Chapter One
Bryce
“Damn it. He’s here again—he never takes no for an answer.” I round the corner of the bar and look at Calisse, “I’m going to the back to grab some cases.” I tell her, and I hear her laugh as I retreat to the storage room for safety.
“Let me guess,” Caleb teases when he walks in behind me, “Drew is out there again?”
“How’d you guess?”
“It’s the only time I see you back here while on shift. Getting the beer is my job, not yours,” he says, taking the case out of my hands.
He’s not wrong—he’s the barback—but every time Drew comes in, I come back here to prepare myself for the incessant flirting and arrogance. No matter how many excuses I make, telling him I can’t go out with him, he still comes in at least once a week when I’m on shift to stand by the bar. Drew isn’t a bad-looking guy, but he’s not my type for so many reasons. Even though that changes from month to month, or maybe mood to mood some days, no matter what the situation, he’ll never be my type.
After ten minutes, I can’t justify staying back here any longer. When I make my way to the bar, Drew is in his usual spot. I only take a few steps before he sees me, flashing a grin that would charm the pants off most people—fortunately, I’m not like most people. While I’m keeping busy with customers at the opposite end, I see him in my periphery, walking toward me.
“Bryce, how are ya?” I hear him interrupting my current conversation—cockiness and rudeness are two of the reasons he’s not my type—as he stands next to the couple of regulars, inadvertently moving them along so he can have his time with me. Unfortunately, Drew thinks he’s the most important person in the bar.
“Sorry guys,” I apologize as they turn to walk away. “Hey, Drew. How’s it going?” The faint smell of stale cigarettes radiates off him from across the bar.
“Same shit, different day, right?”
“You need a refill?”
“Of course. The usual.”
Luckily, his favorite tap beer is on the other side of the bar—I welcome every moment away from him.
“How’s the stage five clinger doing tonight?” Calisse loves to tease me about Drew. “Need me to throw his ass out yet?” We’venever thrown him out of the bar, but she’s waiting patiently for the day I give her the word—I’m just low-key waiting for him to give us a reason.
“Nah. I can handle him.”
She snickers. “I know you can handle him.” With a backslap, she leans in to say, “It’s Drew who wants to find out if you can handle his pencil-dick.”
“And how do you know it’s the size of a pencil?” I cock an eyebrow at her.
“I don’t, but I’m willing to bet on it.” She’s always up for a challenge, but I won’t be taking her up on it. There’s no world where I want to be anywhere near Drew’s dick, and Calisse isn’t that hard-up to prove her point.
I steel myself as I head back with his beer and hope I can escape quickly. Sadly, it’s still early for the after-work crowd to roll in, so Drew tries to hold my attention with small talk.
“Did you catch the Super Bowl? KC didn’t stand a chance this year.”
“Drew, you know I’m a hockey guy,” I remind him for the hundredth time. “My best friend is in the league.”
“Yeah, but he’s in the AHL, right?” he says with a crooked brow.
“You’re unbelievable.” I shake my head as he laughs alone at his joke. I know he’s only jealous of Bodie because of how close we are, but it grates on my nerves when he acts like the AHL isn’t, as he calls it, ‘real hockey.’ He couldn’t tell you a single rule about hockey; much less know how hard Bodie worksbecausehe wants to get into the NHL, and this is the stepping stone to get there.
“Speak of the devil,” Drew gripes as I turn and see my best friend walk in with his girlfriend, who’s sporting the biggest frown as usual. Since high school, Amber’s attitude has been a mood killer—and she seemed to only direct it toward me—now, Iignore her. I still can’t figure out what he sees in her, but I don’t have the energy to deal with the nonsense.
“Hey, man. Thought you couldn’t make it tonight?” I ask Bodie when he scoots around the end of the bar to greet me—he loves hugging more than anyone else I’ve ever met. Even in high school, he’d randomly give me hugs in the hallway. I may have had something to do with this, but Bodie made it into a whole thing.
“I told you I’d try.” He waves his hands down his body as he pulls back from me. “This is me trying and being successful. I’m a damn good friend, aren’t I?” He grins that award-winning grin women love so much. Amber is lucky she snagged him in high school, or he’d be drowning in a sea of female fans after every game. A six-foot-three, fit hockey player with black hair and blue eyes is hard to resist by societal standards.
“Sucha greatfriend.” Amber’s sarcasm doesn’t escape me, but ignoring it bothers her more than anything else. Her crossed arms and scowl say all I need to know about how any conversation with her will go tonight.
“Hey, Drew.” Bodie ignores his girlfriend’s behavior as he returns to the other side of the bar and directs his attention to the pain in my neck. “You here to harass Bryce again?”
“Are you his babysitter now too?”
