Page 5 of Right Place, Right Time (Second Chances)
I deliver my drinks, and as I walk by bald guy, he stops me with a hand on my arm. I gracefully remove myself from his hold and refrain from rolling my eyes as I turn to face him.
“Whatcha doing working at a place like this?” he slurs, and I notice black-haired guy isn’t at the table.
He better not have left him here.
“Where’s your friend?” I ask.
“You should be working at a place called Ten, not Five.” This time I do roll my eyes. It’s not the first time I’ve heard some variation of that line before, and it certainly won’t be the last.
“Can I get you some water?” I pick up the empty glasses from the table and set them on my tray.
“I’d like some of this,” he says, and before I realize what’s happening, he grabs my ass and squeezes.
Stunned, I twist away from his touch. The tray I’m holding crashes to the floor with my choppy movement, and the glasses shatter on the hardwood floor. Nearby patrons shriek in shock and surprise. I’m about to lay into the guy about keeping his hands to himself when I’m gently pushed back and a pair of wide, leather-clad shoulders are suddenly between me and the drunk patron.
“Put your fucking hands on her again, and I’ll break them,” Jay growls.
This issonot good.
“Hey, now, let’s calm down here.” I peek out from behind Jay to look for the owner of the nervous-sounding voice, and see black-haired guy has returned to the table.Nice timing, jerk.
“Yourfriend got handsy withmyfriend. Don’t you tellmeto calm down.” Jay’s voice is deadly calm, and I can just imagine the look he’s giving the two men because black-haired guy’s eyes widen as he takes a step back.
“We were just leaving,” he mutters. “Can we get our check?” he asks me, not taking his eyes off Jay. Smart man.
“Sure,” I tell him, reaching into my apron for the check.
“Everything okay over here?” Ted asks, finally making an appearance.
“It’s fine,” I hand the guy his check, and Ted says he’ll cash him out. I thank him and put my hand on Jay’s arm, tugging on it to get him to stop glaring and step away from the dumbass duo. On the third tug, he finally looks down at me, and it’s as if he’s seeing me for the first time. As if he hadn’t even realized where he was until this moment. He looks almost as vulnerable now as he had when he was sitting alone at his table.
“I think you need to go,” I tell him. The vulnerability is immediately replaced by a steely resolve as he nods and walks away, stopping by the table to leave some cash before he walks out the front door.
“Who was that?” Laurie asks in awe, walking over and standing beside me as I watch Jay leave.
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
And it’s true…I’m not sure I know who Jay is anymore. Or if I ever did.
