Page 19 of Instant Bond

He yapped on and on about people we worked with, what he thought would happen at the brand event, his interests, and whatever else seemed to cross his mind. I gave the replies I thought he wanted to hear, within reason, but my mind was somewhere else completely.

My phone lit up with a message from Cameron. He was excited because Ty had been picked for the lead role in a play at his school, a simplified version of Peter Pan. It wouldn’t be for a few months, but apparently Ty was over the moon. I wondered if he would invite me to Ty’s school to watch the play with him.

“What is that goofy grin about?” Lucas wondered, scoffing at me. “And who are you texting?” He rudely snatched my phone out of my hand before I could react. “Cameron, huh?” He read the contact name at the top of the messages, wiggling his eyebrows. “Looks like you’re kind of smitten. Wait,” he realized, mouth dropping open as I yanked my phone back from him.“Cameron’s the name of that kid you brought into the salon the other day, right?”

“He’s not a kid,” I snapped. “And why does it matter?”

“It doesn’t,” he said quickly, smiling widely at me. His smile reminded me of a piranha. “I was just surprised, that’s all. Hey, is that a new watch?” He grabbed my wrist, turning it over to look at the face of the watch. I waited one second, then two, and he still hadn’t let my wrist go.

“No. I wear this watch all the time,” I said, pulling my hand away. I felt like I needed to disinfect my hands to rid myself of his touch. “Have I stayed long enough to garner your good will yet? Because I’m ready to go.”

“Yeah, that’s fine!” Surprisingly, he was willing to allow my escape. “Let’s walk out together.”

“But you just ordered a drink,” I pointed out. Was he a moron?

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, pulling out a bill and leaving it on the table. “I’m ready to go if you are.”

“You understand that when I say I’m going home, I mean I’m going home by myself, and you are free to go wherever you would like, provided that place is not my home.”

“Yep! Whatever you say.”

So we left. I got into my car, and he got into his. I drove home, and he didn’t accompany me. I felt gross and annoyed, but hopefully it meant he wouldn’t bug me as much anymore.

By the time I reread Cam’s message about Ty’s play and started responding to it, I’d already forgotten all about Lucas and his irritating antics.

CAM

WORK WAS HELL, but at least it was almost over. For today, anyway. Still, the impending end of my shift couldn’t save me from the customer currently harassing me. But an occasional harassment was kind of a given in a place like this.

My second job was the one I only worked once a week, but made more money than I made in nearly the whole week of shifts at the restaurant. That was probably because people came into a strip club already planning to drop plenty of cash on the dancers.

I was just a waiter, serving drinks, but the only waiters and waitresses that got hired here were young omegas. The customers were already horny watching the bodies on the stage, so hitting on us when we came around to serve them was common.

I always worked there on Friday evenings, because I had Ty signed up for a daycare thing during my whole shift. It was expensive, but I always made enough in tips to cover it. Plus, he loved it, and I would have felt awful pulling him out of the program. He got to eat snacks and watch a movie and make crafts with other kids. Getting hit on by creeps wasn’t that bad when I remembered it was for him.

“Is there anything else I can get you?” I asked. It was a dreaded question, because for most of them the answer was a definite yes, but what they wanted wasn’t something I was actually willing to serve to them.

“Maybe so,” the customer said, flashing his pearly whites at me as his hand snaked around me to pat my ass. Very common occurrence. It bugged the crap out of me, but I’d gotten pretty good at hiding my annoyance. I was shy with guys I actually liked, but these interactions didn’t feel real to me, so I didn’t feel embarrassed. Just repulsed.

“Another drink maybe?” I offered.

“Maybe next time,” he said, sitting up in his seat. “You can bring my check, cutie.”

Relieved he was just going to leave and didn’t want to chat with me anymore, I waited at the till for his check to print. As I waited, a text from Karter came through on my phone.

I’m in the parking lot, so just come out to my car when you’re done.

Fuck. Shit. Damn it. He was at the parking lot of the restaurant I worked at. If he’d told me in advance he’d wanted to pick me up or see me, I would have talked him out of it.

I’m working somewhere else today, so I won’t be there. Sorry.I put my phone away briefly to bring the customer his check, giving him a fake smile as I did so. I needed him to give me a good tip. And not the tip he wanted to give me, either. The second I left him, I pulled my phone back out to see Karter’s response.

Where are you working today? I’ll pick you up.

Frowning, I pursed my lips as I typed.I was just going to take the bus home like I always do.

But his response had my heart kind of melting.I want to see you before my flight tonight. I need to see you.

Squeezing my eyes closed for a second, I exhaled a deep sigh before sending him the address of the strip club. I wasn’t going to tell him what it was. I’d deal with that when he arrived.

---