Page 309 of Savage Brothers MC: Tennessee Chapter

“What can I get you to drink?”

“Will you have a drink with me?”he asks, his eyes darkening so much that they cause chills to run over me and again…they’re not the good kind.

“Sorry, don’t drink while at work.”

“All business and no pleasure?”he asks and there goes those warning bells inside my head again.I can’t say why this particular man seems to trip every alarm I have, but he does.

“What can I get you to drink?”I ask again, ignoring his flirting.

“Beer, house tap is fine.”

I grab the one of the glasses we keep chilled, fill it up, sliding it over to him with a fake smile.

“What’s your name?”he asks.

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you’re beautiful and I want to know.I really don’t want to call you ma’am either.”

“That I’d appreciate,” I respond, trying to let my guard down a little—not much, but as manager, I’m supposed to be friendly with the patrons.The last thing I need is for someone to file a complaint against me with Harvey.I don’t think he’d listen to them, but with Harvey it’s always better to be safe rather than sorry.

“So, your name?”

“Where do you want these, Ellie?”Slush asks, giving the guy my name.I don’t know what I would have said to the man, but for some reason, I don’t like him having my name.Maybe I’ve had too much caffeine this morning and just being silly.

“Ellie, is that short for something?”the guy asks.If nothing else, I could definitely give him points for persistence.

“I’m just Ellie,” I shrug, more or less lying, but it doesn’t matter.“Slush help me get these boxes around the bar and I’ll unpack while you take over.”

“You got it.”

“Ellie is a pretty name, but you look kind of exotic.You deserve a name to match.Your parents did you a great injustice.”

“You don’t know my parents.I’m just glad I didn’t end up with a name like Andromeda.”

“They were into Greek mythology?”he asks and I blink.

“Um…no.Geeky, Sci-Fi television shows,” I respond.For some reason, he laughs.The laugh feels fake, much like everything about him.

“How about you go out with me tonight, Ellie?”

“Sorry, I don’t date customers,” I tell him at once.

“I haven’t taken a drink of my beer yet.We can throw it away, that way I wouldn’t be a customer.”

“It still wouldn’t work,” I tell him.“I’m kind of seeing someone.”

It feels weird to think of Liam like that.I mean it’s not wrong.I woke up curled into him this morning.We’re not having sex, but we’re spending a lot of time together.We’re falling into old habits, which to be honest, I missed more than I realized.I’m laughing more and so is he.It’s early and he doesn’t know…everything, but it feels like we’re finding our way back to each other.Some things haven’t changed, but maybe my outlook has.I shrug away the thoughts.I’ll think about all of it later.I can only take things day by day right now and that’s what Liam asked me to do.This is important and I can’t let my fears keep me from trying.

“I didn’t figure a pretty thing like you would be single.But, maybe I could show you I’m a better option.”

“Well, I can say that modesty is not your problem,” I laugh.

“If I don’t know my worth, who will?”he says with a grin, but I got a feeling he’s not really joking.Still, I guess he’s not wrong.His is however, arrogant as hell.He reeks of it.

“I’m guessing everyone will know, because you’re the type to tell them,” I respond, studying him closely for the first time and trying to figure out why he makes me feel so uneasy.

“You make that sound like a bad thing, Ellie.”

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