Page 18 of Sunflower Persona
I only shrug, but Karis’s gaze narrows in on me.
“What’s with the resting murder face, anyway?”
The door opens again, and the rest of my friends’ bickering becomes background noise.
Come on, Yellow.
She doesn’t show—not that she should. Hell, I don’t even want her to. What would I do then? Talk to her? Yeah, right. Girls her age don’t come downtown to make small talk with the washed-up bartender. They come out to get fucked or fucked up. The thought of Kori doing either makes me grind my teeth.
Karis is staring at me with raised brows and an all-too-knowing smirk when I turn my focus back to my friends.
“Expecting someone?” she asks.
“No,” I grind out.
“Well, it certainly looked like you were.”
“We’re here, and Morgan said he wasn’t coming out, so I don’t know who it could be. He doesn’t know anyone else,” Nathan chimes in, his expression mirroring Karis’s.
I cross my arms and wait. If I don’t engage, they will get bored and move on.
“It’s clearly someone. Maybe a certain lost duckling?” she muses.
“No,” I growl with too much vehemence and immediately curse myself for taking her bait.
“Holy shit. She’s right.” Nathan’s smile widens to a full-on shit-eating grin. “She’s hot, man. I can see why you’re into her.”
My hands clench into fists against my biceps.
“I’m not into her. She’s practically still a kid.”
“You know as well as I do that Yellow isn’t a kid.”
Despite my hobby, I’m not a violent man, but hearing that word from his mouth has me questioning that.
“Her name is Kori,” I spit.
“Fine. Kori isn’t a kid.” He must sense how close to the edge I am because he concedes without pushing me further.
“She is compared to me.”
“By that logic, Morgan and I are kids compared to you.”
“That’s different,” I huff.
“How?”
“Just is.”
“I call bullshit, man.”
“Seconded,” Karis pipes in.
“Whatever. I don’t have time for this right now.”
I don’t wait around for their responses as I stomp over to a group of actual paying customers vying for my attention.
Kid or not, Kori is way too young for me. Sure, she doesn’t act like a kid, and she sure as hell doesn’t look like one. I can admit that she’s attractive, but that’s as far as I’m willing to bend. None of it matters because I’ll never be good enough for her, anyway. I’ll never be good enough for anyone.
