AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Doesn’t a bar stay in business by charging everyone?”
That got him to chuckle. He said not a word as he finished up the drink and placed it directly before me. “You got me there, but charging Creed’s little sister ain’t on my list of things to do.” He leaned against the counter, pausing before he added, “Not sure what all he’s told you, but he’s a bit of legend around here.”
“Is he?”
Jeff nodded once, totally serious as he explained, “Oh, yeah. Everyone around here knows him.”
“He hasn’t told me much of anything,” I admitted. “All I know is that he works security… and he seems to be doing quite well for himself.” That was the understatement of the year, I think, but I didn’t want to brag about Creed to Jeff. If Jeff knew him, then he had to know just how loaded my stepbrother was.
Hmm. Felt weird calling him that now, even in my head, but maybe if I repeated it enough times, it’d start to ring true again and I’d forget the taste of his lips on mine.
“Security,” Jeff repeated, a strange expression crossing his face—but only for a moment. “Yeah, a lot of people who work at the security firm come here. I never ask for details, but I can’t complain. They keep the business running.”
Huh. So the Hooting Owl was where a lot of Creed’s coworkers came when they wanted to spend a little money and get drunk? I couldn’t picture him doing that, though. Creed seemed like a solitary man.
“I take it it’s not a local business,” I spoke, slow to grab the drink before me. “Or do they just have clients all over the place?”
“Oh, they go all over,” Jeff said. “Wherever the business is.”
“I imagine jobs can take a while.”
“I imagine so.”
I took a sip out of the drink. It was sweeter than the one he’d made the first night, or maybe it was only because I wasn’t sitting here, full of anticipation, waiting for Creed to show up… waiting to see him for the first time in ten years.
I bit my lower lip, slow to ask, “Are they dangerous, the jobs?” I didn’t know why I was asking Jeff; he worked here, not with Creed. Right now, though, Jeff was the only person I knew who had an ounce of knowledge about the subject.
Jeff made an awkward sound, and then he threw a look around the bar. He leaned forward, his voice much lower than it had been before, as if he wasn’t supposed to tell me any of this, “I don’t want to lie to you. Yeah, some of them are, but from what I hear, your brother’s one of the best out there. He can take care of himself, and then some. That dude could take on an army single-handedly and win.”
Now that just sounded ridiculous, and I rolled my eyes as I listened to him say it.
He laughed. “I mean it. Your brother’s good at what he does. I wouldn’t worry about him.”
“What happens if he doesn’t come back from a job?” What would happen to me then? Who would do his funeral? Would there even be a funeral? So many questions sprang up in my head, things I’d never before worried about.
“He always comes back,” Jeff said. “He’ll come back, Taylor.”
I kept quiet after that, too caught up in my own thoughts to continue the conversation. Jeff, however, asked, “Now, why don’t you tell me about yourself? I’ve been dying to know what Creed’s little sister is like, ever since you first walked into this bar.” He smiled at me, flashing a set of pearly whites.
He was an attractive man, in his own way. Tall, but not taller than Creed. More muscular than your average man, I think. Maybe a few years older than Creed.
But he did nothing for me. When he smiled at me, my stomach didn’t do a somersault inside. When those eyes of his met and held my stare, my palms didn’t get clammy. In fact, all I could think about was Creed.
Even though I didn’t really want to talk, I told Jeff a little about me. Where I was going to school, what I was majoring in. Maybe he only paid attention to me because I was the only one sitting at the counter, but I had to admit it was kind of nice to talk to someone else, someone who wasn’t Beth or Creed. A new face with no expectations whatsoever… and no confusing kiss lingering in the back of my memory.
The bar got busier around five, and that’s when Jeff got too busy to talk to me, so I left. Figured I’d better get back to the apartment before it got dark, anyway.
I made myself a quick dinner in the microwave and watched TV. After I showered, I did a little homework. I wished I could say I didn’t check my phone religiously, but I did. A part of me was waiting to hear from Creed, for him to tell me he was safe.
At five past nine, I typed out a message to him, telling him I hoped everything was okay—but then I deleted it and flipped my phone over, screen down, and slid it farther away from me so it wasn’t within reach.
Time crawled on, and eventually I went to bed, but it would seem my head had other ideas. Read: a dream I definitely shouldn’t have had…
Creed was back, but I couldn’t remember when he got back. In fact, I was swinging on the swing set in the backyard when I saw him walk down the few old wooden steps to get to the grass. The sun was bright overhead, but the air wasn’t hot. I couldn’t even feel the wind on my face from swinging.
But I stopped swinging when I saw him, and I got up, standing on my own two feet—barefoot, for whatever reason. I couldn’t feel the grass below my soles, but none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was the man heading straight for me.
And, God, did he look good. Wearing a pitch-black suit with an equally dark undershirt, Creed looked drop-dead gorgeous. Seriously, I didn’t think I’d ever seen a man wear a suit like that. Like candy. Like sex on two legs.
