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I didn’t get on the last ferry to the mainland, and I hoped Mack wasn’t surprised. I needed time to figure out how I felt about the fact that he and Harley used to be together, and how Harley would feel if she found out. I knew there was nothing positive she could say to me about him. She’d broken up with him for a reason. If he were good, she would have kept him for herself, right?
I’d woken up in a bad mood, which meant no one in my path was safe. As shitty luck would have it, Travis was at the gas station that morning, and I noticed he was sporting a black eye.
“That guy won’t bother you again. I promise you that.”
I realized that Mack had made good on his promise, because as soon as Travis saw me he made a beeline for his car and sped away. Things got even worse when I went into Catch to start the dinner shift, and Mama informed me that she hired a new girl named Carina. She was about my age and pretty enough, I guess, with bright red hair I was positive she dyed regularly to keep it so vibrant. She was also a member of the mysterious Risto family, who moved to the island about a year ago. We didn’t know much about them except they had lots of money, which made it odd that Carina took a job as a waitress. However, one thing I did learn about her was that she was a ridiculous overachiever in an annoyingly accurate kind of way.
“Excuse me, miss,” an elderly man called out to us as we walked by his table. “What time is it?” Carina and I both pulled our phones out of our aprons at the same time but gave different answers.
“It’s almost eight o’clock,” I answered.
“Actually, it’s seven fifty-three,” Carina corrected from behind me, and I turned to glare at her before storming off. She hurried after me, whispering, “What? He might need to take medicine or something. What if he ends up taking it too soon? Seven minutes might make a difference.”
I whirled around and scowled. “If his old timer’s disease is so bad that he forgets to wear a watch, especially if seven minutes makes all the difference when it comes to his medication, then he shouldn’t be out alone.”
“Do you mean Alzheimer’s Disease?.?.?.?”
“Listen, I don’t need you to correct me. I know what it’s called and I said it the way I meant it. I don’t care how you interpretate it.”
“Interpret, and if I were you I would stop talking.” She twisted her mouth and cocked her head to the side in amusement.
“Just shut up and go refill water glasses or something,” I snapped, and then shoved a pitcher of water into her hands. When my mother appeared from the kitchen I immediately stalked up to her.
“Mama, we have to talk about Carina. I don’t like her.”
“Jonna, you don’t like anybody, so that’s not saying much.” She shook her head dismissively as she walked past me to deliver two hot food plates to a table.
“Yeah but she?.?.?.”
I stopped speaking midsentence as Mack and Brando walk through the door. His eyes slowly scanned the room until he found me. His lips immediately drew into a tight line before his gaze shifted to the pool tables to the right. He began walking in that direction with Brando following.
“Great,” I mumbled and was about to send Carina over to take their drink order, but Harley was already approaching their table and waving her arms frantically. Mack was also speaking and shaking his head. He crossed his arms and glared at Harley while she glared back at him. When Brando started talking she transferred her gaze in his direction, and Mack shifted his eyes to me. I knew instantly that he was angry, but it wasn’t with Harley. He was angry with me. It was almost like I could read his mind and he was saying, Come here, Jonna.
I broke eye contact with him, because there was no way I planned to be seen talking to him, especially by Harley. It would just open up a line of questioning I wasn’t prepared to answer right now. Plus I wasn’t sure there was anything more I wanted to say to Mack, so I busied myself with the other side of the restaurant, dragging Carina along behind me.
Since neither Harley nor I made any effort to go over to that side of the room for the remainder of the night, Brando had to go to the bar every time they wanted another beer. I could feel Mack’s eyes on me the entire time, but I refused to acknowledge him. I was also aware of the swarm of girls that seemed to gather no matter where he was.
God, he was like a skank magnet. It was really pathetic the way girls could be so obvious and almost desperate in their attempts to get his attention. Like cheering over enthusiastically every time he sent a ball in its pocket or constantly tossing their hair from one side to the other, and making sure their cleavage was in full view. It reminded me of the night of the party and how I’d done the exact same things to get his attention. Embarrassment warmed my cheeks. God, I was no better than any of the girls here tonight.
When things died down I begged my mom to send Carina home so that I could get out of here. Harley, like most nights, was scheduled to close since she always waited around for Drew to take her home. I quickly finished cleaning up my area, then headed out of the side door and up the stairs to my apartment.
I’d taken a long hot shower while I tried not to think about which of the skanks downstairs got to be the one to leave with Mack. I was leaving the bathroom when I heard loud pounding on my front door. Cautiously, I gathered the towel tightly around me as I walked to the door and peered through the peephole, fully expecting to see Travis, but instead I saw Mack glaring back at me.
My heart began beating rapidly in my chest. How did he know I lived here? I glanced down at my towel-clad body and knew there was no way I was going to let him in, especially looking like this. I slowly backed two steps away and was about to turn when I heard his voice through the door.
“Jonna, I can hear you moving. Please, open the door.”
“Why?” I called back.
“Because I want to talk to you.”
“Well, I fell for that once. I know what you mean when you say talk.”
I heard him chuckle softly. “While I’m definitely not opposed to that kind of talking, I want to actually talk to you.” When I remained silent, he added, “Please, Jonna. Just hear me out.”
I really wanted to tell him to leave. To go to hell. To go talk to one of his groupies downstairs. Wait, no. I didn’t want him to do that.
“Fine,” I said, cursing my weak resolve as I unlocked the dead bolt and pulled the handle open. Mack was immediately pushing open the door and stepping inside as if anticipating I might change my mind. His heated gaze traveled down my body, and I felt my breath quicken.
