Page 1 of Her Midnight Stalker

1

QUINN

“What’re you looking at, asshole?” Or at least that’s what I assume the guy said. He’s so drunk his voice is slurring all over the place.

I roll my eyes. One quiet night is too much to ask for at a place like this. This bar is not so clean that people feel the need to be on their best behavior but not so rough and tumble that they’re afraid to raise their voices. We’re right in the sweet spot to attract idiots looking for a fight.

I finish drying off the glass I just cleaned. I’ll step in eventually, but I have larger priorities than whatever this is about to be. No point in stepping in if they just plan on yelling at each other.

“You… talking-” The other guy pauses to let out a room-shaking burp. “Me?”

“You’re the only asshole here, aren’t you?” The first guy - let’s call him Lenny, he seems like a Lenny. Lenny slams down the last of his beer and stares daggers at the other man.

“Oh, I’ll show you an asshole!” Norm - I’ve decided his name is Norm - gets up from his seat. Lenny does the same.

I watch the beginning of this altercation out of the side of my eye. I’ve been a bartender too long. A fight between two drunk losers will start a lot sooner and get much more violent if they think a pretty lady like me is watching. Trust me, nothing these two could ever do will impress me.

The two men get in each other’s faces. Both their voices are slurring a lot. I have no idea what they’re arguing about, but I guarantee it’s pointless.

Suddenly, Lenny pushes Norm into a table. Norm steadies himself, and I see a telltale sign of a shifter fight about to start. Claws start to jut out from his fingertips and patches of fur spring up along his arm. I also spot Lenny’s eyes starting to turn a piercing yellow.

Now is the time to step in. In a single fluid movement, I vault over the bar. My feet hit the floor and I swiftly place myself between the two shifters.

“Not in my bar!” I grab Norm’s arm and twist it against the joint.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Stop!” Norm’s shifter claws and hair return into his body.

Lenny starts to laugh. I turn and use my other hand to slap Lenny in the face. His yellow eyes quickly return human.

“Hey! That hurt,” Lenny complains.

“I don’t care.” I tighten my grip on Norm and grab Lenny in the same place. “You two assholes are banned.”

I drag the two of them to the door. With a strong kick, I open the doors wide and toss the drunk idiots out. They both crash face-first into the dirt. Hopefully, that’ll sober them up.

Lenny and Norm’s respective friends all pour out of the bar. They help their friends up to their feet.

“Sorry, ma’am,” one of them speaks up. “We’ll get them home safe.”

I just roll my eyes and step back inside, making sure the door slams behind me. I’m not really concerned about what happens to Lenny and Norm after they leave my bar. I get dozens of shifters and regular humans just like them a week. I’ve never once cared if they made it home safe.

My eyes scan the place as I walk back in. Everything has returned to normal pretty quickly. Maybe it returned a little too much to normal.

I spot one of our waitresses, Claire, in a bad spot. A group of boys from the local college are drunkenly hooting and hollering at her. “Hey, baby!” “Come on, don’t ignore us.” “I’ll give you a tip-” are just a few of the phrases I hear in the chorus of gross debauchery.

Usually, there is a moment of peace between incidents here. Did these assholes not see me swiftly take care of two shifters? Me, a regular human with no magic or anything? I’ll take care of these boys as easily as I brush my teeth.

“Hello, gentleman,” I say as I approach. All their heads turn to me and smile, They think they found a new woman to harass. “Middlebury College, right? I bet your parents are so proud.”

All their smiles drop. Middlebury, Vermont is not known for a lot of things, and its college certainly isn’t one of them. Those words cut deep. Not that I’m really one to talk. I dropped out my first semester but they don’t need to know that.

“Let me guess,” I continue. “Business major, business major, business major, business-”

“Hey, lady.” One of them stands up. Let’s call him Chad, he seems like a Chad. “You have to be nice to us. We’re customers.”

“The only thing I have to do is breathe. And that’s getting a little difficult with the stench coming from all of you.”

“I-I-I- Fuck you. You’re not even that hot. Come on, boys.” Chad leads all his friends, who’re also probably named Chad, out of the bar. They can hide their shame all they want, we all know who just won.

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