Page 22 of Alpha & Omega

“You know me so well, but not this time. While I really do like Harley, I just found out he’s my competition. His restaurant is right next door to my bar, and it’s been siphoning customers, especially during the week. Instead of coming to my bar, they’re going to his and having dinner. On the weekends, they drag themselves over to my place since I close later, but between all the costs going up, I’m losing business, and his restaurant and bar aren’t helping.”

Tony shrugged. “Have you thought about opening earlier in the day? As someone who used to drink, a lot of bars open around lunchtime.”

“Those places also serve food. I don’t have the staff and can’t afford to hire more staff to do that, let alone find the time to build a kitchen, create a menu, and all the other shit that goes with running a restaurant. Opening at five in the evening is the best I can do right now.”

“I wish I had some sage advice for you, but I’m just a waiter, not a businessman. Can you like… talk to Harley about how you feel? Maybe you two can bring your business heads together and come up with a plan where you’re both successful.”

“I’m not sure it works that way. I don’t know… dating him or not doesn’t change anything regarding my business, but now I feel kind of weird.”

“But you like him?”

“Yeah, I really do. It’s been a long ass time since I found someone I connected with… if ever. Not like I do with Harley.”

Tony turned to face me, tucked a leg underneath him, and patted my shoulder. “If this budding relationship doesn’t impact your business, dating him or not, then you should go for it.”

I looked down at my water bottle, which I barely touched, picking at the label, and nodded. “Yeah, but… I’m terrified I’ll lose my bar. That’s how bad things are getting. If something does happen, it’ll put a strain on any potential relationship with him.”

“So what if it does? All relationships come with ‘what ifs.’ I know commitment scares you, but don’t let this get in the way of your happiness. Say, have you thought about doing another skateboarding competition?”

I nodded. “Yeah, but honestly, I’m not what I used to be. I’m a little rusty from working so much… Alotrusty.”

“So, take some time to practice. I mean, you won your first competition without even having a sponsor. That came later. You still won money. Eventually, you got so good, you got a sponsor and made enough to put down on your bar.”

“Maybe. It’ll take time, and I’ll be competing against skaters much younger than me.”

“So what if it does? You’re not going to go out of business immediately, are you?”

“No, I’m just heading in that direction if things don’t change soon. Thanks for talking me through this, Tony. I’ll need to think about this some more.”

“Anytime. I hope everything works out for you.” He smacked my shoulder. “So, do you have a picture of this Harley? Let’s see if he has what it takes for my Kingston.”

I snorted a laugh, pulled out my phone from my pocket, and turned it on. That was when I saw a message from Harley asking if everything was okay, but I hadn’t responded yet. I wanted to think about things first. After scrolling through my images since I’d saved the photo, I found it and showed it to him.

“Hot,” he said. “Wow, you’re dating asexydad.”

“That I am. Well, we only had one date.”

“And I’m sure there will be many more.”

I stood, and Tony followed me so he could walk me to the door. “I better run so I can get ready before the bar opens. So, next Monday again?”

“Sure, good to see you, King.”

We hugged again, and I headed back to Baltimore and my worries.

Kingston:That’swild.I’llhave to check it out.

When I texted Kingston back, he never responded. I tried to shrug off the worry, but after reading what he wrote several more times and him never responding, I had a bad vibe. I couldn’t pinpoint why.

The fact that his bar sat next to my restaurant made me excited, like we were destined to find each other or something. Or perhaps I read too many damn romances. Regardless, it was something else we had in common. Perhaps it was ridiculous, but it felt almost like we were meant to be. The date and the sex had been perfect. We got along amazingly, and we had so much in common, along with being so much alike. I wanted to get to know him more… somuch more.

I wasn’t due to go into the restaurant until five, and Alpha’s Rejects didn’t open until then, so I put in a quick call to my sous chef, Terri.

“What’s up, Harl?”

“Hey, I’m going to be running a bit late. I shouldn’t be longer than fifteen minutes or so.”

“I’ve got you.”

---