Chapter 6
Aspen
But in the hour that we’ve been serving alcohol, he’s already three beers and one shot deep. A heavy glaze coats his eyes in a way that makes me think the drinks he got here weren’t the first of the day for him.
My knees crack as I squat down to pop open the locks on my guitar case and gently lift it out.
“That’s a beater,” Hugh muses from over my shoulder. “You need an upgrade.”
“I don’t,” I say, keeping my tone light despite my rising annoyance. “It works perfectly fine, just well-loved.”
“You need help lifting that?”
“I got it. I do this all the time, you know.” I laugh, which sounds fake to my ears but hopefully not to his.
One of his meaty hands cuts into my line of vision as he reaches for the neck of my guitar. “Let me just get that for you.”
I dodge out of his reach and pull the guitar closer to my body. “No really, I’m fine. Go ahead and enjoy your drink.” Even though he already finished off his last one before following me over here, the smell radiating off of him joins us too.
He sways slightly but doesn’t turn back toward the bar. “I’m just trying to be a gentleman here. These young men these days don’t know how to treat women right. Men in my day”—he shakes his head dramatically—“we knew how to dazzle a girl.”
I’m sure he does…
My smile is tight as I step around him and up the single step to the stage. I’m careful not to turn my back to him so he doesn’t have a chance to grab my ass. Looking toward the bar, Kevin isn’t there, likely having ducked out back for a smoke break in the lull.
Great.
Hugh stumbles closer, his bare shins exposed from his cargo shorts pressed up against the stage, as he continues to talk. “You know, my ex used to play the guitar. She was shit and wasted too much of my damn money on lessons. She wasn’t even half as good as you, darlin’.”
“Hmm.” I adjust the mic stand and pretend to fiddle with it just to give myself an excuse to pay attention to something other than him. “Well, thank you.”
“Here.” He steps up and practically falls into me. “I can get that for you.”
His sweaty chest brushes against mine for longer than an accidental bump, and I try to push him away without being too forceful with it. “Hugh, I got it. You can go sit down.”
“No,” he insists and doesn’t take a step back even as he straightens. “Just let me help a pretty girl out, okay?”
His boozy breath fills my nostrils and I fight down a gag. I’m about to relent and just let him try to adjust the stand with an excuse on the tip of my tongue to step away when he reaches a hand around my back and taps it against my ass.
“I know what I’m doing darl—”
He doesn’t get to finish the nickname. In a blink, he’s yanked backwards and is stumbling off the small stage. His feet scramble beneath him as he tries to fight gravity and the multiple beers in his system.
I yell out in surprise, but nothing shocks me as much as the pure blaze in Reid’s navy-blue eyes. One of his veined hands is full of the collar of Hugh’s shirt, while the other is fisted at his side twitching, like he wants to let it fly but is hanging on by a thread.
“I don’t think you know what you’re doing,” he says, his voice lethally low. “If you did, then you’d know better than to put your disgusting, pathetic hands on a woman.”
“Reid—”
He turns his furious stare on me and it ignites my dormant spark.
“Let him go,” I say calmly. “It’s fine.”
“It didn’t look fine.”
“Let go of me!” Hugh squirms in his grip, and by the way Reid looks at him, I wish even more so now that Hugh would shut up than I did a few moments ago.
Reid doesn’t budge.
“He’s a regular,” I try to explain.
“So that means he can grab your ass?” Reid sneers.
“I didn’t grab shit!” Hugh slurs.
Reid just shakes him around a bit more and it sets him further off balance. All eyes turn on the three of us, and I feel myself wanting to shrink into a fleck of dust coating the walls.
“What the hell is going on?” my boss’s voice bellows as the door to the back swings open. Kevin emerges with a towel in his hands as he dries them off.
“Throw this asshole out of here,” Hugh yells, still flailing in Reid’s grip.
Reid chuckles with zero amusement as he fixes his eyes on Kevin. “I’m not leaving unless this fucker is.”
Kevin glances at the two of them before noticing me in the mix. He frowns and drapes the towel over his shoulder. “What’s going on?”
I pick at my nailbed as I look from my boss to the two men fighting, then back to my boss. “It’s all a misunderstanding…”
“Misunderstanding my ass,” Reid interrupts. He blinks at me, almost in surprise, like he’s wondering why I’m not ratting out Hugh right now. “This asshole here wouldn’t leave your employee alone, no matter how much she tried to be polite and send him back over to the bar.”
How long was he here watching me?
“And when he didn’t get any clues through that thick skull of his, he grabbed her ass.”
Kevin’s face drops as he looks at Hugh, then back at me. “Is that true?”
“That’s not what happened, Kev—”
Reid shakes him around until Hugh’s protests die out.
“Kind of—” I start, and once again Hugh pipes in with a line of excuses.
Reid’s face darkens more and more with each word that comes out of his mouth, and his hand at his side twitches again. God, I was just trying to do my fucking job tonight.
Kevin holds up a hand and silences Hugh. “Can you let him go?” he asks Reid.
“I don’t know, can he keep his hands to himself?”
“Fuck you!” Hugh spits, but Reid does ultimately release him after a quick glance my way. Hugh stumbles as he regains his balance, and he quickly steps toward Kevin while Reid takes a step toward me. I naturally incline my body toward his.
“Hugh, head home for the night,” Kevin says with a heavy sigh. “We’ll talk about this later. Aspen”—he turns to me—“why don’t you call it a night too, alright?”
“But—what about my set? I promise I didn’t—” Panic seeps into my voice at the idea of being sent home tonight and not having a job to return to tomorrow because of the confrontation.
Kevin holds his hands up and softens his tone. “You’re not in trouble. Just pack it up for tonight.” He then steps closer and says quietly for only me to hear, “You can fill me in on what happened tomorrow before your shift, sound good?”
I nod shakily, relieved that I’m not going to take the fall for this. Not that I thought Kevin would, but Hugh’s a good customer. He’s here almost every night, and while On Tap doesn’t do bad for itself, I know Kevin can’t afford to lose his loyal usuals.
Hugh slips away quietly grumbling but looks relieved to be out of Reid’s grip and not the sole focus of his attention.
I turn to grab my guitar, but Reid’s already got a hold of it. He extends it my way and I snatch it from him. Fire sparks in his eyes at the motion, but he doesn’t get a chance to say anything as Kevin turns to him.
“I’m going to have to ask you to leave, too,” he says. “Can’t have a brawl in my bar.”
“But you can have men groping your workers?” he challenges, standing up to his full six-foot-four height, towering over my much-shorter boss.
But Kevin doesn’t back down. “Leave.”
Words get caught in my throat, my brain torn between stepping in and defending Reid since I know that’s what he was doing for me, but also, he’s a big boy. He can handle himself and his own consequences.
Reid glances toward me, as if waiting to see if I’ll speak up on his behalf, and something crosses his face when he realizes I’m not. Without another word, he stalks out of the bar, the door slamming against the exterior brick wall with the impact.
“How about a round on the house?” Kevin calls out to the patrons scattered around the bar and is quickly met with cheers.
He pats my shoulder gently before heading behind the bar to make the drinks.
My cheeks are flushed with embarrassment as I quickly tuck my guitar back in the case, swing it over my shoulder, and head to the back to snatch my purse.
The air is hot and sticky as I step outside, and sweat instantly beads at my hairline. I barely make it three steps before Reid stalks around the corner and almost slams into me.
“Watch out.” I scowl, and looking up, it matches his. His dark brows are drawn in a deep frown as he stares down at me. Suddenly, I wish I was taller than five five.
His nostrils flare. “What the hell were you doing defending that asshole?”
“I was defending my job! You could hit him all you fucking want out on the street or tomorrow at his job. But not while I’m on the clock and not when the fallback is going to end up on me!”
“Your boss would punish you for a man touching you inappropriately on the job?”
“It’s a bar. Customers get handsy, it happens.”
Reid goes utterly still and I know I just made a huge mistake. “This has happened before?”
I cringe internally but hold onto my strong front. “He’s never been that pushy before, but a brush of my arm here or a lingering stare at my ass while I pour his beer there…it’s nothing that doesn’t come with the territory.”
“That’s not okay, Penny.”
My heart skips at the nickname, but I don’t allow myself to focus on that. “I’m not saying it’s okay, I’m saying I’m doing what I have to do to keep my job. I was about to get more forceful with him right before you decided to yank him off stage.”
“Were you?”
“Yes,” I say, and fully believe it. I’d do whatever I could to peacefully diffuse the situation, but the moment he tapped my ass I was done.
I just wasn’t going to resort to violence as my first answer like my foster brother.
Guess some things haven’t changed after all.
“I can take care of myself, you know. What the hell are you even doing here anyway?”
He pauses ever so slightly, like he doesn’t even know the answer to that. There’s no way he’s been thinking about me as much as I’ve been thinking about him the past week…is there? “I was in the neighborhood.”
I look pointedly at his black jeans and T-shirt. “You were down the street at the gym working out in that?”
His jaw clenches as he lets out a frustrated sigh. “You should be thanking me. Happy that I was there.”
“Thanking you?” I exclaim. “For almost starting a fight at my job?”
“For protecting you.”
“That’s rich.” I snort. “Well, protection duty over. I’m off the rest of the night. You’re free to go back to whatever the hell you were doing before.”
Sara and Marley are both on a shoot tonight, otherwise I’d call them to see if they wanted to pick me up and go grab dinner. I usually eat whatever leftovers Kevin has in the evenings, so I already know the fridge is empty at home.
“What are you going to do now?” Reid asks, checking the watch on his wrist. That’s likely worth more than a few months of my rent.
I shrug and glance up at the burning sun. “Head home. I didn’t exactly have plans since I was supposed to be working,” I say with a pointed look.
Reid is utterly unapologetic as he grabs his keys from his pocket. “I’ll give you a ride.”
“No,” I say immediately. “I’m good.” Even though I’m not and dreading the walk home. I didn’t bring sunscreen because it’s always dark on my walk. My poor, pale face.
He shakes his head. “It wasn’t a question.”
“And my answer wasn’t up for debate.” After he could’ve got me fired, he expects me to let him drive me home?
His head falls back, like he’s trying to gather whatever bit of patience he holds in that tall body of his, before he looks at me again. “Either you get in the car, or I’ll put you in there myself.”