AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ve got work to do.” He turned on a dime and was gone in less than a second. What. The. Fuck? What the hell was his problem? I wasn’t saying we needed to keep it a secret forever. I was just saying that until we knew where it was all going that it would be prudent to keep it to ourselves. Was that such a bad thing? I really didn’t think so. But he was acting like I’d taken his fucking virginity and never called again.
He’d get over it. Give it an hour, maybe two, and he’d realize that he was overreacting and that I was right.
By the time we locked up, Mack had not come to his senses and I wanted to slap him. He hadn’t spoken a single word to me since storming out of the office and had been scowling at pretty much every single person all night long, staff and customers alike. Which meant I had to be the smiley one. It didn’t suit me. At least three people asked if they could have some of whatever I’d taken.
“See you tomorrow!” I called with sarcastic cheer as Mack walked off in the direction of his apartment without a word, not that I’d been expecting one.
“Can’t wait,” he said, not bothering to turn around and look at me. Dick. I narrowed my eyes at his retreating back. If he really wanted to play the silent treatment game, then he better buckle the fuck up because he was not getting a goddamn peep out of me until I got an apology. A good one. Maybe some groveling. Definitely a donut.
There was no donut,apology or otherwise, upon my arrival at Rudi on Friday. And if Mack thought I would have slept on our conversation—our argument—and woken up ready to be the one who apologized, well, he would be left disappointed. I was not apologizing.
If anything, I was more annoyed today because I’d woken up hot and bothered after constant dreams of the two of us in various states of undress. Hands. Lips. Skin. Tongue. He was almost as good in my head as he was in real life. Almost. The fact he wasn’t as good in my head was another source of annoyance. As was the fact that as soon as I saw him a bolt of heat shot through me and my nipples went hard. Great. Just fucking great.
Despite my nipples straining hard at him through my bra and shirt, I marched past Mack and went directly to the office with my nose in the air. I would not cave. Not even when I wanted to—nope, I was not even letting myself think about it. He did not exist to me right now. I had plenty to do, a lot of which would happen in the office today. I was not taking the laptop out to the bar like I usually would because my nipples would get ideas they shouldn't. The nipples had gone rogue and I would not encourage them.
There were numerous issues with working in the office; it was small, there was no natural light, it smelled like Mack, and every minute or so I was reminded of the way he’d kissed me on top of the desk last night. Not a reminder I needed right at this moment—I was trying to respond to countless emails about event requests.
I snapped the laptop shut. Why was I the one being punished? Locked away in the tiny, windowless, Mack-smelling office? I didn’t deserve to be in here. I deserved to be out front like I usually was. And that was what I was going to do.
He was behind the bar when I marched out. I gave him only the briefest of glances but I felt his eyes moving over the side of my face and down my neck. I ignored it, which was not without difficulty because it was like a featherlight touch. For all his staring he didn’t say a word.
Still a silent standoff, then. Fine by me. I really hoped he was prepared to lose.
I pulled up a stool, perched myself on top of it and opened the laptop. Unaffected. I was unaffected. And very busy. Lots to do. Definitely no time to watch Mack in my peripheral vision to catch glimpses of his abs when he reached for a high bottle. Nope, no time for any of that.
I was busy. Busy. Busy. Busy.
“Why are you two acting weird?” Micky asked, one hand planted on a popped hip. Her pixie cut hair was a vibrant, cherry red today.
I flattened a hand against my chest and glanced over both shoulders.Who, me?
“Yeah, you,” she said at my overly confused look, then pointed at Mack. “And him. What’s up with you?”
I shrugged. “No idea what you’re talking about, Micky. I’m working. He’s working. Seems pretty normal to me.”
“Normal?” She snorted. “I usually can’t shut the two of you up, but neither of you have said a word to one another in over an hour?”
I shrugged, still steadfastly avoiding looking in Mack’s direction. “Maybe we just don’t feel like talking today.”
Her eyes narrowed into slits but she didn’t say anything else. It took all of my self-restraint to not look over at Mack to see his reaction. I wasn’t looking because I didn’t care. Not. One. Bit. When he was ready to apologize, we’d talk. Until then. Silence for all.
The Friday night crowd arrived all at once. Or at least that was how it felt. One minute there were only a few people milling around and the next we were slammed. I wasn’t complaining because it provided a substantial distraction and put an end to my overthinking, for the most part. Was I still watching Mack out of the corner of my eye? Yes, occasionally, but there wasn’t time to dwell on the fact he was leaning on the bar and smiling his most flirtatious smile at a particularly cute girl with platinum blonde french braids and a nose ring.
Something hot and ugly bubbled in my stomach the longer I watched them and I realized with alarm that I knew this feeling. Jealousy. I was jealous. I wanted him to be smiling atmelike that. Instead, he had barely looked at me all day.
I forced myself to look away and focused my attention on the long line of customers waiting for their Friday night fix. But my mind continued to wander as I pulled pints of IPA and mixed countless Negronis—the evening’s drink of choice, it would appear. He wasn’t speaking to me but flirting his fucking face off with platinum french braids. What the hell was that all about? I ran over yesterday’s argument in my head. Had it really been that offensive for me to suggest that we keep things to ourselves for the moment? Unless, did he think I was embarrassed? Of him? No, why the hell would he think that. You cannot be friends with someone for almost twenty years if you’re embarrassed of them. That couldn’t be it. It had to be something else getting his boxer-briefs in a bunch.
“Thirty-two-eighty,” I said to the guy who had a serious Kurt Cobain thing happening. He dropped a couple of singles into the tip jar and left, and I could no longer see Mack or cute french braid girl.
“Yo, Chase,” Greyson called from further down the bar. “We need napkins.”
“Can it wait?”
“Nope, need ‘em pronto.”
I didn’t bother arguing, just turned and headed for the office and Greyson’s napkins. I weaved through the bodies between the bar and the hall. Everyone was in a particularly jovial mood, the holiday spirit alive and well at Rudi Blue. I wanted to choke them all with string lights and tinsel.
“What are you doing?” Mack asked as I entered the office. I hadn’t been expecting to see him perched there on the desk. The sight of him only irritated me more.
