Page 13 of The Pact

Aaron’s smile widens but it doesn’t reach his eyes, the dim lighting of the only overhead street lamp creating a glare on the lenses of his glasses as he takes another step toward me. “This is why I’m here. I thought I could give you a ride home, get to know each other better.”

I swallow slowly. “Hm, thank you but I’ve already got a ride.”

He takes another step closer and I instinctively retreat, my back meeting the rough brick wall near the dumpster. “All right, then. If I can’t take you home, I’ll take a good night kiss as a thank you for helping you with that trash,” he says walking right into my space, so close that I can feel his body heat as his chest almost touches mine and I flatten myself further against the wall to avoid the contact.

When Aaron’s hands land on the wall either side of my head, caging me in, I immediately know that I’m in trouble. The heavy back door of the bar is closed and I’m not sure that anyone would hear me if I screamed. “I don’t want to kiss you, Aaron. I’m sorry. Please, go home.”

His gaze hardens as his face comes closer, his musty, rancid beer smelling breath invading my nostrils and making me feel a wave of revulsion at just the idea of the man getting any closer to me.

“Sure, I’ll go home. But only after I’ve got my kiss. Maybe even something more. You’ll see it’ll be fun. I bet you have a tight little pussy. Now don’t pretend you don’t want this too. You’ve been flirting with me all night. That’s why I waited for you to clock off.”

His face gets closer and I move mine to the side just in time to avoid his lips, causing his kiss to land on my ear rather than my mouth. I’ve never kissed anyone. I panic at the idea of my first kiss being with this guy, against my will. “Aaron, I don’t want to kiss you. I don’t want any of this. Please go,” I plead, but he smashes his body closer to mine, he’s hot and sweaty and he’s pressing me against the wall so hard that it hurts when the rough surface of the exposed bricks scrapes my arms.

“Don’t be such a cocktease, Ausra. I know you want it, why would you keep hovering around me and speaking to me then? Come on, you’ll see it’ll be fun.”

I feel tears coming in hot as I try to wriggle out of his grasp. “Serving your drinks is my job, I wasn’t flirting.”

“Bullshit!” He snarls. “You knew exactly what you were doing. You were trying to lure me in with your provocative shorts and pushing your chest out like a little temptress. You can’t leave me high and dry, bitch!”

The tears begin falling both because I’m terrified of what this guy will do to me and because what he just said cuts so deep. He sounded like my dad. Maybe my dad was right all along in wanting to hide me, to keep people away from me. Maybe this is all my fault. “No, please. Let me go,” I beg as one of his hands grabs my throat to pin me to the wall and the other one squeezes one of my breasts so painfully that I scream, closing my eyes. I can’t look at him, I don’t want to see what he’s about to do.

“Did you hear what the lady said? She said to let her go. And she said please. I’d do as she asked because I guarantee that you will let her go and I won’t be quite so nice when I ask, asshole.”

That voice. I reopen my eyes and I wouldn’t even need to see him to know that Kelley is standing behind Aaron in a combative stance, his fists drawn out. I see three more tall, strong looking figures appear behind Kelley. His three friends.

***

Kelley

THE NEW WAITRESS IS smoking hot in a girl next door kind of way. She has intense blue eyes and long, light blonde hair that I immediately think about touching. She has sexy curves and a great smile, sweet and innocent on the surface but I can see a definite fire burning in those baby blues and I bet that she’s a real firecracker behind closed doors.

I really want to ask her out but the bar is busy and she never got to stop at our table for more than a couple of minutes at a time. I don’t miss the way my brothers are looking at her either and I think that maybe, she could be someone we could play our game with. Obviously after I’ve had her to myself.

I keep looking at her and even go to the bar a few times to drop off my empty glass once I decide to switch to water because I’m today’s DD. Her eyes always follow my movements and I think that’s great, that I probably have a chance if I ask her out. The only annoying thing is the guy that seems to monopolize every free minute she has but from her body language around him, I know she’s just being polite to a customer. She doesn’t look interested at all, the light I saw in her eyes when she was talking to me and my friends is completely absent.

It’s getting late and when the last drink call is made, I decide to stick around to catch her when she leaves and ask her out.

None of my friends attempts to move and granted, I’m their ride home but they’re all looking in the direction from where the servers walk onto the veranda. “If any of you dipshits are thinking about asking blondie out, I call fucking dibs,” I drawl.

Ashton is the first to react. “Hey what the fuck? I was thinking about asking her out myself.”

“Me too,” Shep chimes in and I can see from the look in Bode’s eyes that he had the same thought.

“Well fuck, tough tits you douche bags. I just called dibs. If you’re nice to me, I might be persuaded to share if she proves to be fun.”

We argue, mocking and ribbing each other for a few minutes but the guys know that you don’t mess with dibs. It might be childish but it’s a system that’s worked for us since the fifth grade when Mom moved us to Cali from Texas. If one of us calls dibs, that’s it. It always kept us from fighting whether it was about a girl or about who would have the last chicken wing.

I get my car keys and walk back inside the bar, noticing that all the other punters are gone and I don’t see anyone aside from the owner, who’s emptying the till. “Hey, we’re closed,” he says locking the cash in one of those portable mini safes and walking toward me to show me the door.

“Yeah, I’m sorry. I just wanted to thank the new girl for the amazing service and leave her a tip,” I say placing two hundred dollar bills on the bar.

Joe tells me that actually he hasn’t seen her in a few minutes. “I sent her to help clean up and I have her tips here. I know she must be still here, she would have to walk by the bar to leave and no waitress would ever leave without her tips.”

I’ve known Joe for about ten years, my mom worked here while she was putting herself through nursing school and she used to bring me to work with her whenever she couldn’t afford a sitter or I couldn’t stay with one of the guys. I’ve done my homework in Joe’s office more times than I can count. “Do you mind if I go look for her?”

Joe shakes his head. “Knock yourself out, but just hurry up because it’s late and I’d like to go home before the sun comes out.”

I don’t see anyone out back. The kitchen is dark and there’s no one in the office or in the small locker room where the staff leaves their belongings. I see just one backpack and a denim jacket that I assume must belong to the girl I’m after.

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