AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Might wanna take it easy with that,” I hesitantly warned. I honestly just didn’t want her to get sick.
She cocked an eyebrow and sucked down even more, daring me to break eye-contact. I just shook my head wryly. I had a feeling she would’ve downed the whole drink right in front of me, but the first few chords of TLC’s “No Scrubs” floated through the air, distracting her. She let out a happy little shriek and immediately scampered out to the dance floor. On the way, she spilled some of her drink and almost did a complete bambi slide, but she righted herself at the last minute.Jesus. I rubbed my forehead, she was looking real wobbly.
While she met her friends on the dance floor, I made my way to the edge of it and sipped on her water.
I turned a chair backwards and plopped down. While she didn’t invite me to stay or ask me to dance with her, she couldn’t kick me out of a public restaurant, and I sure as shit wouldn’t be leaving, especially not with that guy lurking around. A bad fucking feeling settled in my gut over the way he touched her jaw, and I knew I’d be a nervous wreck if I left. So, I’d be keeping watch to make sure her and her friends were safe.
Scanning the rest of the dance floor, I noticed Reggie and Campbell with their girls smooshed close to them. As soon as they spotted Josie, both of their heads snapped to me.
I gave a silent head nod and they both cracked up laughing. Assholes.
“Hey bud.” Whitty pulled a chair out and sat next to me. He was a hulking 6’7 man made of pure muscles. He was currently rocking a beard that I was quite jealous of and a backwards CCM hat. All in all, he resembled a modern-day Viking, and he was definitely our most intimidating looking defenseman, but what people didn’t know was that he was actually a teddy bear on the inside. I was kind of happy to have him as back up just in case that Brian guy did come back.
“Where’s Suzie?” I asked him. He usually never went anywhere without his girl.
“With your girl, also shwasted.” His large shoulders shook as he laughed at my shocked face. “Should’ve told me your girl was a teacher, could’ve helped you out. What’re the chances they’re coworkers?” He ran a hand over his beard.
I snorted. “The chances were actually probably high, my friend. The universe keeps throwing us together. It’s insane how many times we’ve crossed paths over the last week or so.”
I watched her teacher friends point me out to her and whisper in her ear.
I fixed a flirty grin on my face and waved to them, making them all giggle. Josie’s cheeks flushed pink and she rolled her eyes, but a minute later, she made eye-contact with me, daring me to break it as she started dancing suggestively. I swallowed hard and adjusted myself in my seat. She was turning me on, and she knew it. She threw her head back laughing, and I shook my head at her.
As I watched her with her friends, I played her drunken ramble back. What had she said?I already tried a hockey player once and look where that got me.I was still missing the full picture, but things were making more sense. I somehow had to prove to her that I wasn’t like that asshole from her past…
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught that Brian guy stalking out of the men’s room. He sat at the bar and ordered drinks, then watched the dance floor. I hated how his eyes seemed to land directly on Josie and her friends.
After Adrienne handed him two drinks, I watched his hand roam over the top of them, then he reached for a little wooden stirrer.
“Shit.” My stomach twisted. “Did you see that?”
“What?” Whitty asked, alert now.
“Black leather jacket. Dark five-o-clock-shadow. Sitting at the bar, to the left of Adrienne. Think he messed with those drinks.”
The two of us watched like a hawk as he wandered out to the dance floor. I’d stop anyone from drinking from those cups, but a nervous terror ran up my spine as he wound up right in front of Josie and her friends.
My leg bounced as I tried to convince myself it was just my jealousy pushing me to see the worst in that guy. But when he didn’t take one of the drinks for himself, I knew I was right. He drugged them, and he was handing them to Josie and Suzie.
I popped out of my seat in a second, shocked that it was happening right in front of us, but I guess these kinds of things always did happen right in front of everyone.
“Right behind you,” Whitty growled.
I took three strides across the bar and quickly swiped Josie’s drink away before she could take a sip. I dumped the contents on the floor, then threw the plastic cup back at the guy’s chest.
“Tyler!” Josie gasped.
Whitty had a calmer approach. He grabbed the guy by his shirt, balling the material in his fist, and he held Suzie’s full drink up to his closed mouth.
“Take a sip, c’mon,” Whitty growled. “Take one.”
The bouncers flanked our sides a second later, and they quickly took the fucker off Whitty’s hands and roughly carried him to the back door to throw him the hell out of the bar.
Whitty and I wordlessly communicated for a second. “I’ll make sure the friends get home safe,” he said in a gruff tone, patting me on the back.
Suzie’s hand slid up his bulging arm in a comforting motion.
Before Josie could protest, I bent down and threw her small frame over my shoulder, keeping my hand on the bottom of her dress so she wouldn’t flash everyone in the bar. A protectiveness coursed through my body, growling in my head that her undergarments were for my eyes only…if she ever let me look,that is.
