Page 15 of Promise Kept

I mean, my father is dead.

Was, is, were… whatever.

The thought of kissing Ellis and knowing how horribly taboo it is drives me nuts.

I have to distract myself really quick.

What better way to do it than with a drink!

I turn and lean against the bar.

“Bartender! I need a drinky-drink!”

“The fuck you do,” Ellis growls at me.

Oh, he’s big and mean and growling at me.

Is it wrong to confess to him that my panties might be getting a little bit wet right now?

God, grief is such a weird thing, isn’t it?

My father’s funeral and I end up drunk and now I’m at a bar and I want his best friend to drop down and lick between my legs.

Larissa! Did you really just think that?

Fuck yes, I did!

The bartender makes his way over to Ellis and me.

I’m right next to Ellis, like touching him.

Ellis reaches out. “Do not serve her. You hear me?”

“What the hell?” I cry out. “I’m a paying customer.”

“Larissa, you’re drunk. Really drunk. You’re going to end up sick. Or worse.”

“What? Dead? Like my father?”

Ellis curls his lip.

He’s annoyed with me now.

He looks at the bartender again. “Her father was buried earlier. He was a friend of mine. She’s taking it as expected. She does not need anything else to drink.”

“I wouldn’t have served her anyway,” the bartender says.

“Boo to you,” I say. I wave a middle finger at the bartender. “Asshole. You get no gratuity from me!”

“Okay, we’re good here,” Ellis says.

He slips between me and the bar and now the front of his body is facing the front of my body.

It takes all my effort to not throw my arms around his neck and jump up and see what he does.

Ellis touches my arms. “Hey. It’s all good, okay? This fucking sucks, kid.”

Kid? Did he just call me…

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