For the rest of the night, he stayed. It was longer than he usually did—not that I kept official track of that detail. We didn’t talk again. As I strained to keep up with the demanding pace of orders, I didn’t have time to talk to him.
The next night, I wasn’t entirely surprised that he showed up again.
“Hi, Sergei,” I greeted as he sat in front of me like usual.
“Hi, girlfriend Natalie,” he replied.
Cue my instant blush.
The next night was the same. And two nights after that, too.
I accepted the unofficial agreement that we’d forged. He would pretend to be my boyfriend, acting as my protector any time a customer got too aggressive or rude with me. One lethal glare was usually all it took to send others backing off.
Lying about having a man in my life felt wrong, but after the first week of living this lie, I convinced myself it was better than having the endless predators bothering me.
Getting used to seeing Sergei show up almost nightly, I tried not to worry about thewhyof it all. How a stranger could be this invested in merely helping me out.
Rosa wondered too, because one night, she pulled me aside and flat-out asked me why he always seemed to come for the sole purpose of checking in on me.
“No bullshit, Nat. Tell me the truth. Is that big guy stalking you or something?” Her brow furrowed.
Again, I appreciated her maternal instincts toward me, like she was my unofficial big sister on the clock.
“No. He’s not stalking me,” I said, almost laughing. I glanced up and caught him watching me with that ghost of a smile I doubted he’d ever let me see.
“Who is he?”
I frowned, debating what to say. No ready answer came to me. I didn’t even know his last name, what he did for a living, where he came from.
Oh, hell.
What if he is stalking me or something crazy like that?
“Nat?” She arched her brows as I scrambled for an answer.
No. That’s stupid. He’s notstalkingme. He is just… lonely. And must like protecting me. Maybe he’s bored.If Sergei were stalking me, he wouldn’t limit watching me to the random times he spent here at the bar.
“Okay, he’s just a regular.”
She crossed her arms, unconvinced.
“The other day when some guys were harassing me, I got a little nervous and scared and…”
“You should’ve told me, girl. I told you on day one, I’ll always try to look out for you.”
It saddened me that I looked so helpless to need her as backup. Or anyone else. Having Sergei’s backup felt… different.
“I know. But I, um, I blurted out that he was my boyfriend, just to get these guys to stop bugging me. And he played along with it.” I shrugged, blushing about it all. “It doesn’t mean anything. Just a silly joke. Or a good deed. I don’t know.”
She smiled, shaking her head slowly as she giggled. “Oh, girl.”
“Don’t judge me…”
“I’m not. Hell, I remember doing something like that back when I was a hot lil’ mama too.” She glanced at him and sighed when she looked back at me. “But leave it to you to pick the sexiest, meanest-looking man here.”
My blush deepened.
“Just make sure you aren’t getting too carried away with the act.” She winked, one of those mischievous ones again.
