Chapter 11
MADDY
My first impression of Sebastian was that he was a moron.
After a few hours alone with him, though, I realized he just had larger-than-life personality and liked to make people laugh.
I’d decided to try and go to work again tonight, and he was cool with me doing that.
I was happy that Nico hadn’t ordered his men to put me under house arrest or something.
That would have been too much. Cabin fever would have set in fast. Sebastian was a lot less serious than Luis, so I hoped he’d be able to keep my mind off the things that had freaked me out the night before.
“My car or yours?” Sebastian asked.
The guys had picked up my Jeep from my place after I moved into Nico’s. I loved that car, and even took the doors off during the summer. I grinned. “My car, definitely. What do you drive anyway?”
“Miata.”
I raised an eyebrow. “A Miata?”
“Yeah. Don’t knock it till you try it. The thing corners like a dream. I also have a truck, but damn gas prices and stuff. I get, like, thirty miles to the gallon in that little guy. Makes way more financial sense.”
“Okay, well, we’re taking my car. No offense, but I don’t want to try and cram myself into that little sports car.”
“Suit yourself.” Sebastian shrugged. “But your car, you drive. I’ll ride shotgun.”
“Fine by me,” I said, grabbing my keys and heading for the door.
The whole ride to the bar, he tried to get me to give him an opinion on whether the Rays were going to make the World Series.
I’d done my best to skirt the issue, but finally, I had to tell him I knew nothing about baseball and had never seen a game.
It had been like I’d killed his puppy right in front of him.
It was the quietest he’d been since he’d walked through the door.
It made the last two miles to the bar eerily quiet.
Once we parked, he nodded to himself and looked at me. “That’s it.”
“What’s it?” I asked, confused.
“I’ve found my life’s work.”
“Which is?”
“Making you a baseball fan.”
I chuckled and opened the door. “Good luck with that. I can barely make it through a football or basketball game without falling asleep.”
Sebastian’s jaw fell open and he clutched a hand to his chest. “Blasphemer!”
“Oh my God. Come on.” I got out and started walking toward the bar, hearing his footsteps behind me.
I walked in and was happy that the same anxiety I’d had the day before didn’t rear its head again. I walked in and waved to the crew behind the bar. Abi came out of the kitchen and saw me, her face slipping into a scowl. She set the tray of clean beer mugs down and stomped toward me.
“Why the hell are you here tonight?” she demanded, thrusting her fists onto her hips.
“I need to work. I’d go crazy if I stayed locked up all day.”
“And after last night? That didn’t give you a clue that you should take things a little slower?”
“Abi, it’s fine. I’m a lot better today. I think it was first-night jitters or whatever. Besides, my friend Sebastian here is gonna be watching out for me like Luis did last night.”
“I could give a shit about this Sebas…” Abi’s voice trailed off as she glanced around me and saw him.
Sebastian waved. “Hey, nice to meet you. Great place you guys have here. I stopped by months ago, and I’ve been wanting to try your chicken sliders again. Those things slap.”
Abi’s cheeks were reddening, and I could see the way she was looking at Sebastian.
He seemed totally oblivious as he looked around the bar.
Abi glanced at me while his back was turned, her eyes wide and surprised.
She mouthed the words He’s so hot to me, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.
All I did was nod and head over to the bar to start getting ready.
Abi joined me, and we went through the opening checklist with the rest of my team.
Sebastian checked all the entrances and even the windows in the bathrooms. As goofy as he could be, it looked like he took his responsibilities seriously.
I kept catching Abi stealing glances at him.
Maybe I could play matchmaker. I didn’t think Sebastian was dating anyone, but I’d only known him for less than two weeks.
That thought made me pause. I frowned and did some mental math. Had it really only been that long? It felt like this new part of my life had been going on for months. Time was a strange thing.
The evening went by seamlessly. It wasn’t as busy as it had been the night before, which was nice.
Less stress meant less to worry about. Sebastian entertained the staff and several patrons with stories and jokes most of the night.
By the end of the night, I was grateful he was there.
I could also see that Abi was definitely on the way to being smitten.
All in all, it was a great night. It eased a lot of my fears.
I loved working, and I would have been devastated if I couldn’t.
Sebastian even jumped in to help us close at the end of the night. It was the first time I’d been at the bar that late since the attack. Abi and several of the kitchen guys were helping out as well, but I still felt strangely alone as I wiped down the tables and put up the chairs.
Sebastian must have noticed. He walked over to me and nodded toward the door. “Expecting someone?”
“What?” I asked, straightening up from the table I was wiping.
“You’ve looked over at the front door like every minute since we closed. Again, expecting someone?”
I hadn’t even realized I’d been doing that.
In my head, I was still waiting for Javi’s crew to show up again.
Roll through the door, tell me I was an abomination and shouldn’t exist. I thought I’d been hiding my thoughts pretty well.
Apparently not. I hung my head in embarrassment, not wanting to meet his eyes.
Sebastian came around the table and put an arm around my shoulders. “Maddy, you’re safe. If there is one thing I can promise, it’s that.”
“Thanks, I appreciate it. Seriously. You guys don’t have to do this for me, and you are. Thank you.”
“You’re basically family now, so of course I’d do this. I mean, Nico is paying me like five hundred bucks a day in hazard pay to do it, but yeah, no problem.”
I punched him in the arm and laughed as I went back to my task. Sebastian grabbed a broom and started sweeping the floor. Basically family? What did that mean? It hadn’t registered when he first said it, but now I wondered why he’d said that.
I looked up to ask him to explain, but the front door opened. A familiar face walked in. Thankfully, it wasn’t the face I’d been afraid would show up.
Nico came striding through the door like he owned the place instead of me.
My heart fluttered at the sight of him. My mind had drifted to him multiple times throughout the day, and seeing him now brought confusing feelings to the surface.
He’d said I was his mate, and that was information I had a hard time processing.
I hadn’t really given myself much time to even think about it and what it meant.
So much had happened. How could anyone get their minds around it?
But I couldn’t ignore the ache in my chest when I watched him move through the room.
Nor could I ignore that voice deep inside my head, the one that had been begging me to stake a claim on this man from the moment I saw him.
I glanced at my watch and saw it was just after two in the morning. I looked at Nico and tapped my wrist. “Awful late for a drink, sir. Sorry, we’re closed.”
Nico gave me a smirk. “Couldn’t sleep. I figured I’d relieve Sebastian and let him go home to bed.”
“My liege? My lord?” Sebastian said in an atrocious British accent. “Thou art too kind to your humble servant.” He threw the broom to the floor and bowed dramatically.
Nico shook his head. “Would you stop?”
“Okay, fine.” Sebastian stood and waved to me as he headed for the door. “See you Wednesday, Maddy. I think Felipe will be with you tomorrow.”
I waved and went back to work. Abi walked over and smacked me on the butt.
“Ow, shit. What was that for?” I said, rubbing my ass.
“Get out of here. Go on. We can finish up. Besides, your ride’s here,” Abi said, nodding toward Nico.
“Are you sure?”
“Get. Go on.” Abi shooed me away with a bar rag as she walked back to the bar.
I looked at Nico. “Well, I guess I’m done.”
He grinned at me and pointed a thumb toward the door. “Are you hungry?”
“I’m starving. I’d planned on making a grilled cheese before bed when I got home.”
“Eff that. Let’s go. There’s a diner down the road. It’s open 24/7. Great burgers, and a really good Greek omelet if you like olives.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Olives? In an omelet? I’ll stick with the burgers.”
“Suit yourself. Come on.”
He wasn’t lying. The diner was only five minutes down the road. I recognized it. It was a place called Gena’s. I’d driven by it at least a hundred times over the years, but had never actually set foot inside.
I realized the error of my ways as soon as I walked in. The building had that baked in coffee-bacon-grease-sugar smell of a really good, old-school restaurant.
The menu was classic diner fare, with a hundred different items. I always wondered how places like this were able to store so many types of food in such small spaces.
We had a pretty limited bar-food menu at my place and still had trouble with space.
Their menu had everything from chili dogs to chicken pot pie and Caesar salads.
I shrugged and flipped the pages over to the breakfast section, deciding on a bacon-egg-and-cheese burger with hashbrowns.
“Damn,” Nico said after the server left.
“What?”
“I like that. A real woman who orders what she wants. I like that.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “I’m not the type to order a salad on a date to make the guy think I’m not a glutton or something.”
Nico raised an eyebrow. “Is this a date?”
My cheeks went red. “Uh…not…that’s not what I meant.”