Page 10 of Corrupting Ivy

My gaze collided with his hard, chestnut-colored eyes and thick lashes. I shook my head as dread came over me, realizing I had touched him. “I-I’m sorry.”

I jerked my hand from his and backed away. My heel hit the box, kicking it backward right into the place my next footfall should have been, causing me to lose balance and go plummeting toward the ground.

He reached out and gripped me hard around my upper arm, preventing my ass from landing on the cement floor. His liquor sloshed around his fingers as he pulled me back to a standing position.

Releasing me, he transferred the glass to his other hand, then sucked the liquor from his thumb, captivating me as though a spell bewitched me. I bit my lip as I watched him, my chest heaving with exhilaration.

What is wrong with me?

My cheeks heated with a fire of embarrassment. “Um… I uh.” I backed away, this time watching my step, and spun on my heel, desperately wanting to leave this room, but dropped my shoulders as my hand touched the door and hung my head with a groan. I turned back to find him examining me, not moving from the spot I left him in. “Do you know where the Hellbender IPA is?”

“The Fed asked for that?”

I cocked my head, trying to understand how he could have possibly known who requested it. “Yeah, how did you—”

“It’s a brew from DC. You won’t find it here.”

I cleared my throat, irritated that Reynolds asked for something that was only available in DC. “Thanks.” I looked him up and down one last time, biting my lip, then slapped the door open with the butt of my palm. For some reason, my body lit on fire and stayed to a scorching temperature with desire and aggravation. I filled the other two orders on tap and brought it to the FBI agents.

“Sorry, Agent Reynolds. We don’t carry that brew. Can I get you something else?” I said as I placed the frosty drinks in front of Mons and Aguilar, who couldn’t seem to keep their eyes off each other.

It was strange, Reynolds didn’t seem to be bothered or even notice their affection for each other.

“I’ll have what they are having. Thank you.”

I walked back to the bar, more than perturbed at having to make another lap to his table, then poured his drink and gave it to him. I don’t know why it bothered me so much. He wasn’t the first one to ask for something we didn’t have, and he wouldn’t be the last. Maybe it was misplaced annoyance.

“Anything else I can get y’all?”

They shook their heads, all three saying no simultaneously.

“Let me know if you need anything.” I smiled as I walked back to help Remy with the customers at the bar.

“You know he’s lying on your bed in the back, right?”

Remy peered at me with a grin on her face. Her chest puffed just a little enough to take notice. It told me how ridiculous a question that was. “Nothing goes on in this bar that I don’t know about, Ivy.”

I blinked rapidly. “Noted.”

The night dragged on as I thought about the man in the back, with the silver streaks in his hair and his tight abs glistening in the humidity. I touched him, and it set my body on fire with a desire I hadn’t felt in quite some time.

Was it because it had been a while, or because he was just that damned desirable?

That was the one thing about running away from your worst nightmare. It didn’t give you time to think about anything other than your own survival.

I bagged up the trash and bottles sitting on the tables, then tied the knot on the red strings and set it next to the bar. There was at least another bag full of trash sitting around.

The last patron, John, walked out the door, sloshed to high hell a little after two in the morning. His neighbor met him outside to take him home. Remy had taken off earlier with a smoldering man, and I haven’t seen her since. Not that I expected to, anyway.

It was just like her, leaving the bar for me to close while she was off gallivanting around with her new beau.

I shut the music off, locked the front door, and grabbed the two trash bags before walking through the stockroom. I moved quietly so as not to wake the man in the back, only to find the bed empty. A slight disappointment wracked my body that I quickly brushed aside as I opened the back door, leading to the large industrial-sized trash can.

A shiver raced up my spine as I felt a pair of eyes crawl across my body. Ever since my jaunt at the pond, I’ve felt someone watching me. Even late at night, when my blinds are closed, high on the second floor, I could feel it. As if the person watching me had x-ray vision and it didn’t matter how many layers of brick walls I placed between us, they could always see me.

I threw the black heavy lid over the back of the metal canister, just as something lunged at me, causing a sharp scream to escape from my throat. Trash bags flew in the air as I fell on my ass, then came crashing back to the earth, landing in my lap. Asphalt dug into my palms and bruised my butt cheek. The fat gray and black trash panda screeched at me as he clambered the rest of the way out, then ran down the alleyway. He was just as frightened as I was when I interrupted his late-night meal.

“Stupid animals.”

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