I lean back on my heels and glance at him. “I could have handled that.”
“I know you were fully capable,” he says casually, reaching for another glass, and my head cocks to the side, his gaze meeting mine. “You don’t work here for as long as you have and this be your first run in with an asshole. It ain’t your first rodeo.”
Shaking my head slowly, I agree with him. “No, it isn’t.”
“Doesn’t mean backup isn’t nice.” With the last glass in his grasp, we both stand up stacking them on my tray for me to take to the bar. “It wasn’t just me who had your back, either.”
My hands itch to smooth over my stomach, to smooth the wrinkles out of my shirt that I know are bunching it up, but with my hands full, I can’t. “I know. You’re just—”
“What a dick,” Savanna says, interrupting me without realizing it. She’s got the bucket and mop with her, Jordan following behind her with a bunch of rags.
Looking down at the destruction that I caused, there’s beer, cocktails, and water forming a small lake between three different tables, most of it under the table the jerk was at. His friends are still there, and Jordan starts talking to them, wiping up the table for them while Savanna starts on the floor. It’s a disaster.
“Sorry for such a mess,” I sigh.
Savanna glances up from the floor, her eyebrows furrowed, nose wrinkled. “You have nothing to apologize for. I saw what happened. He smashed his chair into you. The way he acted, I’m wondering if he did it on purpose. You okay?”
My eyes meet Wyatt’s again, who is holding the assaultingchair out of the way of the mop so Savanna can get under the table. He’s scrutinizing me like he doesn’t quite believe our silent exchange earlier. Or maybe he just needs to hear it out loud.
“Yeah,” I nod, keeping my focus on Wyatt. “I’ve dealt with worse. It’s not like he touched me.”
Wyatt’s jaw visibly grinds together, his nostrils flaring. He doesn’t like the thought of someone touching me, but it’s happened a handful of times in the four years I’ve worked here. Those incidents are the most nerve-wracking.
I hold up the glasses in my hands and nod to Savanna, then at Jordan who is just finishing with the table and moving onto the chair. “I’m going to get rid of these and get that order again. I’ll be back.”
I can sense Wyatt’s gaze on me the entire way to the bar, and when I’m done getting the round of drinks re-poured and turn back to the table, he’s taken up residence in the spot Liam was in all night. The perfect place to keep me in his line of sight.
My stomach swoops in the same way it did the other night at the club. It makes me feel protected, and a tension that had been building since the man first yelled at me starts to ease, my shoulders coming down from around my ears.
I like my life. I like that it’s busy with work and full of Gran during my off hours. But Wyatt?
I might like him too.
Chapter 10
Bryn
It’sbeenabusynight, and I’m thankful I’m not closing because of it. Walking through the swinging doors from the kitchen to the pub, bundled in my lined jean jacket and my purse slung over my body, I shove my hands in my pockets. It’s not a long walk home, but it’s long enough that I need a jacket to ward off the evening breeze from the ocean along the cliffs.
Half of my friends are still at the table, enjoying their night off from the station, while the other half have already left. I’m not surprised Liam and Jordan, and Nate and Savanna are still there, but I am surprised that Wyatt occupies the seat he refused to give back to Liam.
He paid his bill a while ago, so why he’s still here is anyone’s guess.
When he sees me coming, though, he gets up, removing his hat like he did at the beginning of the night. His hair is even worse this time around, having spent so long under the hat. It’s tousled and mussed and slightly plastered in different spots. I don’t hate it. It’s kind of adorable.
“Hi,” he says with a nod of his head. Rather than the ear-splitting grin that shows off his one dimple, the corner of his lips only tugs up a little.
The conversation around him stops, and I can feel everyone’s eyes bouncing between the two of us. It won’t be long until Liammakes an off the cuff comment, I’d guess.
“Hi.” I pick at the lining inside my pocket.
“Savanna mentioned you walk home most nights,” Wyatt says, holding his hat over his abdomen. “I wondered if you would let me drive you home instead.”
Drawing my head back, I blink rapidly at him. “Oh.”
My gaze darts down to Savanna who looks at me with a sweet, innocent smile. Innocent my ass. She knows exactly what she’s doing, and the worst part is, she’s good at it.
Not that I hate it.
