AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The last time there was an “animal attack” in Laurel Cove, I was the animal.
It’s why my nest kicked me out.
Which meant there was a baby vamp running around the cove with no maker to show them the way.
I had to find them. Had to get through to them before they hurt more people.
God knows, I wished someone would have done it for me.
“Hey, you okay, Eden?” Concern creased Jerry’s jovial face.
“Yeah, just worried about April. I hope her boyfriend pulls through.”
Jerry nodded, and I went up front to cut fruit garnishes, fill up the mixers, and stock the well for when we opened.
One task blended into the next, and before I knew it, we were open for business.
About halfway through my shift, a pretty and familiar brunette came up to the bar.
Ah, shit. Okay, play it cool, Eden, don’t lead her on.“Hey, what can I get you?”
“Hey,” she said shyly. “You might not remember me. You probably don’t, not with how many people you must see in a day. I know if I had your job, I wouldn’t be able to keep everyone I met in a day straight.” She smiled, realizing she was rambling. “Sorry. I—I’m Annette. I was here the other night. You saved me from getting roofied.”
I smiled at her. “I remember you. Did you bring a date here to vet?”
“Oh, um, no that’s not why I’m here.” Her cheeks stained red.
I knew what she was here for but I wasn’t trying to give her anything to work with. “Oh, well, what can I get ya to drink, then? I don’t have time to chat. It’s just me at the bar tonight.”
She pulled her lip between her teeth. “Oh, sure. Sorry. I’ll just have a vodka cranberry then.”
“Coming right up,” I said, food-service smile affixed firmly in place. I made her drink quickly and worked my way to the opposite end of the bar. With a little luck, I’d keep my distance and Annette would get the idea.
As the night wore on, Annette kept nursing that drink, never letting it leave her hand. A few guys approached her on different occasions, but they quickly found she wasn’t interested.
Annette only had eyes for me. At least for a few more days.
“You could simply compel her to forget you,” a rough, raspy voice suggested through the din of bar noise, landing directly on my lady bits.
My gaze flew to meet his.
God, he looked good. A literal king among the Chad and Kevin plebs. Plebs, who knew Julian deserved respect or fear, and gave him a ridiculously wide berth.
He stood there, basking in my admiration, all poised and powerful and perfectly fuckable.
My face flushed and I couldn’t tell if it was because of how pissed off I was that he would dare to buy my building and then show up at my bar, or because I was fucking turned on. “What the fuck are you doing here?” I snapped.
“Tsk, tsk. Is that any way to talk to a customer?”
My lip curled. “Look, I only agreed to working for you, not being stalked. Now, get the fuck out of my bar before you get it in your head to buy it too.” I hissed low enough that only he could hear.
“Hm. I’m not interested in acquiring any bars at the moment.” He gave the too-old-to-be-trendy-but-too-nice-to-be-a-dive bar a once over. “But I do quite like it here. I think I’ll stay.”
“You absolutely do not like it here.”
He pulled out a stool and sat without glancing at it or even brushing it off. “You know nothing about me, Eden. How could you possibly know what sort of bars I like?”
Okay, that was a totally fair point. “I don’t need to know what kind of bars you like to know you’re here for some self-serving purpose. Now, I’ll say it again. Get out of my bar.”
