. “It was weird. I mean, as far as customers go, it was business as usual.”
“Then what was weird?” When she simply shrugs, I narrow my eyes. “If something happened, you need to tell me.”
Skye hops to her feet and begins to pace. I watch her warily, silently begging her to talk to me. And when she doesn’t, I stand and step in front of her.
“C’mon,” I demand, grabbing her hand.
I practically drag her through the bar and into the office. After kicking the door shut behind us, I urge her to sit on the couch. As soon as she’s settled, I sit behind her and scoot her back between my legs.
“Now, talk to me.”
Skye chuckles. “Seriously? You think moving to a different room is going to make me wanna spill my guts?”
“No. But I think being your boyfriend instead of your boss will.”
She twists her head to look at me over her shoulder. “Boyfriend?”
“Yep. That okay with you?”
Returning her attention forward, she nods. “Perfectly okay.”
“Good. Now, what was weird about tonight?”
She heaves a sigh. “Waylon.”
“What about him?”
“He just… I don’t know. From the moment I walked through the door for my shift, he was confrontational.” Immediately, I tense, and she must sense it because she rests a hand on my thigh and squeezes. “Not physically,” she assures me. “He really didn’t seem to like the fact that I still have a job. And he hovered all night.”
“Were there any unruly customers?”
Skye shakes her head. “No. He hovered specifically to watch me. And he was shitty toward me in front of customers.”
“How so?”
She goes on to explain about closing the drawer too soon and having to calculate change. Everything went smoothly, yet he still treated her like she did something wrong.
“Add to that the amount of time he spent on his cell, and it was a weird night.”
“Did he at least help with the workload?”
She snorts. “Yeah right. He was texting the entire time. Honestly, I thought he was texting you to complain about me.”
I shake my head. “No. He called when you first got here to verify that I hadn’t fired you. I assured him that your name had been cleared, and that was the end of that.”
“Then who was he texting?” she mutters softly. “I mean, it seemed like he was super focused on that, like maybe something was wrong. At least when he wasn’t hounding me.”
“I’ll be dealing with how he treats you, I promise you that. As for the texting, I’ll address it. As the manager, I expect more from him.”
“I know you do. You and the club take pride in Purgatory, as you should. And up until a few weeks ago, I’d say Waylon did too.”
“What’s changed?”
“Other than his shitty attitude and treatment of staff?”
I clench my jaw. “Yeah.”
“How about the fact that, out of nowhere, he’s started accusing me of theft,” she snaps. “He and I have never had any issues, so I don’t know where his suspicion is coming from. It’s almost like he…”
“What?”
“Nothing. Never mind.”
“No, Skye. Finish your thought. It’s almost like he what?”
“I don’t know.” She shrugs. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he wants me to be guilty. But that’s crazy. Right?”
As soon as the words are out of her mouth, unease tingles along my spine. Waylon has been a great manager… until a few weeks ago. What’s changed? Is she right? Does he want her to be a thief? And if he does, why?
So many questions whip through my brain, and not a single answer presents itself.
“Rogue?”
“Huh?”
“That’s crazy, right?”
Maybe it’s not as crazy as she thinks.
“Of course, it is.”