Chapter 14
Something weird was going on. I couldn’t quite place my finger on it, but James’s odd behavior when the fire alarm was tripped last night had my senses heightened.
James decided to close the bar that Sunday night, and without a shift to keep me busy, it dragged on and on.
I met Hannah for lunch, and I got to practice my “don’t start” face when she pried about James again.
The face must’ve worked; she only brought it up once.
Monday was more of the same, and when I returned to work on Tuesday, things were still strange. There was tension in the air that I couldn’t place. I tested the fire door myself—it didn’t so much as budge from the outside, which made me uneasy.
Halloween came and went—oddly calm compared to the intensity of The Devil’s Hopyard—and the next couple of weeks were full of weird happenings and strange behavior on James’s part.
He started to pull back. He hid out in his office most shifts, barely making an appearance except when we needed him.
Dani or I would bring him the receipts at the end of the night, and aside from a quiet thank-you, he didn’t really say anything.
Despite the oddities, I finally found myself falling into a routine.
Work. Meet with Hannah. Even Erin and I struck a tolerable balance.
Sure, she still doubted my skills as a parent, but I couldn’t say I blamed her.
It didn’t stop me from doing everything I could to prove myself.
I saw Hannah at least once a week, more if I could.
I went to her debate club competitions and volunteered at the pet store’s pre-Thanksgiving adoption event, which only left me wanting a pet of my own.
Still, it seemed like we’d found a happy medium in everything.
James’s refusal to talk to me didn’t mean I’d stopped thinking about him.
No matter what I was doing, he somehow worked his way into my brain.
My feelings for him likewise didn’t fade at all.
In fact, they only grew stronger. Remembering the way he’d ushered me out of the bar that night and how his hand felt resting gently on the small of my back gave me butterflies.
It was instinctive, protective: he cared about me.
In spite of his insistence that he cared about all of his employees, I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something else between us.
I tried to bring up that night, to get some idea of why he’d just let it go, but he shot me down every time. He seemed to know more than he let on.
One evening, I took the receipts back to his office while Dani finished cleaning the front of house, and I heard our song playing behind the door again.
It was loud enough to hear if I focused hard enough but not so loud that I could hear it down the hall.
I leaned against the doorway and let the song play out, smiling to myself when he turned it back to the beginning.
I didn’t want to, but I interrupted Luke Combs time. The music stopped, and when James told me to come in, I already had my hand on the doorknob. I hesitantly pushed it open.
James took the receipts from my hand, adding them to a pile on his desk. Emboldened from hearing that song, I didn’t promptly leave as I had the last few weeks. Instead, I stood in front of his desk, waiting for him to glance up from his laptop.
“Was there something else you needed, Ryder?”
“Can we talk?”
James gave a curt nod and gestured across the room. “Close the door.” I did as he said, then returned to my spot in front of him. “Is everything okay?”
“Not really. I wanted to talk to you about that night—”
“I know it was scary, but I promise I’d never put you or Dani in any danger. There’s a police detail watching the bar at all times.”
“You’re lying,” I stated plainly. “We both know you never called the police.”
James scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “And you didn’t go home like I told you to.”
“Hey, you only get to boss me around when I’m clocked in.” I gave him my best smirk. “I guess you’ve never met someone as stubborn as you are.”
James shook his head, visibly biting back a grin. “You’re right, I haven’t. But you really shouldn’t worry. I promise everything’s taken care of.”
I mulled over his words before deciding his answer wasn’t good enough. “Why didn’t you call the police?” I could see from his expression that he was about to feed me another line, so I quickly added, “You know what happened, don’t you?”
His face darkened. “I have an idea.” His voice was becoming angrier. “And as I said, I’ve dealt with it.”
“Oh?”
James shot out of his chair and rounded the desk to stand in front of me. I fought against the urge to back down, instead crossing my arms in front of me in the only self-defense mechanism I could think to conjure.
Our eyes met. He waited for me to back down, but I refused. I planted my feet; I wasn’t budging.
“I told you Ryder,” he growled. “I would never let anything happen to anyone here—especially you.”
My breath came in quick bursts. Especially you. The fuck was that supposed to mean? “What are you talking about?”
James’s nostrils flared. He looked on the verge of saying something I desperately wanted to hear—when a noise from the window caught our attention.
“Oh, fuck this,” I snarled. I was sick of being interrupted.
I whipped around, yanking the door open and storming down the hall.
“Ryder, wait!”
I ignored his order. I stomped down the hall, not answering when Dani called out to me. I crossed the main room, bursting through the front door. I didn’t stop to register the cold on my bare arms as I rounded the corner of the building, heading toward James’s office window.
At first, I didn’t see anything. The side of the building only housed a large dumpster and a pile of abandoned boxes.
I stood there for a second, looking around.
The heat of my anger inured me to the chill, even as it threatened to creep into my bones.
With a frustrated growl, I turned to go back inside and finish what I’d started.
One of the boxes moved.
A different sort of chill swept over my body. James stood behind me, ready to rush to my side.
“Who’s there?” I called.
I took a cautious step backward as the stack of boxes shifted and a face popped into view. It wasn’t until he completely straightened and stepped into the streetlight that I let myself breathe.
“Kian?” I huffed. “What the hell are you doing?”
“You again?” James muttered from behind me. “What’s your family’s obsession with this place?”
To James I said, “We still need to talk. And you—” I turned back to Kian, who now held Hannah by the hand, helping her out of the pile of boxes. I sighed. “You two come with me.” I looked back at James, who gave me a silent gesture of understanding that our conversation would have to wait.
Hannah opened her mouth to explain, but I simply pointed toward the parking lot, not moving until they did. I followed them to Kian’s car. They both remained silent, looking anywhere except at me. Kian sulked, face red and arms crossed over his chest. Hannah picked at her nail polish.
“Someone better start talking,” I said. “What were you doing sneaking around a bar in the middle of the night? On a school night, no less.”
“I graduated,” Kian mumbled.
“Not the point.”
When neither of them spoke further, I pulled my phone from my pocket. “Have it your way. I guess I’m calling your parents.”
That got a reaction out of them. They both started yammering, and I couldn’t understand a word out of either mouth. I silenced them with my hand, then pointed to Hannah. “You.”
“It wasn’t her idea,” Kian interjected.
“I’ll get to you in a second.” I looked back to my daughter. “Hannah, what were you doing?”
She stammered, eventually turning her eyes back to the ground. “It’s ridiculous.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Imagine how ridiculous your mom will find it.”
“We… we just…” Hannah let out an exasperated breath. “We just wanted to see if we could get a glimpse for ourselves.”
“A glimpse of what?”
The teenagers exchanged glances, sharing a knowing look before Kian finally gave me some sort of answer. Shrugging one shoulder, he said, “The vampire.”
My brain froze like a 2005 computer. I wasn’t sure how much time passed while I simply stared at them.
Did he really say what I think he just said?
Before I recovered, the two burst out laughing.
Cute. They seemed to think this situation was funny, huh?
I stood there, waiting for them to realize I wasn’t laughing with them.
Kian was quicker to regain his composure than Hannah, who bit her lip to stifle the giggles that threatened to push through.
“Are you drunk again?”
They both shook their heads. “No, sir,” Kian said.
“Eww, don’t call me ‘sir.’” I tried again. “Vampire? What the hell are you talking about?”
“You haven’t heard the rumors?” Hannah asked. When I simply raised a brow at her, she continued. “They say your boss is a vampire.”
I blinked. “That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.”
She put a hand on her hip. “What about his red eyes?”
“You were drunk,” I said pointedly. “And who is ‘they?’”
Hannah looked at Kian, and it clicked.
“Ah.” I directed my attention to Kian. “Your brother, I’m assuming?”
This time, his shrug was bashful. “He may have made some pretty convincing points.”
I closed my eyes and recentered myself. “Hannah, I don’t know what you thought you saw the other night, but you were so drunk I’m surprised you knew your own name.
Kian, I can’t leave yet, so I need you to take her home.
Now. Then go home yourself. Forget we ever had this conversation, and I won’t tell your parents that you were sneaking around the back alley of a bar in the middle of the night. Have I made myself clear?”
Hannah nodded.
“Yes, s—” Kian faltered beneath my glare.
I took a step back while they both got in the car.
Only after they were out of sight did I allow myself to breathe, letting the tension out of my body.
My hands started to shake; my knees felt weak.
I paced back and forth in the empty parking lot until the adrenaline wore off and I couldn’t stand the cold anymore.
I went back to the front door, which was now locked.
I let myself in, basking in the heat while I recollected the nerve I needed to get through my awkward conversation with James.
I couldn’t be the only one who felt the tension whenever we were together.
You could start a fire with the sparks that flew between us—and I wasn’t just saying that to be cocky.
I’d never felt as strong a pull as I did with him.
It was… odd, but I didn’t want to fight it.
In fact, it only made me want him more. Made me want to figure out what it was about him that was so damn magnetic.
I looked around the room. It was strangely empty. Had Dani snuck out while I was dealing with Hannah and Kian? With a deep breath, I made my way down the hall to James’s office. As I approached the door, a noise inside made me slow my steps. A sigh?
The door was cracked, and I nudged it open as quietly as I could. James stood with his back to me—his lips attached to Dani’s neck.