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Something was wrong. I didn’t feel I had the right to ask about it. ‘Rough day’ seemed like an understatement, but I left it alone.
Winking, he gave my arm another small squeeze before he excused himself and found an empty stool in front of where Jimmy, the bartender, was putting on a pyro show for the onlookers. After watching the fire display for a moment, hypnotized, Antonio sped by, accidentally bumping my arm.
“Sorry, babe.” He rested a hand on my back. “You okay?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
He pressed his lips to my cheek and went on his way. I rushed over to the side of the bar, grabbing more orders. As I loaded the tray, I peeked up at James. He appeared… almost sad. What the fuck? Whatever was going on must’ve been serious. He’d always been pleasant and the life of the party.
“Maddie!”
Startled, I jumped, almost dropping the tray. “What?” I spun around to Cheyenne.
“That table’s been waiting for a long time.”
Cheyenne was the only waitress at Abruzzo’s I couldn’t stand. None of us could. She’d been working there since they opened and was one of the many women Dimitri had bent over his desk every week. She thought she was special and though she was no real threat to anyone, she ordered everyone around like having his dick inside her made her our superior.
Curling my lip, I scooped the tray up and hurried to the three waiting tables. As I placed the last drink down, one gentleman grabbed my wrist. I lowered my gaze to his, lifting my brows.
“We’re not tipping you because you refused to dance with my friend here earlier.”
“I’m not allowed to dance with customers. This isn’t that kind of club.”
“Well, maybe it should be.” His grip tightened. “I’ll take you out back and—”
“Fuck off!” I jerked my hand back, colliding into a tray of drinks balancing on Cheyenne’s palm. They went crashing all over us both and onto the floor. “Oh my god, Chey, I’m sor—”
“Ugh!” She shook her drenched hands, staring down at her soaked uniform, then wrung out her long blonde hair as if I’d pushed her into a pool. “You—”
“Maddie,” Antonio stepped over, placing a palm on my shoulder, and handing me a bar towel with the other, “go get cleaned up and take a break. I got this.” He knew how I felt about her and was fully aware of how she treated everyone. But his brother wanted her to stick around. Thankfully, Antonio was always two steps ahead of everything.
Nodding, I hurried away, faintly overhearing Cheyenne lamenting about what I’d done. I sped through the guarded door to the back hallway. I didn’t want Dimitri to see me and get upset, so I veered left, taking the narrow staircase up to the street level. It opened to an alleyway. The moment the door opened, I gasped.
“Mr… I mean James.” I jumped when metal slammed behind me. “I thought you were at the bar.”
“I came up here to take a call.” He lifted a cigarette to his lips, inhaling a deep drag.
“Since when do you smoke anything other than cigars?”
“Stress.” He averted his gaze before bringing it back to mine. There was something different about his eyes tonight.
“Hmm,” I hummed, leaning back against the wall with my arms folded over my stomach.
“You?”
“What about me?” I tilted my head.
“You’re so… wet.”
“What?!”
A faint smirk emerged on his lips. He lifted his chin at my attire. “Your clothes, Maddie.”
“Shit,” I muttered. “Uh, yeah. I spilled a bunch of drinks on Cheyenne and myself.”
He let out a small laugh.
“I’m sure Dimitri will fire me,” I scoffed.
