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Hayley set the sour on her tray and frowned at it. She’d picked up extra shifts to avoid spending time in an empty house. She wasn’t sure what, exactly that “explained”. And, mostly, she didn’t want to know. Mostly. Unfortunately it was the tiny part of her that seemed destined for masochism that had her asking, “What are you talking about?”
Deanna smiled impossibly wider. “Well you’ve been so busy here with your all-important job as barmaid, and pretty much left poor Shooter all to his lonesome. Thankfully, though, he called me to come take care of him.”
Hayley nearly dropped the tray.
“I got the impression he had a lot of pent up frustration while he had me bent over his desk this afternoon. But you don’t have to worry. I took care of him. Just like I told you I would.”
Hayley looked around helplessly. Though God knew why. It was only 6pm and Chris wouldn’t be here for another few hours to have a few beers before taking her home. They hadn’t talked about it this week, but she had assumed that he would still want to make sure she got home okay and didn’t waste money on a cab.
“Deanna, get out,” Maria ordered before Hayley could do anything at all.
“What? Why?” Deanna sneered.
“Just get the fuck out before I mess up that wrinkled face of yours.”
Whether Deanna was incensed about the insult was unclear to anyone else, but what Deanna herself was very clear on was that A.) Maria wouldn’t hesitate to swing at her, and B.) That Maria probably wouldn’t stop there.
As Deanna turned and waltzed out the front door, Maria put a hand on Hayley’s arm. “No point in getting upset ‘til there’s something to get upset about.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” Hayley insisted.
Maria nodded in agreement. “Best just to ask him. That woman lies like a cheap rug when it suits her.”
Hayley shrugged off Deanna’s words and headed to her table.
************************
Chris chose a table near the pool tables and caught Hayley’s eye as she was settling up a tab. It was a relief to see her. He’d been away from her for too long. His self imposed exile was hurting them both, he realized. Tonight he’d take her home and spend the rest of the night making sure she understood that he would do whatever it took for her to feel safe in her own home again.
She finally made it over to them. “Hey,” she said to the boys, who all greeted her warmly. They missed her as much as Chris did, but obviously for different reasons.
She took their drink orders and hurried back. “How’s it going?” she asked everyone, Hawk said terrible without any decent cooking and Tex agreed that he liked someone else doing said cooking. “So today-” she began, putting a draft in front of him.
Chris groaned inwardly. He didn’t want to be reminded of today. Today had been shit. Made shittier by Deanna’s appearance. “Was long and boring and all I could think about was getting here to see you.” He even glanced at the clock above the swinging door and scowled. He really wanted her to be off shift. Like now.
Hayley paused. “Long and boring?” she asked.
“Yep and yep. And now I’m here and all I care about is getting you alone.”
Hayley’s eyebrows knitted together. “So…you missed me?”
“You have no idea.”
She considered this for a moment. “Well, I get off at the usual time. You’re….coming home with me, right?”
“Absolutely, Slick,” he replied, his cock already starting to show interest in taking her to be and his heart starting to grow equally warm at the thought that she didn’t fear him, as he’d worried she would.
She nodded and walked away. Chris began the long wait until the bar’s close.
****************
Hayley didn’t know exactly what to think but she knew one thing for certain, she didn’t want to make an embarrassing scene in Maria’s in front of the rowdy Friday night crowd. Perhaps, she wondered, that Chris hadn’t wanted a scene, either, and so he was waiting to talk to her about Deanna when they got home. She accepted this and tried to put it out of her mind for the rest of her shift.
The bike ride home was nice. She was reminded of how much she missed having Chris nearby as she wrapped her arms firmly around him. This week had been horrible. She’d felt like such a freak for getting upset when he’d tried to initiate sex. And then when he left it just made her feel worse. She knew he felt bad, but she felt totally responsible for the whole mess.
Getting off the bike, she followed him to the front door. She really didn’t want to talk about Deanna. She’d much rather just get into bed with Chris. But she knew they might as well get it over with, though. She set the helmet down by the door.
