Chapter 12
T AYLOR CARRIED A TRAY of drinks across Anchors the next night, her gaze sweeping to the door every time it opened.
She chastised herself for being so fixated on watching for Mason.
For expecting him to come strolling in the front door every couple of minutes.
They’d just spent hours together on Sunday.
A romantic picnic on the beach, running through the rain together, making love back at his apartment.
And though she’d had the day off yesterday, with plenty of time to replay the weekend again and again in her mind, he was back on work. Busy with the guys on his team.
Mason was a freaking Navy SEAL. Those guys trained hard on base every single day. Drilled out on the water. Conducted scenarios and simulations she couldn’t even imagine. It’s not like he had a desk job where he could sit around and day dream.
Mason and his buddies usually came into Anchors once a week or so for drinks, but it’s not like he was here every night with his friends and hadn’t shown up.
Just because they’d slept together didn’t mean he’d be here all the time.
It didn’t mean they were together. They still hadn’t even made plans for another date yet.
Mason had sent her a couple of flirty texts last night, but he was occupied at work. And rightfully so.
“You okay?” her friend Amy asked, pausing on her way across the restaurant with an empty tray in her hand.
“Oh yeah, I’m fine. Just distracted.”
Amy shot her a knowing look. “So is a second date in the works?”
“Not yet,” Taylor said with a smile. “Mason’s been texting me though. You know how some guys follow that ‘wait three days to contact the girl’ line of thought? He’s not like that at all, which is refreshing.”
“I haven’t seen them in here since Friday night.”
“Nope,” Taylor agreed, a tiny kernel of doubt seeping in. “They’re busy with training and stuff on base.”
“Oh yeah, I believe it. I just thought he’d be in here more now with you two dating or what not.”
Taylor nodded, pressing her lips together.
Amy didn’t mean anything by that—she was just making an innocent comment.
Taylor hated to admit that she’d had that exact same thought though.
Wouldn’t it be romantic for him to just show up out of the blue and surprise her?
Drop by for a visit just to say hi? He was probably tired after a long day on base though. And he wasn’t exactly her boyfriend.
Not really.
Although he had said they were dating. Why did things have to be so complicated?
She blew out a sigh and carried the drinks to the table. A young group of guys was seated around it, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Mason and his friends were like them years ago. They were all in their early twenties and flirted with every female in sight—including her.
Taylor got the distinct impression they’d take home any willing woman. They weren’t after a relationship, they just wanted a warm body in bed with them. Goodness, probably not even for the whole night.
She took their food orders and then crossed the restaurant to put in their order. A couple seated at a table across the bar area gestured for her to come over, and she held up her hand, indicating she’d be there in a minute.
A deep male voice calling out her name had her turning in surprise, and she froze in place as she spotted Eric walking toward her.
He swayed slightly, and she could tell he’d been drinking again. He had several days’ worth of stubble on his jaw and a rumpled shirt tucked into his jeans. He was nearly as tall as Mason but not quite as muscular.
That didn’t stop her from wanting to back away as quickly as possible.
His hand landed on her upper arm, gripping it just a little too hard.
“Eric,” she said, pulling away in surprise.
He frowned, looking puzzled that she’d backed away from him.
What had she seen in him all those years anyway? He was handsome, she supposed, when he was sober. But he couldn’t hold down a job. Couldn’t even manage to get through an entire day without drinking.
“You weren’t home,” he said, stumbling slightly as he stepped closer. His breath reeked of alcohol, and she cringed.
“I’m busy working. You shouldn’t be here.”
“You don’t need to work; I’ll take care of you, baby. Come back home so we can be together.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You don’t have a job, Eric.
The entire time we were together you were constantly getting a new job and then promptly getting fired a couple of months later.
Besides, that doesn’t even matter. We broke up.
It’s finished. Over. Go home to your own apartment and stay the hell away from mine. ”
“I just want you back, Tay.” She cringed slightly at the nickname he’d given her. All of her friends called her Taylor, Mason included, but Eric insisted on shortening it. “I know I probably made some mistakes, but I miss you. I want you.”
She cleared her throat. “I’m seeing someone else now.”
He guffawed. “That dude that was there the other night? The Navy guy? He doesn’t want you. Not for more than a couple of nights anyway. Those guys are with different women all the time. I’ve seen them in here myself. Ask anyone and they’ll tell you.”
Taylor glared at him, getting impatient. “You need to leave, Eric. We broke up a month ago, and I’m working. Go home.”
A trace of anger flared in his dark eyes. “This is a bar, Tay. I have as much right to stay here as anyone. More so, even, since we were together for so long. I can order drinks and sit here all night if I want, then take you home with me afterwards.”
“I filed a police report. You can’t keep showing up at all hours of the day and night wanting to talk to me. Not when I told you it’s over. How long were you waiting at my apartment the other day? Why’d you come back in the middle of the night?”
“I want you, baby. I miss you.” He stepped closer, invading her space, and she tried to back away again but was trapped between the tables of the crowded bar area.
Conversations continued on around her, music played, drinks flowed.
But she was trapped. Stuck here in the middle of the bar with her ex.
He ducked lower, his lips hovering near her ear as his hand landed on her waist. His grip was like a vice, and she froze, her heart pounding.
“I miss fucking you, Tay,” he said, his hot breath on her ear making her squirm.
“I miss your hot little pussy. Of having you in my bed every night and being able to fuck you anytime I want. My cock is hard as a rock right now. Let’s go home and make up, baby.
I’ll make you scream my name until you can’t take it anymore.
I’ll fuck you hard all night long and show you who your man is. ”
Taylor pulled back and slapped him across the face, shocked, drawing the the attention of some of the other patrons.
“Don’t be that way, baby. I miss you.”
“Are you okay, Miss?” a man seated at a nearby table asked as he rose to his feet. His fists were clenched, his gaze narrowed on them. The other men seated at his table had stopped eating and drinking to watch the situation unfolding.
Taylor glared at Eric, disgusted. “I’m fine. He was just leaving.”
A spark of anger flared in Eric’s dark eyes. “Tay, let’s go home.”
“No! You need to leave right now,” she said, her hands shaking.
The guy standing at the table took a step forward, pointing a beefy finger at Eric. “You need to go. The lady just asked you to leave.”
Eric’s gaze swept from the man who’d stood up to the others seated at the table. He held his hands up in surrender, clearly outnumbered. “I’ll catch you later, Tay.” He turned and began walking out of the bar, but then glanced back over his shoulder. “Keep the bed warm for me, baby.”
Taylor’s mouth dropped open as tears pricked her eyes, and she turned and rushed toward the women’s room, bursting into tears the moment she stepped inside.
Maybe Mason was right. She did need a restraining order of some sort, because this was just going to escalate.
Eric wasn’t going to stop bothering her.
Maybe at first he’d shown up because he was lonely and wanted to talk, but now he was demanding that she come back to him.
That she come home with him.
Heck, maybe he’d never give up simply because he couldn’t stand the fact that she was with someone else.
It was so simple and twisted at the same time.
They hadn’t even slept together in months, Eric always too drunk each night to do much of anything.
Yet the second he realized she was seeing someone new, he was taunting her.
Telling her they needed to get back together.
Saying that he wanted to fuck her.
His crude words had been meant to shock her, to humiliate her, and they’d done exactly that.
Maybe he hadn’t shouted them loudly enough for the whole bar to hear, but they served as a reminder that she’d been with Eric for years. That he knew her body intimately. That his hands had been everywhere. Repeatedly.
He knew what it felt like to make love to her. He knew what it sounded like when she came.
Heated embarrassment washed over her.
Being with Mason had been amazing. Incredible. He’d been gentle and loving and determined to satisfy her again and again.
But the memories of being with Eric just left her sick to her stomach.
With trembling hands, she pulled out her cell phone. She briefly thought about calling the police but instead hit the call button when she saw Mason’s name.
“Hey sweetheart, I’m just heading out of base. Are you at work?”
“Yeah,” she said, her voice breaking
“What’s wrong?” Mason asked, immediately on alert. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“Eric was here,” she said, wiping away the tears streaming down her face. “I guess he went to my apartment first—I’m not sure. But he showed up ten minutes ago saying he missed me. Telling me to come home with him. Then right as he was leaving, he said that I needed to keep the bed warm for him.”
“Son of a bitch,” Mason muttered. A string of curses followed.
“We need to file a restraining order. Having at least one police report of him trespassing is a start, but you need to document every time he shows up. Everywhere. Daytime, the middle of the night, your workplace. All of it. We can get security footage from your apartment and Anchors if we need to. Hell, we’ll pull footage from the damn traffic cams. We’ll tell the police all the times he’s come over harassing you, and the way he threatened you.
I swear to God, sweetheart, I won’t let him touch one hair on your head. ”
“I know,” she said, hastily swiping away the hot tears that continued to roll over her cheeks. Her breath hitched. “I know. I just—I’m scared.”
“Hell, sweetheart, I’m on my way. Please don’t cry. I’m just leaving base, already in my car, but I’m heading right over there.”
“To Anchors?”
“Yes. He’s not still there, is he?”
“No, he left. A group of guys at the bar saw him talking to me and asked if I was okay. I think they scared him off.”
“He might be back later on,” Mason said. “Let’s talk to your manager, too, and see if they can keep him out. Once you have a restraining order in place, he’ll be required by law to stay away. But we should talk to everyone working at Anchors to make sure he stays out.”
“You’re right. Shoot,” she muttered, glancing over at the bathroom.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m working. I’m carrying around an order I took ten minutes ago—I was supposed to put the order in with the kitchen.” She blew out an exasperated sigh. Glancing in the mirror above the sinks, she saw dark circles under her eyes from where her makeup had run.
So much for waterproof mascara.
“Well hell. Go to the manager and tell them what’s going on. Give the order to someone else. As soon as I get there, we’ll head for the police station. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”
“Okay.”
“That reminds me, I talked to his friend Jake this morning. The asshole with the body shop. The part for your car is coming in today, so it should be ready for you to pick up by tomorrow afternoon. I’ll go with you to get it.”
“Well that’s a relief.”
The door to the women’s room opened, and as two women walked in, she stepped aside and then exited, hurrying back toward the kitchen to turn in her order. “Listen, I have to get going. I’ll see you soon.”
“I’m on my way. If for some reason Eric shows up again, call 911. Don’t waste time trying to talk to him. He sounds unhinged enough as it is.”
“I will. Thanks Mason.”
“I’ll see you soon, sweetheart,” he said, his voice gruff. “Be careful until I get there.”
“Okay, I’ll see you soon,” she echoed, before ending the call and tucking her phone back into her back pocket. She swiped the remaining tears beneath her eyes and took a deep breath. Telling her manager about Eric was only the first step. The situation had already gotten completely out of hand.