Page 15 of Invisible String
“The right person hasn’t come to warm the seat next to me.” It sounds flirty, but it’s not toward him, although he takes it that way.
He winks. “Glad to come to your service.”
Service?
Over where Max is sitting, the woman is still running her motor mouth, but Max’s piercing gaze is on me. By the tightness in his sharp jaw, it seems as if he’s pissed by the company beside me. But that would be crazy for him to be jealous.
“Can I buy you a drink, darling?” He leans in closer, and his spicy cologne lingers in the air.
“I have a drink, thank you,” I say, sipping my tea.
“How about a beer, or anything you’d like?”
“No, I’m good. Besides, I don’t take drinks from strangers.” The little desperate fucker licks his lips.
“Mason. My name is Mason.”
“Well, Mason, you’re cute and all, but I have a drink.”
“How about dinner, babe, then we can get to know one another?” Mason’s bluish eyes trace the shape of my body.
“Take the hint, dickhead. She wants nothing to do with you. Fuck off,” a gruff voice thunders like a night sky beside me. Max’s gaze could slice a brick of ice.
Mason’s eyes widen when he sees Max. Hell, even I’d flinch if he stared me down. Mason turns to me.
“Don’t look at her. She said no.”
Mason nods, then runs off.
The woman is still sitting at the table, waiting.
“Thank you.”
Max simply nods.
The waitress drops the plate in front of me, and once she’s out of sight, I look at Max. “Sit.” It comes out as a demand, pointing at the stool where Mason had sat.
He does.
“Will your girl get pissed?” The words “your girl” slide out like a bad case of diarrhea.
“Nah, I don’t know who she is. She just came to sit at my table.”
I want to sigh in relief, and it’s wickedly crazy—no, batshit crazy, that I care. This man imprinted on my soul at such a young age, and he’s clueless.
“Oh.” Eating my burger when he’s not eating would be awkward. He only has a drink. “Well, you could have just walked away. And where’s your food?”
“Not hungry, just came to get a drink.” He sounds robotic.
Ignoring him, I slice my burger in half and set it on a napkin. Then, slide it to him.
“I said I’m not hungry.”
“I don’t want to eat alone. Since the burger is huge, we might as well split it.”
“Nah, I’m not eating your food.”
“I don’t eat that much, Max. Help a girl out.”
