Chapter 2 #2
Even though they all gave her stony stares, she smiled, her coffeepot propped on the tray under her arm. Damn, she really should have just dropped it off first because it was awkward. Whatever, she was here now.
“Good evening, what can I get you three to drink?”
Badger grunted, his gaze trailing past her. “I want Nyla waiting on us.”
“Unfortunately she’s had a family emergency and is clocking out once she closes her tables out.” A big fat lie she’d told more than once.
“Emergency?”
“Yep. Now, I’ve got a riddle for you, and if you get it, the first round is on me.”
The three men looked at her now. Apparently the thought of free drinks was more alluring than stalking his ex. At least for now.
“Okay, here’s the riddle—and you can’t look up the answer. What is seen in the middle of March and April that can’t be seen at the beginning or end of either month?”
They all stared at her for a long moment.
The biggest of the three said, “Snow.”
“Nope.”
Badger shrugged, clearly having lost interest.
The third guy actually scratched his head.
“Give up?”
“Yep,” Head Scratcher said.
“The letter R.” She grinned, and to her surprise got two smiles in return. “So, what are you guys drinking?”
They ordered a round of tallboys of the cheapest brand and Badger went back to tracking Nyla with his eyes. The look in them set Clover on edge, and when she met the other woman at the bar, she stood in front of her to block Badger’s view. Because screw him.
“I don’t like the way he’s watching you,” Clover said. “I know you said he doesn’t hurt women, but that doesn’t mean anything.” Because in her experience, men were unpredictable and violent. And there was a first time for everything.
“I know. His vibe is really off.”
The fact that Nyla was agreeing didn’t make Clover feel any better. “So what’s the plan?”
“Just…serve them drinks and we’ll hope for the best. We close in an hour anyway so that shouldn’t be enough time for him to get too hammered.”
“Okay. Oh, I told him that you had a family emergency and would be clocking out when you’d closed your tables.”
Nyla nodded. “Hopefully he doesn’t notice if I pick up more tables.”
That had been the plan, but that was before Clover realized how closely Badger was watching Nyla. “Or, I’ll just give you the tip from Micah to cover what you would make and you hide out in the back.”
Nyla shook her head. “I can’t do that.”
Clover didn’t like that, but there wasn’t much else she could do. So she headed to the table of frat boys and started taking their credit cards. Because of course they wanted separate checks.
As she finished with the last guy—the sweet cheeks one—he clasped her forearm.
“Listen,” he mumbled. “I really am sorry about earlier.”
Before she could accept his drunken apology, he continued.
“And I’d like to take you out to dinner to apologize.”
She bit back her snort as his friends laughed. They weren’t helping and she was pretty sure they didn’t care either way. “Thank you for the offer, but I already have a boyfriend.”
“Yeah, I figured. Of course you do.” He nodded. “Thank you again—”
“Why don’t you get your hand off her.” Badger was suddenly there, looking menacing as he towered over the table and her.
She was tall but this guy was up there with Micah. Who she really wished was here right now. He was good at defusing situations.
She moved in between the table and Badger. “These are my friends, we’re all good.” Man, Nyla hadn’t been kidding about him wanting to fight random dudes.
“Sure don’t look like your friends.”
“Badger.” Nyla moved up next to her before Clover had even seen her approaching. “Back off. You know Louis doesn’t want you fighting in here.”
“Well Louis isn’t here, is he?” There was a menacing gleam in his eyes as he looked at her.
Clover had seen that same look in her dad’s eyes before he hit her mom.
And Badger’s hands were balled into fists.
Hell no. She didn’t even think, just reacted. Taking her tray, she swung hard, jabbing the edge of it straight into his throat.
She knew it was a risky move, could even kill him, but if he hit Nyla, he could kill her or give her brain damage. The guy’s fists were like anvils. The second he went down, flying into a nearby table and knocking all the drinks off in his descent, chaos ensued.
“Move!” Nyla grabbed her arm, dragging her to the back and out of the chaos as the frat boys jumped on Badger and started pummeling him like rabid hyenas.
His two biker friends moved faster than anyone that big should be able to, and… Oh hell, Micah came out of nowhere, tackling the bigger of the three. The biker might as well have frying pans for hands, he was so huge.
But Micah… Hiding behind one of the tables with Nyla, she watched as anyone who wanted to be in the fray jumped in and everyone else scrambled.
Mostly, her gaze was on Micah as he jabbed the big biker hard in the ribs, moving so fast it was hard to track him.
The guy never even had a chance and she swore it was like he fell in slow motion, like a giant pine tree slamming into one of the tables. Which then fell on top of him with a sickening thud.
Badger was up on his feet though, and oh damn, Micah took him out just as fast, with six hard jabs that put the man down.
“If he wasn’t so clearly into you,” Nyla whispered, “I’d bang him tonight.”
She snort-laughed, but clapped a hand over her mouth as Jon turned and glared at them as he stalked by.
“Nice of you to show up!” Nyla called out, clearly not caring what he thought.
And yeah, she was right. So much for him being security.
The three bikers and two of the frat boys were knocked out cold. The rest of security was doing their best to drag everyone out of the bar, with Jon yelling, “Closing up early, everyone pay up and get the hell out!”
Since she wasn’t worried about retaliation from the bikers—at the moment, at least—she hurried around closing out her tabs.
Thirty minutes later, the majority of the customers were gone.
But Micah stayed. She’d wanted to go to him immediately after the fight to make sure he was okay but hadn’t wanted to blow their cover.
At least the roar of bikes had faded into the distance a solid ten minutes ago so Badger and his buddies were gone. Ugh.
“Thank you for what you did,” Nyla said as she sat. She pulled out a stack of cash.
The security team was busy cleaning while Clover and Nyla counted their tips at one of the booths. The three other servers were at another booth already drinking. “It’s no big deal.”
“It kind of is. He’s dangerous.” Nyla looked worried about it.
“I can take care of myself.” She didn’t even live in this town, but over in Sanctuary Falls. “As long as you don’t tell him who I am.”
“Oh, I won’t be telling him shit. And Louis is going to remind him that he’s banned—I already texted him about Badger. He’s pissed that he showed up tonight.” She sighed. “I swear he was going to hit me tonight.”
“He absolutely was.” Micah slid in next to them.
She loved the feel of him so close, that subtle sandalwood scent of his.
“He might come after you too,” Nyla said, looking between the two of them. Then she sighed. “But we’re going to drink our faces off tonight and not think about that asshole. Sit tight, I’m going to grab us some drinks.”
She nodded, but shot Micah a sideways glance. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
She wanted to ask if he was sure, but now wasn’t the time. To be fair, she hadn’t seen him take any rough hits. Nope, he’d been the one delivering all the violence.
On the surface, it should disgust her, but…with Micah, it didn’t. He was a true protector in a world full of phonies and wannabes.
She wondered where he’d learned to fight like that because it had been almost graceful. Savagely so.
And something was seriously wrong with her because she’d loved watching him take those jerks down.