Chapter 14 #2
The smell of coffee from downstairs wafts into my apartment when I open my door.
I slide my key in and turn the locks, tuck my keys in my purse, then walk to the crosswalk.
My nerves tempt me to turn around, but that was the old me.
“He likes you. He kissed you,” I tell myself under my breath, then continue across the street, hyping myself up still.
“Today’s the start of your new life. You’re confident now. ”
Entering Bar Someday, I hold my head high and beeline it through the crowd to the bar. One spot is open, smack dab in the middle of the stools, so that’s where I sit. “Hey.” The super pretty bartender slides a coaster my way and raises her voice. “What can I get ya?”
I set my purse down. “Um, a dirty martini, please.”
Her full lips twist in disgust. “All right…”
“Is there something wrong with that?”
“No, not at all. I just can’t stand ’em. They make me sick.”
“Me, too.”
She arches a brow. “You drink something that makes you sick?”
“Yes. No. Well, kind of. See, I really do love them, but I can only have two. Otherwise”—I make a sour face—“I learned the hard way what happens if I have more than that. It’s also a really good way to limit myself.”
She pauses the shaker midair. “Huh.”
“What?”
“I’ve never heard someone drink something that made them sick so they wouldn’t drink too much to make themselves sick to begin with.”
“First time for everything, I suppose.”
“Definitely.” She pours my drink and hands it over. “Pay or tab?”
I try not to be too obvious about the fact that I’m looking for Ben.
Depending on how he reacts, I’m not sure if I’ll stick around for long.
But if things get awkward and I want to leave quickly, I don’t want to be stuck waiting for a bill.
“Can I just pay for two now?” God, why am I like this? Why do I overthink everything?
“Yeah, I’ll be here all night, so that’s not a problem.”
“Kit, another, please,” someone calls for her, and she rings me up before serving them.
After signing the receipt, I take my first sip and take the opportunity to actually look around at the details I missed the first night I showed up.
I’m not sure what I was expecting from a place Ben owned, but I know it’s not what I’m seeing.
The big space is laid out like a typical bar, but the decorations throw me off because they have a feminine vibe.
Crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling, and the abstract artwork on the walls is framed in gold.
The stools are a mix of mint green and bright red, and the tables look like white marble.
It’s all unique and really cool, but the multiple TVs playing every sport imaginable, along with the row of pool tables and dart boards, are contradictory.
“First time here?”
I turn toward the voice on my left and mutter, “Yeah.” The pair of eyes reminds me of Ben’s, but lighter, one of them with faded bruising around it.
The man smirks at me and asks, “Weird, right?”
“What is?”
He chuckles. “I saw you looking at all the weird-ass decorations.”
“Not weird, just…different.”
“Ya hear that, Kit?” he hollers. “New girl thinks the shit you got all over the place is different.”
I panic. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I meant—”
Kit cuts me off. “Different is good. That’s the point. Don’t be a dick and scare her off.” She whisper-yells, “Ignore him, girl. It’s what I do.”
He grunts as if he’s been hit and holds his palm against his broad chest. “You wound me.”
“You irritate me.”
“She’s just bitter because no matter how many times she asks or how hard she begs, I always turn her down. But that’s lucky for you, ’cause it means I’m as single as they come.” He winks. “So what’s your name, new girl?”
“It’s not new girl.”
“Sassy. Unexpected, but I like it. I’m Charles.”
He holds his hand out, and I hesitate before I offer mine for a shake. I don’t want him to think I’m leading him on, but I don’t want to be rude, either. “Annie.”
“Ya don’t say?” His smirk makes me feel like I’m part of an inside joke that I know nothing about. “Nice to meet you, Annie.”
“You, too.”
“So what brings you to Bar Someday for the first time?”
I don’t think this guy is a creep, but I’m not about to get personal with him. “I just moved here and thought I’d check it out.”
He pours back a swallow of beer. “Why’d you come to Matchbook?” he prods.
“Because.”
“Because why?” When I don’t answer that, he launches right back into his rapid-fire line of questioning. “Where’d you move from?”
“Where I was before.” I’m starting to doubt my instincts about him, but the way he and Kit joked around, I’m hoping he’s just overly friendly.
His eyes rake over me, and he hums, like he’s just solved a puzzle, or he thought he did. “Smart girl.”
“Thanks, I guess?”
“Well, Annie, since you’re new to Matchbook and all, how about I take you around town and get you acquainted with all the great things our little city has to offer?”
It’s decided. He’s not overly friendly or a creep. He’s a player. I avoid guys like him, the ones who think they can dazzle a woman with their good looks and cocky charm, like the plague. Not that I went out often, but on the rare occasion I did, there was always a guy like him around.
Interestingly enough, Charles doesn’t make me nervous.
Maybe a little baffled, but red flags aren’t flying.
No way am I going to return his shameless flirting, but he’s hot, and admittedly, it feels nice getting noticed by someone like him…
even though there’s only one man who has my heart, and he’s why I’m here.
“What great things does Matchbook have to offer that you can’t just tell me about?”
He touches my arm with his finger, and I lean back. “Well, obviously, the only way for you to find that out is for me to show you.”
“Oh, I don’t—”
A hand lands on my shoulder, and I nearly jump out of my skin, but simultaneously, I hear Ben’s voice, and that tingle on the back of my neck becomes a full-body shiver. “She’s not interested.”
“I don’t know about that.” Charles taps the top of my wrist. “She didn’t say no, did ya, Annie?”
“I’m saying it for her. And brother, heed this one and only warning you’re going to get, hands off, yeah?”
I glance at Kit, who’s watching the exchange with curiosity, then over my shoulder to find a very heated Ben. I feel like I should be afraid they’re going to get into a brawl or something, but I’m too hot and bothered to feel anything but turned on. “Ben, I—”
“Was just about to say no, right?”
“Yes.”
“I still didn’t hear a no come from your pretty pink lips.” Charles winks at me.
The deep, gruff, rumbly growl that comes from the man at my back has me questioning if shapeshifters are actually real.
Suddenly, the tension vanishes because Charles’s shoulders shake, and he roars with laughter. “You’re too easy, bro.”
“And you’re an asshole,” Ben mutters. “Not exactly the first impression I’d like her to have of you.” He punches Charles in the shoulder, and it’s not a friendly tap.
Charles didn’t flinch. “At least I liked the first impression she gave me.” He winks again.
“Stop winking. You look like a freak,” Kit says as she slides him a fresh bottle.
“I am a freak,” he replies without missing a beat. “A freak in the sheets, baby.”
She rolls her eyes, and my stool spins around, where I find myself caged in. “What’re you doin’ here, Annie?”
I tilt my head back and get lost in those hazel eyes… eyes that are nearly identical to Charles’s. Even their hair color is the same. “Wait.” My gaze bounces between the two of them a few times before it finally clicks. “You’re legit brothers.”
Ben sighs. “Unfortunately, I have to claim Parker as my legit brother.”
“You told me your name was Charles.”
“It’s my middle name, so technically I didn’t lie, but I wanted to see how long it would take you to figure it out.
” Parker even sounds like Ben. I heard his voice in that video with Poe.
How could I be so oblivious? I can’t believe I didn’t realize it right away. “I’m not normally such a douche, bu—”
“Yes, you are,” Ben and Kit say as one, and I can’t help but giggle at their banter.
He goes on like he didn’t hear them. “But I saw him walking in and couldn’t resist.”
“Couldn’t resist what?” Ben pushes, and it’s interesting how much less irate he sounds now. I’ve never met a man whose tone says more about him than the words he speaks.
Parker tips his head at me. “Just having a little fun with your girl.”
“Fun’s over,” Ben counters, and when he doesn’t correct the your girl part of his statement, it makes the butterflies in my stomach dance. “Weren’t you leaving?”
Parker takes a swig of his beer. “Nope.”
“Well, as entertaining as this is, I’m outta here. Ben, you can have my seat,” the man on the opposite side of me says. For a minute there, I forget we’re not the only ones in the bar, and I realize a bunch of people are watching us.
“Thanks, Kurt.”
As soon as the stool opens up, Ben jerks his chin at me. “Move over.”
He has that voice he uses when he’s commanding me to stay still so he can make sure it’s safe, or when he senses a threat and starts ordering me around. It was scary before, but knowing my life isn’t in danger in this particular moment, it’s just plain hot.
When I slide down to the vacated stool, Ben takes my place, turning his back to his brother and pushing my drink in front of me. “Dirty martini?” he guesses. “I was not expecting that.”
“What were you expecting?”
“Something fruity and possibly loopy.”
It’s so good to have him back, I feel giddy inside. “Ha. Ha. Very funny.”
“You said you were tired,” he says low, with a hint of something bad. “So why are you here now, Blue?”
I take a sip of my drink and then decide to take another, unsure of the vibe he’s putting off, trying to understand the mixed signals. My confidence takes a hit, and I simply say, “I just wanted to have a drink, so why wouldn’t I go to the bar across the street for that?”
“Because I don’t want you here.”