Chapter 12
Hugo
“Here ya go. I hope you like it.” I shot the young woman a wink as she took the drink from my hand.
“Oh, I have no doubt that I will.” She winked back at me and turned, heading to her table.
I turned to the next customer standing at the bar, asking, “What can I get for you?”
The man, huge and hairy—although I couldn’t tell if he was a normal human hairy or possibly some kind of were or shifter—shot me a toothy grin, somehow making his scraggly face look cute. “Can I have three glasses of whatever’s on tap?”
“Do you have a tab open already?”
“Yep. Under Romulus.”
“Got it, my friend. Your beers are comin’ right up.” I grabbed three beer glasses and used the tap to make the man’s drinks. It only took a couple of minutes, and I was back, handing him what he’d asked for.
“Thank you.”
He left a generous tip on the bar for me, so I slid it into one of my pockets.
Jett and I would throw all our tips in at the end of the night and divvy them up evenly between us and the servers, but for now, I was keeping it in my pocket.
We were way too busy for me to be going to the lock box behind the bar every time I got a tip.
Surprisingly, I trusted all of my coworkers to be honest with the tip money they collected too.
It was kind of a startling revelation, but the thought made me smile. I was lucky to be surrounded by such great people.
The bar was super crowded tonight, so I barely had any time to think, let alone gossip with Jett.
Finally, when the bar was fifteen minutes away from closing, Jett and I were able to begin cleaning up, and I had a second to speak to him.
“Guess what Zay did.”
Without missing a beat, Jett said, “He bribed a circus ringleader into doing a show for your birthday.”
I paused and stared at my friend for a few beats. “What the actual fuck was that?”
Jett let out a loud laugh. “You told me to guess, so I did.”
I snorted. “No, asshat, he didn’t do… whatever you just said with the circus, you absolute weirdo.”
“Shame. I would’ve loved watching the tightrope act with the people wearing those tight-ass jumpsuits and showing off their pretty bums.”
I laughed and gave him a push. “You’re so random.”
He shrugged. “Whatever. Sooo? What did he do this time?”
“He bought a new car.”
“Um… okay…? So?”
“So he wants me to use his old car. Actually, he wants to give me his old car.”
Jett’s eyes went wide. “He gave you a car?”
“Ugh.” I sighed. “No. I didn’t take it.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because he obviously only bought the new one so he could give me the old one! He knows I’d never take a new car from him, so he tried to go around that by… by doing… this.”
“And what’s wrong with doing that?”
“What do you mean, what’s wrong? I don’t need a freaking car, Jett. I’ve never owned a car because I can’t afford it. Why the hell would I want one from… him?” I trailed off a little when I realized Jett was tapping his foot and looking annoyed… at me. Not at Zaos, but at me. What the hell?
“Hugo. You’re being so damn stubborn. Can’t you see how much that man loves you?
How much he wants to take care of you? I know you’re not used to anyone giving a shit, But you, babydoll, need to get over it.
You have a viramore now. He not only wants to take care of you and protect you, but he needs to.
I know you can feel the same pull for him because I feel it for Ward.
You need to take care of him just as much, don’t you? ”
I opened my mouth, then snapped it closed as I thought about what he meant.
Jett wasn’t… wrong.
I did feel a pull to take care of Zaos and to protect him.
So… so yeah… that made sense. No wonder Zay was obsessed with getting me to drive to work. But a car? Really? I didn’t… want one. Well, that wasn’t even true, was it? I wanted one; I just didn’t want to pay for one. Sigh.
Looked like Zay had solved that equation for me, damn him.
“I hate it when you’re right.”
Jett chuckled and winked at me, then walked away to help Quinn stack chairs on the tables since our last customers had left, and Quinn had already shut and locked the front doors.
As I wiped down every single surface I could reach, I thought about what Jett said and what that meant for the whole car situation.
If I really took everything into consideration, especially Zay’s feelings—and those meant more than all the rest of it added together—then I supposed I had to accept the car gift.
Ugh.
Zay was gonna be really happy, but I hated being given handouts. I really, really hated it. I’d worked my entire life for every small morsel I had, and now, I had someone just… giving me shit. Fuck.
As I was finishing up, movement outside the window caught my eye, and I couldn’t help but squint at the woman standing there, staring at me.
Was that… was that really… I blinked. “Phia?” What the hell was Kian’s girlfriend doing outside the bar, staring at me? They weren’t supposed to come in until Friday evening. Today was Thursday, wasn’t it? Did I have my days mixed up or something?
Wait.
But where was Kian? I didn’t see him anywhere. Was Phia outside in the dark by herself?
That was unacceptable. No one should be out there in the dark alone.
Yeah, I was a total hypocrite.
I used to walk home by myself, in the dark, every night.
Damn Zay and his car present. Sigh.
Phia gave me what I guessed was a self-conscious and nervous-looking wave, so I waved back and called over my shoulder, “I’ll be right back.” Then I headed for the door.
By the time I made it outside, Phia was standing on the corner. She looked over her shoulder at me, gave a subtle head dip, as if asking me to follow her, then she took off around the corner.
“Phia! Wait up!”
I ran to catch up with her and caught the tail end of her jacket swinging around into the alley behind the bar. What the fuck was she up to?
And again, where the hell was Kian?
Jogging, I rounded the alley corner and slammed to a sudden stop when I found Phia waiting for me with her arms crossed and a worried expression on her pretty face.
“Hey, Phia, are you okay?”
She let out a humorless laugh. “No, not really.”
“What’s wrong?”
She rubbed a hand over her face, and the light from the bar’s back door was just bright enough for me to see her blotchy face. She was crying.
“Is Kian alright?”
“Yes.” She said it urgently, like she was afraid I wouldn’t believe her. “I promise he’s okay. Sorry I scared you.”
“It’s fine. I just… what’s wrong?” I was tempted to offer her a hug, but I didn’t know her well enough to initiate it. But the urge was there. It was definitely a new feeling. Maybe I really was starting to become an Ellwood after all—the wild hugging family.
She wiped the tears off her face and took a breath. “Listen, I’m really sorry to put this on you, but I need to tell someone, and you’re… well, you’re nice and hopefully won’t freak out on me.”
A sinking sensation took up residence in my belly. What the hell was she about to tell me?
A few more tears fell, and she wiped them away absently. “I’m so… fuck, this is harder to talk about than I thought. Look, I really like Kian. He’s one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. He’s kind, he treats me so well, and he’s just… yeah, he’s great.”
I felt a but coming.
“But…” There it was. “I’m… I’m not in love with him. I just… I like him as a friend, a really good friend, and I… I know he loves me, or at least he thinks so, and it’s just… it’s not fair. He’s such a good person, and I…”
When she trailed off, I crossed my arms over my chest and sent her a deep frown. “I’m not going to break up with Kian for you.”
“Oh, Mother. It really did sound like I was… shit, I’m not asking you to. I’m going to talk to him next, I swear. I just… anyway, that’s not even what I wanted to tell you.”
Good grief, there was another bomb she was about to drop?
“I just… like I said, he’s a good person, and I like him. He’s… he’s a good friend, and I just, I can’t do it anymore, okay? I didn’t want to do it in the first place, but they made me, and I regret it. So much. I regret so fucking much, and I can’t anymore. I can’t believe I…”
“What? What can’t you do anymore?”
She sent me a sad look, then rubbed her face over her eyes. “I can’t keep pretending. I’m not who—”
Her voice was cut off by a loud bang erupting in the alleyway. I jumped a mile high, and my eyes widened in horror before I’d even fully registered what was happening.