“Andi, can I get one, too?” I asked, louder now, to carry over the music. No way she didn’t hear methattime.
She didn’t even blink in my direction. “Let me know if you need anything else, handsome,” she said to Luke, laying it on thick.
Luke tipped his hat with that charm that came so easy to him, clearly eating up every drop of attention. I just stared, blinking at the empty space she’d left behind like I’d imagined the whole damn interaction.
“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I muttered.
Luke chuckled. “Boy, you really pissed her off. What’s it been…almost a week now, and shestillwon’t talk to you?”
“Talk? She won’t even look at me.” I huffed. “Not to mention, every time I get within fifteen feet of her, she bolts like a spooked filly.”
“Sooo…she bothers you by just being here but also bothers you by running away…” Luke grinned around his beer. “Makes sense.”
I glared at him, unamused. “You done?”
“Not even close,” he said, tipping back his beer with another smirk.
“Not drinking tonight, Zane?” Red asked, coming around from the cooler.
“Just waiting for your new waitress to make her way back down to this end of the bar,” I said, nodding toward the irritating brunette—the one actively pretending I was invisible.
Red didn’t wait for her. He reached into the cooler and popped the top off my usual. “Here.”
“Thanks.” I took a long pull and let my eyes drift back to Andi.
Even if I didn’t want to admit it, she looked good tonight—too good. The kind of good that made me forget every reason I had for not trusting her. She’d toned down the makeup, anddamn if that didn’t work in her favor. She didn’t need all that extra crap, anyway. Her natural beauty hit harder than anything out of a bottle. And that tight black shirt and those curve-hugging jeans? Not helping my self-control. Not even a little.
I forced myself to look away before my brain wandered somewhere it had no business going. She wasn’t talking to me. She wouldn’t even look at me. And still…every time she walked by, my eyes followed like a damn magnet. I hated it. Hated that no matter how much she iced me out, my gut still twisted every time she was close. I couldn’t turn it off. Didn’t even know how to try.
“Don’t touch me!” Her voice cut through the crowd like a whip crack.
I was already turning toward the dance floor when Luke shot out of his seat. “Son of a bitch…”
“What?” I asked, but I didn’t need him to answer. I saw her—standing near the dance floor, swatting a man’s hand off her backside.
My hands curled into fists before my brain caught up.
“Is that Gus again?” I asked through gritted teeth, already on my feet.
“Looks like it,” Luke muttered, slamming down the rest of his beer. “That asshole never learns.”
We moved together, fast. I didn’t care that she didn’t want me around. None of that mattered right now. I just knew I needed to get to her.
By the time we got close, she was already unloading on Gus, giving him hell with that fire I’d come to expect from her. He and his buddies laughed, treating it like some damn joke. My pulse kicked up, hard and fast. She turned to walk away, and I started to breathe again—until he grabbed her around the waist and yanked her back.
Then everything stopped.
She spun in his arms, brought her knee up hard into his groin, and followed it with a right hook straight to his nose. The sound of the impact was loud enough to carry over the music, and Gus dropped like a sack of bricks.
The bar exploded with cheers and laughter.
Andi stood over him, chest heaving while shaking out her hand—looking like she wasn’t sure whether to wince or gloat. She bit her lip like she was holding back excitement, but the second her eyes landed on us—on me, oddly enough—that excited and pleased smile broke loose.
I didn’t smile back, though.
Couldn’t.
Because while the rest of the bar treated it like the highlight of their night, all I could think was how close she came to getting hurt. And how damn stupid I was for caring as much as I did.
