Chapter 16
Beck
Jensen James is a damn powerhouse. Not to mention, runs a tight ship behind the bar.
Coming to see her tonight wasn’t exactly planned, and jumping behind the bar to help was definitely not fully thought out. I just knew I didn’t want to go back home without her there.
Yesterday was weird as fuck, but the silence today was awful.
I tried taking Dottie for a quick run. I tried an audiobook.
I tried a game of pool with music cranked arguably too loud.
Dottie abandoned me at that point, trotting up the stairs to what I imagine to be my or Jensen’s mattress.
Her dog bed is mostly a last resort, I’ve come to learn.
I want so badly to put a finger on why things feel so different between us.
I guess, really, we’ve both had our asses handed to us over the past couple days.
Really, it makes sense our dynamic is changing, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find a new normal…
Although I’m not sure we had a normal relationship to begin with.
With any other person, I’d be running at any hint of them showing more than just a single night interest in me, but Jensen’s little slipup has me reeling. It’s almost like she hates the fact that she likes me, and I don’t really know what to do with that.
Then we both practically put our hearts on our sleeve. For a minute, I thought, why not see what this could be, it’ll probably fizzle out, right? But then I realized my hand was resting on her thigh, and I knew I fucked up.
Having her bark orders at me tonight has definitely brought back a bit of what feels like normal for us to some degree, but how seamlessly we’ve made the night go should come with red flags waving every which way.
With the last customer out the door, one of the bus boys turns the lock with a sigh even we can hear.
“Tonight was insane,” he grumbles as he takes one of the seats at the bar. There’s not a chance in hell the kid is over twenty-one, but I’d want to come talk to Jensen after a long day too.
Jensen huffs in agreement as she wets a rag at the sink. “You did good, though. We all made it through.”
“Hey, what about me? How’d I do?”
Jensen gives me a pointed glare and tosses me the rag. “You don’t actually work here, but I suppose you did do a good job too.”
“I’m sorry, but this is so fucking cool.” The kid stands up from the seat and pulls a hat out of his apron. “I’m a huge fan of the Blues. If it’s not too much trouble, could you sign my hat?”
I chuckle. “Yeah, you got a—” I don’t even finish my sentence before Jensen slides a Sharpie down the bar. I nod at her. ‘Thanks.”
I scribble my signature where he asks, and then take the selfie with him because they always ask for one.
By the end of it the kid is practically glowing. “Thanks, this means a lot. Jensen, your boyfriend is so cool.”
“Oh, he’s not—” Jensen starts to correct him, but he’s way too focused on his hat to listen.
Jensen sighs as he disappears through the kitchen doors.
“I’ll correct that later. Come on, let’s clean up so we can go home.
” She picks the rag back up. “You wipe down the bar, I’ll start on the taps and bottles.
And don’t half-ass it either, people working tomorrow will say something to me if it’s not done right. ”
“You sure are a bossy girlfriend,” I tease.
Jensen clenches her jaw. “Not funny.”
I could disagree, but that terminology is so far from us, so why not laugh at it?
Continuing our rhythm, I let Jensen lead doing all the tasks she asks then trying to fill in where I can. When I finish sweeping, I find her wiping down the bottles.
Grabbing a rag, I walk up next to her. “Where’d you start?”
She lifts her bottle to the right. “From there to here is done. There’s really not too much left.”
“Great.” I step around her and go to the far left side. “Meet you in the middle.”
She nods, and an ever-so-slight smile tugs at the corner of her lips. “Hey, want a cherry? I may steal one or two every night.” Putting her bottle back, she pulls out two cherries from the container.
“Wouldn’t say no to one.” Taking it from her, I bite off the sweet fruit, but don’t throw away the stem just yet.
Finally meeting Jensen on the bottles, I pop the stem in my mouth. “All done?” I ask.
“Think so,” Jensen huffs, but when she looks at me she bites at her lip. Stepping up she takes my hat off and turns it back around to the front. I hadn’t even realized I turned it around while cleaning. “Quit doing that,” she mumbles under her breath.
“What do you have against my hat being backward?”
Jensen doesn’t say anything, doesn’t move or break eye contact. I’m unsurprisingly now extremely hard. I practically have a semi around her constantly already, but being in her world tonight… Letting her boss me around, and now this…
Leaning forward, I rest my hands on both sides of her, caging Jensen between myself and the bar. The thought of kissing her crosses my mind when she doesn’t push back, but instead, I finish tying off the stem in my mouth then hold it between my teeth.
I mark the rise and fall of her chest. Locking on to her amber eyes, I watch as they run down my face and focus on the tied stem.
After two seconds they flash back up and she smirks. “Find some originality, Beckham.” She holds out her tongue showing off her own tied stem.
Holy shit, I could come in my pants from that alone.
“Fuck, Jensen,” I rasp out.
Jensen’s hands land on my chest, and I’m fully prepared for her to push me back, but she doesn’t—she’s just touching me.
You know what? Fuck it.
My hands move to the small of her back and I lean—
“So, how’d it go?” Mia’s voice registers to the both of us at the same time. Jensen’s touch turns into a push, but I’m already jumping back. “Ope, was I interrupting?”
“No!” Jensen snaps. “I mean, no, we’re done closing up.”
“Oh, okay.” Mia folds her lips together for a moment, looking back and forth between the both of us. “You’re good to go. I have everything under control here.”
Jensen takes several healthy steps away from me then grabs her coat and bag. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Lock the door behind me?” She nods to Mia but doesn’t wait for her acknowledgement.
She makes it halfway to the door, and my brain finally catches up with my dick.
“Jensen,” I call after her, but she doesn’t stop. She doesn’t even slow down.
My feet finally start to move, and I holler for her again.
Mia scrunches her face and mouths, sorry, as I pass her by, but I don’t waste any time responding.
“Jensen!” I yell again once I hit the sidewalk. “Wait up!”
She doesn’t bother stopping. “I’ll meet you back at the house, Beck.”
Kicking my ass up a gear I finally catch up to her. “Jen, I know you could outrun me if you really wanted to, but ride home with me. We’re both going to the same place.”
“No, I’m not leaving my car here.”
I expect nothing but this stubbornness from her, but she’s met her match with me. “Fine, I’m riding with you.”
She skids to a stop. “No, you’re not.”
“Yes, I am.”
“You can’t just leave your vehicle here, Beck. Just give me a little space, please,” she pleads.
The words feel like knives to my chest, and I take a small step back. I can see the fear written all over her face and it drags the knife in my heart down through my stomach.
What the hell am I doing?
Giving her space won’t change anything about our conversation. If anything, she’s right—we both need a little time alone to cool down and really think about this.
I know what I want to do, who I want to do it to, and do it multiple times, but this isn’t going to be that simple. Whether Jensen wants to or not, we have to talk about this, but it doesn’t have to be here on the sidewalk or on the drive home.
“Fine, I’ll walk you to your car, then I’ll walk back to mine, but you have to promise me we’ll talk about this when we get home.”
Jensen scoffs. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
I can’t help it…the step I took back is immediately met again. My hands find either side of her face. “Oh, baby, you know that’s not true.”