DAY DRINKING
Naomi
Knox: I owe you an apology about last night at Liza’s. I was out of line.
* * *
I took a deep breath,turned off my car, and stared at the side door to Honky Tonk. It was my first shift back since The Break-Up, and I was tied up in knots. It was a weekend lunch shift. The odds of Knox actually being inside were in the negative.
But I still needed a pep talk before getting out of the car.
I’d been okay at my other job all week. The library felt like a fresh start and didn’t have memories of Knox around every corner. But Honky Tonk was different.
“You can do this. Get out of the car. Rake in the tip money and smile until your face hurts.”
Knox had thrown his little hissy fit at the bonfire and had to be escorted out by Lucian. I’d done a half-assed job pumping Sloane for information about Lucian’s chivalry. But inside I was reeling from being that close to Knox again.
He’d looked angry and almost hurt. As if me standing next to his brother had been some sort of betrayal. It was laughable. The man had discarded me like an unwanted receipt and had the nerve to tell me I was moving on too fast when all I’d done was give Nash the list I’d been working on about people or incidents that felt off to me.
I looked in the rearview mirror. “You are an Ice Queen Swan,” I told my reflection. Then I got out of the car and marched inside.
Relief coursed through me when I didn’t see him inside. Milford and another line cook were already firing up the kitchen, prepping for the day. I said my hellos and headed into the bar. It was still dark. The stools were stacked, so I turned on the music and the lights and set about getting the place ready.
I’d flipped all the stools, reassembled the soda machine, and was turning on the soup warmer when the side door opened.
Knox stepped inside, his eyes cutting directly to me.
The breath left my chest, and I suddenly couldn’t remember how to inhale.
Damn it. How could a man who’d hurt me so badly look so good? It wasn’t fair. He was wearing jeans and another long-sleeved Henley. This one in a forest green. There was a fading bruise on his chin that made him look like trouble. The sexy, delicious kind of trouble.
But the New Naomi was smarter than that. I wasn’t going back there.
He nodded at me, but I returned my attention to the soup and tried to pretend he didn’t exist. At least until he came too close to ignore.
“Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” I repeated, putting the metal lid over the warmer and throwing the plastic wrap away.
“I’m on the bar today,” he said after a moment’s hesitation.
“Okay.” I brushed past him to get to the dishwashing station where two divided trays of clean glasses waited. I hefted one, then found it being snatched from my hands. “I’ve got it,” I insisted.
“Now I’ve got it,” Knox said, carting it up to the soda machine and dropping it on the stainless steel counter.
I rolled my eyes and grabbed the second tray. It, too, was promptly removed from my possession. Ignoring him, I flicked on the heat lamps on the expo line and moved to the POS to check the receipt tape.
I could feel him watching me. His gaze had a weight and temperature to it. I hated being so aware of him.
I could practically feel him skimming me from head to toe. I’d worn jeans today instead of one of my denim skirts, feeling like every layer of protection was necessary.
“Naomi.” His voice was a rough rasp around my name, and it made me shiver.
I glanced at him and gave him my best fake smile. “Yeah?”
He shoved his hand through his hair, then crossed his arms.
“I owe you an apology. Last night—”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s forgotten,” I said, making a show of checking my apron for my bank and notebook.
“This doesn’t have to be…you know. Weird.”
“Oh, it’s not weird for me,” I lied. “It’s all in the past. Water under the bridge. We’re both moving on.”
His eyes looked like molten silver as he stared me down. The air between us was charged with what felt like an impending lightning strike. But I forced myself to hold his gaze.
“Right,” he said with a clench in his jaw. “Fine.”
* * *
I didn’t knowexactly how much Knox had moved on until an hour into the slowest shift ever. Normally a Saturday lunch shift could be counted on for some kind of business, but the whole seven patrons seemed to be content to sip their beers and chew their food 137 times. Even with the new server, Brad, to train, I had too much time to think.
Rather than hang around the bar and deal with Knox’s moody stare, I cleaned.
I was scrubbing down the wall next to the service bar, working on a particularly tricky stain, when the front door opened, and a woman walked in. Or strutted. She wore black suede boots with stiletto heels, the kind of jeans that looked as though they’d been painted on, and a cropped leather jacket.
She had a trio of bracelets wrapped around her right wrist. Her nails were painted a gorgeous, murderous red. I made a mental note to ask her what the color was.
Her dark hair was cut short and worn tousled on top. She had cheekbones that could cut glass, an expertly applied smoky eye, and a wry grin.
I wanted to be her friend. To go shopping with her. To find out everything about her so I, too, could retrace her steps and discover that kind of confidence for myself.
That grin widened when she spotted Knox behind the bar, and I suddenly wasn’t sure I wanted to be friends anymore. I snuck a glance at Knox and knew I definitely didn’t want to be friends. Not with the way he was looking at her with affectionate familiarity.
She didn’t say a word, just strolled across the bar, eyes on him. When she got there, she didn’t slide onto a stool and order what I guessed would be the world’s coolest drink. No. She reached across, grabbed him by the shirt, and laid a kiss right on his mouth.
My stomach dropped out of my body and continued to plummet toward the earth’s core.
“Oh, shit,” Wraith groaned from his table.
“Uh, is that the boss’s girlfriend?” Brad, the server I was supposed to be training, asked.
“I guess so,” I said, sounding as if I was being strangled. “I’ll be back. Hold this.” I handed Brad the dirty rag and gave the bar wide berth.
“Naomi!” Knox sounded pissed. But his moods were no longer my concern.
My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears as I headed toward the restroom with every eye in the place on me.
I pretended I didn’t hear him calling my name or her greeting him.
“Knox? Seriously? It’s about damn time,” a throaty voice said.
“Fucking A, Lina. You couldn’t have called first? This is the worst goddamn timing.”
I didn’t hear anything else because I pushed through the restroom door and went straight to the sink. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to cry, throw up, or pick up the trash can and throw it at Knox’s head. I was trying to get myself under control and considering a plan that would involve all three of my options when the door swung open.
My ex-imaginary friend strolled inside, hands in her back pockets, gaze on me.
I could only imagine what she saw. A pathetic, lovesick, mid-thirties loser with horrible taste in men. That’s what I saw in the mirror every morning before I covered it up with mascara and lipstick.
“Naomi,” she said.
I cleared my throat, hoping to dissolve the lump that had taken up residence there. “That’s me,” I said brightly. It sounded like I was choking on thumbtacks, but at least I’d rearranged my face into a carefully blank expression.
“Wow. Game face. I like it. Good for you,” she said. “No wonder you’ve got his balls tied up in knots.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I pulled a paper towel free and ran it around the perfectly dry, clean counter.
“I’m Lina,” she said, closing the distance between us, her hand outstretched. “Angelina, but I don’t like the mouthful.”
I took the offered hand automatically and shook. “Nice to meet you,” I lied.
She laughed. “No, it isn’t. Not with that first impression. But I’m going to make up for that and buy you a drink.”
“No offense, Lina, but the last thing I want to do is sit down at my ex-boyfriend’s bar to have drinks with his new girlfriend.”
“None taken. But I’m not his new girlfriend. Matter of fact, I’m an ex-ier ex than you are. And we’re definitely not drinking here. We need to go someplace without Knox’s big, dumb ears.”
I really hoped she wasn’t messing with me.
“What do you say?” Lina asked, cocking her head. “Knox is having heart palpitations out there, and every other person is on their phone reporting to the grapevine what just happened. I say we give them all something to freak out over.”
“I can’t just walk out on a shift,” I said.
“Sure you can. We have stories to share. Commiserations to commiserate. Drinks to drink. He’s got that cute little helper out there. He’ll be fine. And you deserve a break after that shit show.”
I took a deep breath and debated. The idea of staying on shift here with Knox was one step below having my toenails ripped out one at a time during a gynecological exam.
“What color is your nail polish?” I asked.
“Burgundy Blood Bath.”
* * *
Sloane: Just heard that Knox’s new girlfriend showed up at the bar and they started having sex on the pool table. Are you okay????? Do you need shovels and tarps?
Me: I’ve been kidnapped by new girlfriend who is actual old ex-girlfriend. We’re daydrinking at Hellhound.
Sloane: Let me find some pants! Be there in fifteen!
* * *
Hellhound wasa biker bar fifteen minutes out of town heading in the direction of D.C. Outside, the parking lot was half full of motorcycles. The crap brown clapboard siding didn’t do anything to make the place look more welcoming.
Inside, the lights were dim, the pool tables were plentiful, and Rob Zombie music thudded from a jukebox in the corner. The bar was sticky, and I had to quash the urge to ask for a sponge and some Pine-Sol.
“What’ll it be?” the bartender asked. He wasn’t smiling, but he also wasn’t overly intimidating. He was the tall, burly type with gray hair and a beard. He wore a leather vest over a white long-sleeved tee. The sleeves were pushed up to his elbows to reveal tattoos down both arms.
They made me think of Knox. Which made me want alcohol.
“What’s your name, handsome?” Lina asked, settling on a stool.
“Joel.”
“Joel, I’ll have your best scotch. Make it a double,” she decided.
Damn it.I knew she’d order a cool drink.
“You got it. For you, darlin’?” He looked at me.
“Oh. Uh. I’ll have a white wine,” I said, feeling like the least interesting person in the bar.
He winked at me. “Comin’ right up.”
“He’s no Knox, but I dig the silver fox thing,” Lina mused.
My hum was noncommittal.
“Oh, come on. Even if Knox is a shithead—which he is—you can still appreciate the very fine exterior,” Lina insisted.
I wasn’t in the mood to appreciate anything about the Viking who’d trampled my heart.
Silver Fox Joel plopped our drinks in front of us and left again.
“What are we doing here?” I asked.
Lina lifted her glass. “Having drinks. Getting to know each other.”
“Why?”
“Because you didn’t see the look on Knox’s face right after I laid that closed-mouth kiss on him.”
Close-mouthed was good.
Wait.
No. It didn’t matter.