Page 59 of Gin and Bear It

“She’s my wife,” I say.

“And? She’s got legs.” He sighs. “Whatever, gimme a shot of well whiskey.”

I grind my teeth as I pour him a shot, then slide it across the bar. I want to say something back so damn badly. An unfamiliar feeling bubbles up, too. What does he mean by “she has legs,” and why the fuck did he say it like that? Like a verbal leer?

I glance over at Jada but can’t see her legs. She’s wearing jeans, her legs completely covered. But they cling to her thighs, and thighs like hers are impossible to ignore.

His tone bothers me as trivia starts and continues to bother me as his voice gets louder and more obnoxious. My eyes flick to Jada throughout the night, and every once in a while, they catch hers. They always turn shy for a moment before she goes back to having fun.

Trivia night is more popular than I thought it would be, and most of my night is spent rushing around. Wes hops behind the bar, too, and helps grab the customers who I don’t get to.

But this one asshole has locked into me the whole night. He’s with friends, but they’re secondary to his grudge against me. He asks me for drinks, and I don’t get them to him quickly enough no matter what. He bitches about the drinks, even though I make them exactly as I’m supposed to. He bitches about trivia, even though I don’t have any control over that.

He’s not even talking to me directly most of the time. He’s just complaining into thin air loudly enough for everyone around him to know. He hates everything and everyone equally, even other random guests.

And even worse, he’s giving me a familiar look—like he’s trying to place me but isn’t sure where he knows me from. We didn’t go to high school together, so he can only know me from one place.

“Wait, are you that guy?” the asshole asks. “In that band. The one with the annoying song in the car commercial.”

I hold in a sigh. I rarely get recognized these days, at least correctly. Most people assume I’m just someone they know from somewhere. Why is this guy even aware of who I am? I decide to lie. “No.”

“Yeah, you are.” The guy digs his phone out of his pocket. “I’m googling you.”

“Can you back off?” Jada says, appearing near the man. “He’s not that guy.”

“Who asked you?” the man asks, looking at Jada in a way that ignites my rage. I nearly let loose but remember I’m at work. And as Wes said, I can’t be an asshole to assholes here, as much as I want to.

“What do you need, Jada?” I ask. I take a breath. “What can I get you?”

“Just plain soda water,” she says.

I hop right to it and the asshole sighs.

“Yeah, that’s you, you liar,” the man says, showing me a picture of the band. It’s a zoomed in group photo, one from a promo shoot for our shows. “What’re you doing here? Band flopped?”

“Don’t be an asshole,” Jada says, even though I want her to back down. I don’t want this guy to even know she exists and here she is, leaping in to defend me.

“This doesn’t have shit to do with you.” The asshole gives her a dirty look. “You marry him for money? I doubt he has any.”

Fuck this guy.

“Listen, asshole,” I bark. “Do you need some shit to do? Because I can give you something to do out back, something that’ll finally shut you up. Don’t fucking talk to my wife that way.”

I haven’t started a real fight before—I’ve only been pulled into them by accident—but I’m ready to do it tonight. How did he manage to push my buttons and mess with Jada? Did Danika send this guy, too?

“Ash.” Wes puts his hand on my shoulder. “Take a break.”

I take a deep breath and take the out. I go outside to the alley between the bar and the restaurant next door, trying to gather myself.

But I can’t, because technically, the guy was right. And more importantly, he treated Jada like shit. I doubt he would have gotten physical, but the fact that she was close to a drunk guy and tried to defend me has my heart racing.

What if he hurt her? What if this escalated?

I lean against the wall and ignore the old itch to smoke or hit my vape. It would help me in the moment but set me back years.

The door opens again a few moments later and Wes steps out.

“You good?” Wes asks.