“Can I get you anything else?”I ask him, trying not to absolutely lose it and scream at him to leave.That’s exactly what I want to do, but that’s also what he wants.
“Yeah,” he replies, and I close my eyes, exhaling slowly while I wait for his answer.Knowing it’s going to be something that is not related to the bar.
“What’s that, Isaac?”I ask, my teeth clenched, my hand gripping the edge of the bar.I can feel the anger and frustration bubbling up inside me, hating myself for all of this.I have no one to blame but myself.
“You, Daze.Your ass bent over this bar while I fuck you,” he murmurs, low and deep, and the thought makes me want to vomit.He says it for shock value, to see the look on my face, to push me over the edge of losing it.
But I don’t.I just shake my head, not dignifying his words with a response.My face is stoic, and I walk away to serve another customer who has just come in.
We’re now at four hours, and Isaac is still here.Watching my every move, hating the way I can feel his eyes on me, practically burning a hole through my skin.
The one thing I can be thankful for is that at least he’s not drinking.He’s stone-cold sober because I’m not sure I could handle him drunk.He’s enough of a dick sober.
The bar is basically empty now but will begin to fill back in soon as the dinner crowd comes in, and I’ve got a double shift today, covering both lunch and dinner and working until close.Which means Isacc will literally be here until the doors are locked.
I look around, taking in the old pool table, and I have an idea, a stupid one, but I don’t have much else to work with.
“Hey, Isaac,” I call, leaning back against the counter behind the bar.I push off and walk over to him.“I’ll make a deal with you.”I pause, waiting for him to respond.
“Depends on what the deal is,” he hisses, a sour look on his face.
“I beat you in pool, and you get the hell out of here,” I say, motioning to the table in the center of the bar.He lets out a condescending laugh, his eyes falling to the table too.
“And what do I get when I win?”he hits back with a confidence that only he can possess.
It’s been there since the day I met him, and it’s what did him in with the band.He doesn’t have a clue what it means to be humble, and most of the time his overconfident nature is wholly misplaced.This is going to be one of those times.
“What do you want?”I respond, fully knowing what he’s going to say but never giving him the satisfaction of a smile from me.
“You know what I want, Daisy,” he growls, and again, my stomach churns, bile rising up in my throat at the idea.
“That’s not an option.”My eyes are focused on his, my head shaking in response to his words, too.“It’s either play me, and if I win, you leave, and if I don’t, then you can stay as long as you want.”
“Nothing about this sounds like a deal to me,” he hisses, pissed off that he can’t control me anymore.And honestly, I have no idea why I ever let him in the first place.
“Maybe it’s just a deal that you take so Lisa doesn’t call the police to escort you out because what you’re doing here is loitering.”I flick my hands around to the small number of people sitting at the bar, and all of them, with the exception of Isaac, are here to eat or drink and then be on their way.
“She won’t call the police on me,” Isaac responds cockily.
“Try me,” Lisa calls out from the other end of the bar.“Take the deal, Isaac.It’s in your best interest.If you win, I’ll let you stay.”
Lisa shrugs, hitting me with a look that makes me want to laugh.She knows I’m going to kick Isaac’s ass at pool.He has no idea, though.It’s something he wouldn’t know about me because he really knows nothing about me to begin with.
When I was a kid, I’d come into Lisa’s bar with my dad.He taught me to play, telling me I could make a ton of money scamming idiot guys.It’s one of the good memories I have of him, one I hold close as a reminder that it wasn’t always bad.
“Fine,” Isaac finally concedes, and I step out from behind the bar, grabbing a stick from the rack.
“Rack them up,” I tell Isaac as I chalk the end of my cue.“You can go first so I can watch what to do.I can’t remember the last time I played.”
“You go,” Isaac says, giving a soft, condescending chuckle again.“Ladies first, right?”
Now I’m rolling my eyes.Like he’s ever been chivalrous, but I’ll take it today.
I hear Lisa let out a half-scoff, half-laugh from behind the bar, and I whip around to glare at her.Luckily, Isaac is too wrapped up in racking the balls to notice.Plus, he thinks I’m an idiot, never having seen who I really am.That girl is about to kick his ass.
“Eight ball left corner pocket,” I call, trying to keep my smile from spreading.He’s watched me call ball after ball, sinking every damn one of them.
I haven’t missed a shot, and I can tell by the look on Isaac’s face that he’s livid.His face is going red, his eyes narrowed.
