“Why, sweetness?” He turned his attention to her.
“Well,” she said, leaning on the bar so her tits were almost spilling over the top of her low-cut tank. Shit, he couldn’t fight against that. It wasn’t even a fair war when they were involved. Struggling to look up from where his eyes had settled on her cleavage, he grabbed another glass.
He started filling the glass with beer. He didn’t give a shit if someone wanted it or not, they were getting beer so he didn’t make an idiot out of himself staring at her tits.
“My mom asked if I could come home for the holiday. She wondered if I could get off that weekend.” If she stayed with him over the holiday, he could guarantee her she’d get off. “Dad always makes a big deal out of it. If not, that’s okay.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll find someone to work your shifts.”
“Oh. Okay. Thanks, Parker,” she answered, picking up her drink orders before returning to her tables.
“So if I flash my tits at you too, can I have the weekend off?” Andrea smirked. With a scowl, he turned to look at her. She was ringing up a ticket at the register.
“Did you want the weekend off?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
“No way, I make bank during the holidays. I’m just busting your balls.” With a shake of his head, he stalked off down the bar to start refilling drinks.
What he didn’t need was any more busting of his balls. He had more than enough people tossing the things around as it was. Between that and the continual chub in his jeans rearing its head every time he looked at Astrid, life was becoming unbearable. Except when he had her in his arms, then it became so fucking good he could barely breathe.
“Parker, seriously, get your head out of the gutter.” He would flip Liam off as he walked past with an armload of food, except he realized that he had just filled a pint glass full of tequila.
“Andrea, can you cover for me for a few minutes? I need a break.” He threw down his bar rag and walked to the back office. Closing the door he flopped down in the desk chair. Shortly he heard a knock at the door. “What?” he called out.
“Hey, calm down. I just brought you something to drink.” Ronan placed a glass of soda down before taking the seat across from him. “So how’s it going?”
Parker raised his head from the desk and ran his hand through his hair. Picking up the glass, he took a long pull on his drink while he decided what he could tell Ronan.
He knew fifteen was old enough to know a little about having your guts tied in knots over a woman. That didn’t mean he wanted to discuss it with his little brother. Finally, he decided to take the avenue of least resistance.
“I just needed a break,” he said. Ronan studied him before he stood up. He paused when he reached the door.
“Okay, but I call bullshit,” he said. “I’ve seen you tired, Parker. This is something more.”
“Ro,” Parker said. Ronan leaned back against the door. “This thing with Astrid,” Parker tried again.
He looked over at the wall across from his desk. His father had hung family photos on the wall, starting with a photo of their parents when they were dating. There were more photos of them on that wall across from his dad’s desk than the entire apartment upstairs. He breathed a sigh.
“She drives me crazy, you know.” Parker watched as a grin spread across his brother’s face.
“I do know,” Ronan answered. “But maybe it’s time you start thinking about what you want for a change. You can’t do any better than Astrid. I don’t think any of us can. If anyone deserves a happy ever after, bro, it’s you. It’s time to start chasing it.” Ronan pulled open the door. He looked back at Parker.
“Sometimes, crazy is the best place to be,” he said.
When the door closed, Parker sat for a minute wondering how his brother had gotten so fucking smart. Parker hated to tell him that upper-class princesses didn’t wind up with lower-class bartenders in the real world.
He would truly love to pretend for just a little while longer though. The attraction between them was like a train barreling down the tracks. It would eventually derail, but it would be one hell of a ride.
He grabbed his glass and headed back into the bar. In the short time he had been gone, the room had filled up. The customers at the bar were already two deep with Andrea desperately trying to keep up with orders. Liam had taken over her tables and wore one of her aprons with a grin on his face.
Ronan had returned to busing tables or delivering food. He knew he needed to start looking for more help or he was going to kill them all.
“You catch the server orders. I’ll work the bar,” he said, swinging back behind the bar. Andrea nodded with relief as she moved to the server area to pick up Astrid’s orders. He worked his way down the bar, refilling drinks, taking orders, and making change.
Thankfully, his weird math inabilities didn’t extend to his memory. He just couldn’t ring out tickets he didn’t take since they weren’t stored in his head. Within the hour, he had sweated completely through his T-shirt as the crowd got louder.
“Is there a game tonight or something?” Astrid yelled in his ear from behind him, making him jump. He hadn’t even noticed her walking up behind him.
“Not as far as I know,” he all but yelled back.
