CHAPTER FOURTEEN | London #3
“Hate to break it to you, Grandma, but you’re only twenty-five. Plenty young enough to still know how to let loose and have a good time.”
“Maybe your definition of a good time is different than mine,” I offer with a smile.
“And what’s your excuse?” He turns his attention to his brother.
“Pretty sure I’m working.” He holds out his arms as if to say, do you see how I’m standing behind the bar pouring you drinks.
“You’re not on the payroll, brother.”
“Tell that to him.” He hitches his thumb in the direction of the owner, Rocky, who’s running up and down the bar, trying to keep up with the demand of all the patrons.
“I can help,” I offer, stepping around the bar without waiting to be invited to do so.
“Because you know so much about bartending?” Penn hitches a brow at me.
“If you must know, I bartended part time last year to help make ends meet.”
“You? A bartender?”
“What? Like it’s that hard?” I turn to a group of guys not so patiently waiting just a few feet from the end of the bar where we’re standing. “What can I get you guys?”
The one closest to me, a tall guy with dark hair, makes a show of looking me up and down, a smile on his lips as he speaks.
“We’ll take eight shots of Titos. Two dirty martinis. Three pints of Bud Light and a side of Y.O.U.” He runs his tongue along the front of his too white teeth.
“How about you get a side of my F.I.S.T. instead?” Penn suddenly appears next to me.
“My bad, dude. Didn’t realize this was your girl.”
“She’s not.”
“I’m not.”
We say in unison.
“In that case...” He leans forward onto his elbows.
“Eight shots of Titos. Two Dirty Martinis and three pints of Bud Light, coming right up,” I cut in before he says something that will likely get him into trouble.
I start grabbing glasses, smiling at Rocky when he passes me with a curious expression. He may be wondering why in the heck some random girl is behind his bar, but he’s clearly desperate enough for the help to not say anything.
Less than two minutes later, I have all the drinks lined up on the bar in front of the guys, thanks in part to Penn, who takes care of pouring the beers for me.
Moving on to the next group, Penn and I work side by side, knocking out drink orders like we’ve been bartending half our lives. We don’t talk, and yet, we seem to know exactly what the other is doing.
Josie and Alec disappear a few minutes later, and while I briefly wonder where they’ve run off to, I’m too busy to really give it too much more thought beyond that.
The drink orders seem endless and after nearly an hour, I start questioning what the heck I’ve gotten myself into.
An hour turns into two. Two turn into three. And before I know it, it’s nearly midnight.
“You haven’t seen Josie, have you?” I ask Penn when I have a moment to actually catch my breath.
“She was doing birthday shots with Walker a few minutes ago,” he says, clearing a few empty glasses off the bar. “Pretty sure you’re going to have to make good on that hair-holding pact.” His shoulders shake in silent laughter.
“Wonderful,” I mutter, more to myself than to him, leaning down slightly to rub my leg, which has been throbbing for the better part of an hour.
“You okay?” Penn tracks my movement with his eyes, assessing.
“Yeah. Just hurts when I’m on it for long periods of time.”
“Why don’t you head home? You’ve worked your butt off tonight.”
“Can’t. I have to make sure Josie gets home safely. Not to mention, she’s my ride. Or rather, I’m hers now.”
“Well, at the very least, why don’t you go sit down for a few.”
“No, it’s fine. I’m good.” I straighten, refusing to let him see just how much it’s actually bothering me.
Reminds me of when I was still fighting to get dance back. I would practice until I could barely walk and still, I would push myself harder and further. Honestly, I’m lucky I didn’t mess my leg up so bad that I lost the function to walk.
“You don’t have to prove anything, LV. Go sit.” He tips his chin in the direction of the empty seat at the far end of the bar.
“Not trying to prove anything. I said I’m fine,” I clip, nothing if not pridefully stubborn.
“Suit yourself.” He turns as two women approach the bar, ordering mixed drinks that I know he doesn’t know how to make.
“I got them,” I tell him as soon as they’re done ordering. Spinning, I quickly mix up the drinks and set them back onto the bar.
“Thanks for that. Some of these drinks these kids order.” He shakes his head.
“No problem. Now, if you’ve got this handled for a minute, I’m going to go track down Josie and make sure she’s good.”
“Yeah, go.”
“Thanks.” I slip past him and quickly duck out from behind the bar in search of my best friend.
I do one full pass of the room and then a second with no luck. I check the bathroom next and then the main bar area, but she seems to have vanished into thin air.
Pulling my phone out of my back pocket, I see that she texted me less than ten minutes ago.
Pulling up my messages, I let out a low curse when I realize the hoe bag left.
She doesn’t say with whom, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure it out, considering Alec seems to be MIA as well.
Not that I care if she left with him, only that we rode together and I don’t exactly have another way home.
“Everything okay?” Penn asks when I finally make it back.
Leg hurting even worse now, I slide into a vacant stool.
“You haven’t happened to see your brother in the last ten minutes or so?” I ask, gesturing around the room, which has thinned significantly from when I first arrived.
“Alec?”
“That’s the one.”
“I haven’t seen him for a while. Why?”
“Because I’m pretty sure he and Josie took off together.”
“They didn’t?” He fights a smile, like he finds this quite humorous.
“Well, she texted me that she was leaving and since he’s also nowhere to be found, one can only assume...”
“Saw that coming.” He chuckles. “Wait... didn’t you two ride here together?”
“That we did.” I blow out a hard breath. “Though if I had to guess, I’d say her car is still here, but I highly doubt she left the keys inside.”
“It’s slowing down a lot. I’m sure Rocky can handle it from here if you want me to take you home.”
“You’d give me a ride?” I don’t know why this surprises me. Maybe because just earlier this week he acted like he wanted to rip my head off every time I entered a room.
“No, I’m going to make you walk all the way home by yourself.” His tone drips with sarcasm. “Give me a couple minutes to wrap up.”
“Take your time.” I wave him off, not all that eager to go home if we’re being honest.
I love my parents endlessly and I appreciate them letting me stay with them, but every single time I walk into that house, all I can think about is what I failure I am.
“London?” I turn toward a male’s voice I don’t instantly recognize, my eyes going wide when I get my first real look at Walker Kade in over seven years. I’ve seen him from a distance a few times throughout the evening, but this is the first time we’ve come face-to-face.
He was only twelve when I left, still a little boy really, but that is not the case anymore. Not only is he a good head and shoulders taller than me, but he’s also ripped. Like maybe the most muscular person I’ve ever seen in person.
“Walker Kade.” I smile up at him.
“I’ve been waiting on you to come say hello all night.” He gives me a dimply smile.
“Sorry. Turns out they needed a little help in the bartender department,” I say by way of explanation. In truth, I could have slipped away and said hello at any time over the course of the evening, but I didn’t because I honestly wasn’t sure if I should.
I haven’t seen Walker in so long and he was so young when I left, I doubt he remembers me all that much. I wasn’t trying to overestimate my own importance by imposing on his birthday party more than I already had.
“Yeah, I saw that Penn had roped you into helping.”
“I volunteered. Turns out, your brother is not a very good bartender.”
This pulls a laugh out of Walker, his broad shoulders shaking.
While Penn is by far the best looking of the Kade brothers—in my opinion—I can’t deny that both Alec and Walker have grown into their looks as well. All three of them are extremely attractive in their own right.
Walker has the same brown hair as his brothers, but where Alec and Penn both have hazel eyes, Walker has a crisp blue, the color of the sky on a cloudless day, which stand out against his tanned skin. I don’t have to wonder if he’s popular with the ladies. I know he is.
“So it would seem,” he agrees.
“I’m surprised to see you so... well, not drunk,” I admit.
Don’t get me wrong, he’s definitely been drinking—the smell of his breath is pretty clear on that matter—but he’s also not swaying or slurring, which for a twenty-first birthday party is quite the feat.
“Hard to hit the gym when you have a hangover. I drink but never in excess.”
“Not a bad rule to follow,” I agree, not really sure what else to say to that. “Happy Birthday, by the way.”
“Thank you.” His dimples reappear, making him seem younger than he is.
“At the risk of overstepping, I really wanted to come over here and tell you that I’m glad you’re back.
We all are. Penn was... Well, he’s been an absolute dickhead since you left.
Kinda hoping you’re able to remove the stick from his—”
“Brother.” Penn chooses that moment to approach, eyes darting between me and Walker.
“I was just telling London here how much I appreciate her helping out tonight.” He smiles, eyes meeting mine for a brief moment as if to say play along.
“Is that so? I didn’t know you were capable of gratitude,” Penn states flatly.
“You wound me when you say things like that, you know?” Walker pouts out his bottom lip. “You act as if I’m some spoiled brat or something.”
“Or something,” Penn agrees.
“Stick. Ass,” he says to me, starting to back away. “I’ll see you around, London.” He tips his chin. “Penn.” He grins at his older brother seconds before spinning and disappearing back into the crowd.
“What was that about?” Penn asks the second he’s gone.
“I have no idea.” I shake my head in confusion.
Penn studies me for a long moment.
“You about ready to head out?”
“Yeah.” I slide out of the stool, my leg giving out from underneath my weight the second my foot hits the floor.
Penn catches me with ease, reacting so quickly it’s almost as if he anticipated it, which I know he couldn’t possibly have because not even I knew that was going to happen, but that’s how fast he moved.
“Shoot. Sorry.” I attempt to push out of his arms, but he doesn’t let me.
“You’ve overdone it.”
“It would appear as though I did,” I grumble bitterly.
“Let me help you.” He dips, and before I know it, he’s lifting me in the air.
“Penn,” I object as he cradles me against his chest like a freaking infant.
“Relax.”
“I can walk.” I insist.
“And I can carry you,” he shoots back, not giving me much of a choice as he totes me through the bar like a freaking accessory.
While I’m extremely annoyed, that’s certainly not all I feel. I have to resist the urge to wrap my arms around his shoulders and snuggle my face into his neck the way I would have done all those years ago.
I’m pretty sure I don’t take a single breath until Penn lowers me into the passenger seat of his pickup truck, and even then it’s ragged and uneven.
All these years later, and he still has a way of making me feel like a silly girl who can’t get a grip on her emotions.
Guess it’s true what they say; some things really do never change.