7. Grace
7
GRACE
S ince I had left the gym that morning, I couldn’t concentrate at all. The conversation Andie and I had in the women’s locker room was a blur, except the part when she urged me to go after what I want.
“You deserve a good man in your life,” she’d said. “If you like Brian, then don’t let your brothers stop you.”
It wasn’t that simple. I heard Brian. He was so right about Duke cutting off his balls. But as Dillon mentioned, it was none of Duke’s business who I liked.
Still, the minute I laid eyes on Brian, something snapped in me. Maybe it was the way he’d looked at me with admiration in his eyes. Or even his admission that he would beat whoever hurt me.
I sighed quietly, entering the items ordered by one of my tables into the computer at my server station. I was halfway through my shift at Yvonne’s, and I still couldn’t stop thinking about Brian.
Brian looked more handsome than ever with scruff on his jaw. His deep-green eyes set my lady parts on fire—something that had hardly happened before. Maybe because of what he’d whispered in my ear. I will not deny that you’re fucking beautiful and that I could get lost in you.
That crush I had on him was back with a vengeance, and his admission of how he felt gave me hope for the first time that I might be able to settle down with a good man who would treat me well.
“Grace, you haven’t been yourself all night.” Brittany, a dear friend and confidant, laid a hand on my shoulder as I finalized the tab for table six. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Maybe after our shift.”
I was one big mess. I’d dropped a tray of food and tripped over a person’s foot that had been sticking out from under the table, and I probably looked as if I’d been through a war. I couldn’t say how many times patrons looked at my black eyes in horror. I’d covered the bruises with makeup, but wiping the sweat off my face every now and then had taken away the mask.
“I’m holding you to it,” she said with a smile, eager to know my truths.
Britt, Andie, and I were great friends and told one another everything. We had a lot of catching up to do with Britt.
“Break it up, you two,” Harry said. “We have customers to take care of.”
Brittany saluted our boss and clutched my arm as we hurried into the dining room.
Before we got too far, she tugged me into the alcove near the restrooms. “One sec. We got sidetracked. There’s a fine specimen of a hunk at the bar asking for you.”
I perked up. “Is it Brian? Or Dom?”
Her eyebrows dipped down. “Brian? As in Brian McCauley, the one you have a crush on?”
“Busted. He’s back in town.”
“Oh my,” she cooed. “He’s a chef’s kiss. No wonder you’re not all there tonight. But no. And it’s not Dom either. My granny would call this dude a tall drink of water.” Then she whispered, “I would call him fuckable. Much like Brian.”
My curiosity was piqued. “Where at the bar?”
I suspected it might be the guy in my Spanish class who had asked me out at the beginning of the semester. He was younger, could pass for a tall drink of water, and had a smile that turned women to mush.
“At the end. White button-down shirt, sleeves rolled up, and a Rolex on his wrist. Go. I’ll take the bill to table six.”
I ruled out the hottie in Spanish class. I’d never seen him wear a Rolex. Then a macabre thought hit me. That grungy man who’d banged on my window the other night had been wearing a Rolex.
My stomach pitched and rolled as I wound through the dining room, voices buzzing, silverware clanging around me.
I settled at the waitress station at the end of the bar, examining a very pretty guy with black hair shorn on the sides, a well-groomed beard on his square jaw, and a Celtic tattoo on his forearm above a silver Rolex. He certainly didn’t look like the man I’d been thinking about. Plus, this man’s watch was silver and not gold.
“You must be Grace.” His voice was as smooth as butter.
“Who wants to know?” I wasn’t confirming shit until I knew why he was here.
He stretched out his arm to shake my hand. “I’m Knox. I work for the Guardian. I’ve been assigned as your bodyguard.”
Instant anger had me clenching my teeth. “Let me guess. My brother Duke sent you.”
He nodded with a grin. “If you have an issue, take it up with him. But until my boss tells me you’re no longer in my charge, I’ll be in your shadows.”
A buzzing started in my ears. My breathing ramped up. No way was Duke calling the shots anymore. This was my life, and I was in charge of my destiny.
“Knox, did my brother or your boss tell you why they hired you to protect me?”
My guess was Duke was worried that the frat boy would retaliate. I didn’t agree. Carl Dixon wouldn’t be stupid enough to shut me up—or maybe he would.
“I don’t ask questions.”
Another thought came to mind. The cops had confiscated my concealed weapon, which meant I did not have any protection. Duke was perturbed over that, as was I. Maybe Duke thought I needed a bodyguard until my case was resolved. My brother had even demanded that I brush up on my self-defense skills, which was why I had been in the gym earlier that day.
I was tempted to storm over to Duke’s brownstone and give him a piece of my mind, but I needed to calm down first and finish my shift. Then again, arguing with Duke was like arguing with a wall.
“Well, Knox, you’ll be waiting for a few hours.” Like that knowledge would scare him away.
He just gave me a stern smile. “I’m on the job. So you can be here all night. I’m not leaving.”
I pulled my phone from my apron pocket and texted Duke. Tell the bodyguard you hired you don’t need him to follow me around. I have a Taser to protect me.
I gnawed on my bottom lip as I waited for those three little bouncing dots. Duke usually responded quickly if he wasn’t with his wife and daughter.
Brittany dashed up. “You have new dinner guests. Do you want me to take them?”
I pocketed my phone. “No.” I needed a distraction anyway.
Brittany and I walked toward the back of the restaurant where our sections were.
“Who’s the hottie?” she asked.
“A bodyguard.”
She clucked her tongue. “For what?”
I caught sight of a customer waving at me. “Million-dollar question.”
A few minutes after taking the credit card from my guest at table six and closing out the check, I waited on the party at my new table. As I headed to the bar to fill their drink orders, my phone pinged.
Duke: No! I will do no such thing .
I busted out laughing to keep myself from screaming.
Well, we would see about that.