He’d taken his hand out of his pocket to run it through his hair. It was bandaged. He’d foolishly picked up the bullet, and the still-hot lead scarred his hand to the point where he needed first aid. Someone from the tattoo parlor next door had still been working, heard the gunshot, and called the first responders.
My eyes burned at the memory of James breaking up with me on my doorstep a week ago. I downed my whiskey, flagging the bartender for another. I’d gone to a bar clear across town. Dani had been calling me for days, but I’d been too hungover all week to answer her.
Oh yeah, that was a new thing too—I wasn’t working. I hadn’t been to work in over a week.
“What about my job? Do you really expect us to work togetherafter this? Because if you want me gone for good, you’ll have to fire me. Otherwise, I’ll see you on Monday and we can try this again.”
“Then you leave me no choice.”
My heart skipped a beat. “You’re firing me?”
He scrubbed his face with his free hand. “A leave of absence, until it’s safe.”
I was still getting paid, but that was so far from the point that they may as well have been in different zip codes.
When the bartender set my next shot down, he held out his hand. I knew what that meant: I fished around in my pocket and handed over my keys. I necked the shot, then gulped down a fair amount of water.
Another shot was placed in front of me. I sure as hell hadn’t ordered one, so I looked around—to my right, an arm was reaching over my shoulder to rest against the bar. Luke.
My lips attempted to twitch into a smile. “What are you doing here?”
“Just having a drink,” he shrugged. “Same as you. I owed you one from the night we met, so I thought I’d make up for it now.”
I wanted to protest, but that night only reminded me of James. I picked up the shot and drank it. “Thanks,” I said, wincing around the burn.
“Want another?”
“Not yet.”
An awkward silence fell between us. Luke hovered, not moving any closer but showing no intention of moving away either. I closed my eyes, relishing the way my head started to loosen. I straightened my back, surprising myself by not flinching when I touched him.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” Luke asked, breath puffing against my ear. I caught the scent of toothpaste.
I waved for another shot. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Ah, things not going well with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Jealous?”
I deflected, downing the drink. “You going to sit down or just stand next to me all night?”
“I didn’t know if I’d be welcome.”
“You’d rather leave me here to drink by myself?”
He took the chair next to mine, I spun the empty shot glass around in my hands. The bartender refilled my water, dropping off another shot. “Can I get a Manhattan?”
The bartender returned a moment later with the drink, and I pushed it over to Luke. He chuckled in surprise, and the warmth that spread through my body at the sound calmed me.
“You remembered,” he said, scooting closer and lifting his glass to his mouth.
“You’re a hard man to forget.”
I snickered as Luke coughed and sputtered. It was refreshing to see his stoic facade waver. “You all right?” I asked, sliding my glass of water in his direction. His eyes watered from the alcohol that must’ve been burning his nose.
“Fine.” He reached for a napkin next to him, dabbing at his eyes. “You, um,” he leaned in closer, “you want to talk about it?”
I blamed what happened next on the booze. I launched into the whole story, obviously leaving out the part about my vampire boss and the hunter that seemed to be after both of us. I waved for another round when my voice started to crack at the part where James broke up with me.
“Damn, Ryder. I’m sorry.”
