I ring up his order, hoping he’ll pay with a card and I can see his name, but he pulls out cash instead. Our fingers brush when he hands it over, his stare still firmly locked on to mine, before he smiles again. I tremble—again, not from fear, though the wildness of this man rolls off him in waves. Curiosity, I guess, interest, and acknowledgment of the power sizzling beneath his skin, that’s what gets to me, this tingling shock traveling from where our skin meets and making me feel…funny.
I hand him one of the numbers to place on his table. He watches me but doesn’t move, then takes it, winks, and strolls over to a booth. He slides in and looks at me again.
What. The. Fuck.
He can’t know. How the fuck would he know?
I put the order in with the kitchen staff. It’s killing me not to ask if they know who he is, but somehow, I feel like he would know, and I don’t want to give him that pleasure.
With my back to him, I continue folding boxes. I feel him watching me, the hairs on the back of my neck rising, and honestly, it’s not the first time I’ve felt that way the past couple of days. More than once, I could have sworn someone was watching me. Did Jagger find us? I would think he’d sent Cherry if I hadn’t met him by randomly jacking him.
When the kitchen calls out his number, I pick up the pizza and head over to his table. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” He looks at my nametag. “Shai.” He says my name correctly. A lot of people pronounce itShaerather than likeshy.
His gaze runs the length of my body. Jesus, maybe he’s simply flirting with me.
“Well, now I feel at a disadvantage because you know my name and I don’t know yours.” Two can play this game.
“Rory,” he replies. “We have a mutual friend, actually—Ollie. His boyfriend is like a brother to me.”
My spine stiffens.That’swhat this is about? Ollie? It confirms my suspicions about his boyfriend. If he’s the kind of guy who sends his friend to try and scare me because I’ve had some friendly conversations with his boyfriend, Ollie needs to run and not look back. I know men like this, who think of other people as their possessions, because my father is one of them. He never cared how many people my mom fucked as long as he was making money off her, but if she dared even talk to someone he didn’t want her to associate with, he would make her pay.
“I don’t want your friend’s man, if that’s what you think.”
“Brother,” he corrects.
“Does it matter?”
“Yes. Andbrotherisn’t even a strong enough word for what he is to me. And did I say you want him? I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot, Shai. I’m just saying hi because we have a mutual friend.”
“Yeah, sure. That’s not what it seems like. From where I’m sitting, Cillian is jealous, maybe afraid he can’t hold on to Ollie, so he sent you to deal with it for him. Ollie deserves someone better, if you ask me.”
I swear the temperature in the restaurant amps up. Rorydoesn’t move. Hell, I’m not sure he’s even breathing, but the pure rage rolling off him is hard to miss. It takes everything inside me not to take a step back, but I refuse to let him intimidate me.
“I would be very careful if I were you. I would hate to see you make enemies of the wrong people.” His gaze flicks around me. “Someone’s waiting at the counter for you.”
Shit. I nearly forgot I’m at work.
I take a step back, then another. It’s not until I’m at the register that I realize I’m holding my breath.
There’s no doubt in my mind Rory is a dangerous dude. I knew it the second he turned around and didn’t flinch at my gun. And somehow Ollie, this sweet, nerdy pre-law student, is wrapped up with him.
I remind myself that this is none of my business, that I shouldn’t care, but as I’m ringing up the next customers, I can’t stop my gaze from flicking over to Rory—to that red hair that caught my attention the first time I saw him, the intensity in his blue eyes, how he can look both like the kind of spoiled brat I hate, but also like someone who is powerful enough to deserve respect.
Worst of all is how sexy he is. I shouldn’t want this man, but I do. He was intriguing to me before, and our interaction amplified that.
I can’t wait to figure him out.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Rory
Shai is bothinteresting and boring as shit.
I’ve been watching him for a couple of days, and he hasn’t done much of anything other than go to work, drive around, and sit at home.
He lives with his mom. Men come and go at random times of the day, mostly when Shai is at work, which is where he’s at now.
