Chapter 9
CHAPTER NINE
KNOX
H uck has always looked just like his dad and now acts like him, too. And he touched her.
Raven Henry.
Her resume didn’t state that she looked like…
this. Griffin came downstairs a few minutes ago to swap places with me and said that I need to introduce myself to our newest employee.
I figured I would come out here and help, avoiding Raven the entire time.
But instead, I find Huck acting like an entitled little prick.
The rest of the bar continues their reveling as my hand darts out, gripping the collar of his shirt. I pull him closer, bringing him halfway over the bar. Raven doesn’t take a step back but attempts to wedge her sexy curves between me and Huck and places her hand on my bicep.
“I’m okay. It’s okay. See?” Raven holds up her wrist for my inspection, but I don’t find everything okay. It looks like someone dipped their hand in red paint and grabbed her wrist. I can see Huck’s distinct finger marks that will later turn into bruises.
Raven finally sees what I see and attempts to cover it up. I grab her arm, just below the red skin.
“This looks anything but okay, Darlin’.”
Her nostrils flare. “I had it handled.”
“Sure, you did.”
Her glare becomes more furious. “Don’t patronize me!”
Huck interjects into our side argument, “Look, Montgomery, the chick says she’s fine. No harm, no foul. Right?”
“Chick?” Raven exclaims indignantly.
“I’d stop while you’re ahead, bud,” Benny throws in.
Our attention snaps to Huck, and my words come out threateningly as I release Raven. “So, not only are you assaulting my employees, but now you’re resorting to insulting them? And on top of that, you lied.”
“I didn’t lie. I swear,” he proclaims as he waves his hands.
“So, you didn’t say that you’ve been served here before? You’re nineteen. We’d never give alcohol to someone underage.”
“I was just kid—” he starts.
My fist squeezes tighter. “I don’t recommend lying to me again, Huck.”
“Hey, now. What’s going on here?” Griffin sprints to my side.
“Your brother is a murdering psycho, that’s what!”
Huck’s insult hits its mark. Griffin and I have been over this a million times. We don’t need the town’s approval. All we need is the bar and each other. But to be called a murderer in my place of business will not stand.
I feel a crunch under my fist as it connects with his face.
Huck falls to the ground, howling and clutching his face.
Benny slinks from his seat and hauls Huck to the front door.
Benny may be old and a bit of an alcoholic, but he serves as our unofficial bouncer when needed.
For every person he has to throw out, he gets a free drink.
And for a guy who seems to be trying to forget their past, free drinks are essential.
“What was that for?” Griffin demands.
Balling my fists at my side, I answer, “He hurt Raven.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing,” Raven argues again.
“It’s not gonna feel like nothing when your wrist bruises,” I contend back.
Griffin steps between us. “What bruises?”
“Those.” I motion to Raven’s wrist, and Griffin grabs her hand, raising it to examine the injury. He looks at me and we read each other’s faces instantly.
Huck is banned for life.
With a nod in agreement, Griffin takes over the bar, and I lead Raven into the kitchen. We pass Camden, who is putting together a plate of a cheeseburger and fries. “You’re going to have to wait tables for a bit,” I inform him.
Camden’s eyes dart between Raven’s wrist and my knuckles. He knows I’m quick to anger but also knows I wouldn’t hit someone without cause. “I’m on it,” he assents and exits the kitchen with a tray full of orders.
I step into the walk-in freezer and grab an ice pack. When I return to Raven, I find her with her hands on her hips. “You can drop the tough girl act.”
“It’s not an act,” she argues.
Real smooth, Romeo.
I’m not used to carrying long conversations with a gorgeous woman.
I’m who women come to when they want to walk on the wild side.
It’s a transaction and nothing more. We fuck and they get to go back to their gossip circles, claiming they had a wild night with one of the Montgomery twins.
Griffin still partakes in such transactions, but I’m tired of the emotionless fucking. It’s not for me.
Reaching for her arm, she steps away. It’s like a shot straight to my chest. I assume she doesn’t know mine and Griffin’s history or what the Montgomery name means, and her rejection hurts more than normal. But I don’t let it show.
“If my wrist gets treated, then so does your hand,” she insists.
You know what happens when you assume…
She wasn’t disgusted by me. She was making sure I got help as well. That’s new.
Too stunned to reply, I stand there with a blank stare.
Raven takes my silence as consent. “I’ll grab the first aid kit.” She’s out the door and back before I can even form words. She sits at a stool beside the stainless-steel counter and motions for me to join her.
Sitting on another stool facing her, I lay her hand flat and gently place the ice pack on her wrist. Now that the adrenaline is gone, I can feel the softness of her skin.
My cock begins to harden in my jeans. Her hair is pulled back into a messy ponytail, and her midnight-black waves cascade down her back.
My eyes wander over her full breasts and thighs.
Fresh ink peeks out from under the thick straps of her tank top: two small crowns side by side.
Her spirited blue eyes meet mine, and I watch as her pupils grow.
Raven’s breathing increases, and I decide to push my luck.
I flip her hand, exposing the inside of her delicate wrist, and run the pads of my fingertips over her pulse.
She lets out a small gasp, and goosebumps spread over her skin.
Holding back the smirk that attempts to take over my face, I place the ice pack back on her wrist.
Raven clears her throat. “So, you must be Knox.”
“Must be.”
“I’m Raven,” she declares and holds out her hand for me to shake. I oblige and command my dick to calm down when her eyes roam my face and she bites her lip.
“Nice to meet you, Raven.”
She smiles. “Nice to meet you too, Knox.”
The sound of my name on her rosy lips just about has me undone. No woman has ever had me this mesmerized. I’m thirty-eight years old and can honestly say I’ve never longed to know how a woman’s skin tastes or how she sounds when she comes.
The energy around her is addictive. I could easily lose myself in Raven Henry. Her fire, her heart. It’s beautiful. I want to capture that beauty and whisk her away to keep it all for myself.
But she’s an employee. The Wandering Raven doesn’t need a sexual harassment lawsuit attached to its name.
“It already feels better,” Ravens claims, removing the ice pack.
“Your turn.” She opens the first aid kit and pulls out the supplies she needs.
As she touches my hand again, guiding it to her face to inspect the injury, my body develops a mind of its own.
My thumb runs circles over the back of her hand, and her breath hitches again.
Forcing myself to stop, my muscles go rigid.
Being around her is going to be more difficult than I anticipated.
“That kind of thing doesn’t normally happen.”
Her brow raises. “You punching someone in the face?”
Raven’s sass drives a laugh out of me. “No, I mean employees being harassed and assaulted. Underage kids never ask for drinks because we know who is of age and who isn’t.”
“Huh,” she says more to herself than she does to me as she runs an alcohol wipe over my broken skin. “Word must have gotten out that you hired a new bartender.”
My shoulder raises and lowers. “Probably. That’s small towns for ya.”
“Guess so.” She shakes her head. “But I had it handled.”
My answer is to give her a look of disbelief.
“I’ve worked in a bar before, and it was more dangerous than The Wandering Raven.” She rolls her lips inward as if she’s said too much.
My head angles to the side. “Where? It wasn’t on your resume.”
Her jaw tightens for a moment. “It was a long time ago, and the owner wouldn’t give me a good reference even if he remembered me. He didn’t like me slapping customers when they were drunk and wanted to play a game of grab ass.”
“Sounds like an asshole of a boss,” I comment.
“You don’t know the half of it,” she replies as if an ugly memory floated to the surface.
I hesitate for a moment, unsure of what to say here. Usually, Griffin is the one I have this type of conversation with. He’s been my best friend and confidant my whole life. That’s what happens when all your friends disappear from your life at age sixteen and refuse to acknowledge you.
“Umm. If you want to talk about it, I’ll listen.”
“Thanks, Knox. But I don’t know if that’s an appropriate boss-employee conversation.” She smiles teasingly.
“Consider it team building,” I quip.
Raven’s melodious laugh drifts from her lips to my ears, and I feel myself doing an unfamiliar movement.
I smile back.
As Raven goes back to tending bar, Camden goes back to the kitchen, and I head to the back hall. The wainscotting does its job, hiding the secret door located right next to our office.
When I open the door, I’m hit in the face with boisterous clamor and an unmistakable herbal smoke. The narrow steps down to the basement are hazardous, and we don’t have any plans to change them.
Hitting the bottom step, I scan the room.
Five of the six poker tables are full, each dealer in our employ is busy officiating the games at their assigned tables, and the bar on the right side of the room is at more than capacity as people gather around to watch various sports that they have all placed bets on.
Multiple flatscreen TVs are streaming live events like the NHL, NFL, MLB, and NASCAR.