I didn’t reply, using my beer bottle as an excuse not to answer her while I drank some of it.
“She needs someone to look out for her,” she said conspiratorially. “But I can’t get a good read on you to know if your intentions are solid.” Narrowing her eyes some more as she kept her hands busy with glasses and bottles, she gave me an expectant order to throw her a bone.
I would not. I didn’t answer to her. I wasn’t revealing myself as a member of the Orlov family who was interested in her coworker. The second I did, Natalie would risk being a target by association.
“How come she needs someone to look out for her?” I asked once I lowered my bottle.
She wagged her finger from side to side. “Uh-uh.”
“What?”
“You’re not getting away with that. Answering my question with a question of your own.”
“I’m not certain what my intentions are with her. Yet.”
She smiled at how I added that last word for emphasis at the end. As if that implied hope for something good.
“I don’t know enough about her to determine what my options are with her.” That was the truth, too.
She shrugged. “Don’t look at me. You’re not getting her story from me.”
“Because you don’t know it either?” I assumed she might not. Whatever had Natalie behaving so scared and timid couldn’t be a trivial moment of nothing important. She wasn’t tight-lipped with only me.
“Because I don’t gossip,” Rosa stated bluntly, giving me a smirk before moving back toward her side of the bar.
An hour later, I wondered if I would need to demonstrate to Rosa and Natalie how well I could step into a self-proclaimed role of being this stupid bar’s bouncer. The men Rosa scolded were acting up even more. Drunker. Bolder. Cockier.
I just barely refrained from beating the shit out of them when they appraised Natalie’s body, detailing how they’d gang rape her. My blood pressure skyrocketed and I vibrated with the need to inflict pain on them for even thinking such things about this sweet innocent.
But I didn’t do a damn thing, other than stay put and reassure her that I was here if she needed my help. I witnessed her start to find a little bit of backbone. Her quiet rebukes grew louder and firmer. She told them to shut up and leave her alone, perhaps emboldened with me there and watching over her.
Over and over, she shot them down and told them to fuck off. Ignoring them wasn’t productive, but in the end, Rosa and Peter kicked them out for causing the start of a little brawl.
They’re going to be waiting right outside.
I could tell. Even if they didn’t say it, promising that they wouldn’t let Natalie slip away after her shift was done, I could predict that they were the stupid kind of fuckers who never knew when to quit. They were too determined, drunk, and dumb to rethink waiting for her to ambush her.
That was why when Natalie wrapped up for the night and began to put her coat on, I stepped up to the bar.
“How come you’re still here?” she asked, looking so tired and dead on her feet.
I wished I could carry her and massage the aches from her soles. To tuck her in and enjoy the pride of caring for her.
“Because those guys will probably be waiting to bother you right outside that door.” I jerked my thumb to indicate it.
She winced. “You think?”
I shook my head. “I know.”
“Should I…” She bit her lip, looking more scared. “Should I call the cops or something?”
Cops? I couldn’t help but let out a single, gruff laugh. “No.”
She didn’t need any fucking cops while I was around. George and the new soldiers we were training weren’t too far away if I needed help. As intoxicated as those men were, though, they wouldn’t be able to fight worth a damn.
“I’ll see you home,” I offered. Extending my hand to her, I waited for her to swallow down the fear that rose up.
“O… kay,” she replied quietly, as if trusting me outside of this bar was a huge leap of faith. Maybe it was for her. That only put more pressure on me to make sure she wasn’t bothered at all.
