Page 19 of Liam
Fuck.
He rose and took a seat beside her before gently pulling the woman onto his lap and holding her. They barely knew each other, but Nylah leaned into him like she’d known him for years. Like he was her safety net. She nestled her face into his shoulder, letting the silent tears fall. And his chest cracked wide open for her.
He made a vow right then and there that he would protect this woman with his life.
CHAPTER6
The smell of roasted beans in the warm coffee shop was so heavenly that it almost had Nylah stopping in her tracks. God, she hadn’t realized how deprived she’d been of good coffee these last few days until this moment.
Tables lined the middle of the café, with a few booths by the windows. The place wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small either. And it was busy.
Carefully, she weaved between the tables and customers, making her way to the front counter.
A couple of days had passed since the attack. She’d gotten a lot more sleep last night than the previous two and finally felt like she could function again. Although, part of that was likely due to Liam. The man had stayed for hours the day after the shooting. Massaging her knee. Making her food. And even though she hadn’t seen him yesterday, he’d messaged a lot.
She would have been embarrassed about the way she’d cried on his shoulder, except he made her feel the opposite. He made her fear and worry feel validated.
With a sigh, she stopped at the counter. A woman with light brown hair served on the floor while two blondes stood behind the counter, one with two green streaks in her hair.
When the lady with the streaks finished serving her customer, she stepped in front of Nylah. “Hi. I’m Courtney. What can I get for you?”
The woman had the most beautiful eyes—one green and the other a pale brown. She’d never met a person with different eye colors before, and she couldn’t look away.
“Hi, Courtney. I’m Nylah Walker. Liam told me you might have a job vacancy?”
The woman’s eyes lit up. “Nylah! You’re the woman who got Willow and Mila out during the shooting!”
She frowned. Had Liam told her that? “It was nothing.”
“It wasn’tnothing. Willow was terrified for Mila. Damn straight, I’ll hire you.”
“Are you sure? I only have experience working in a bar—”
“Then you’re experienced in the hard part—customer service. The coffee machine’s easy to learn. But if you find it difficult, I’ll do the coffee and you serve the drinks. Or we’ll get El or Vi to do the coffees.”
The other blonde woman stopped behind Courtney. “Hi, I’m Eleanor, and I’m a whiz at coffees, so that’s no problem.”
Nylah smiled, her chest decompressing. She hadn’t realized how worried she’d been about finding more consistent work until this very moment. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Courtney said. “I can offer you about thirty hours a week. How does that sound?”
“Amazing.”
“Great! If you like, I can give you a quick run-through today, and you can start this weekend. If that works for you? I heard you hurt your knee?”
“Oh, it’s fine now. Just a little bruised.” And fortunately, she wasn’t limping anymore.
“Glad to hear it. Well, pop on around the counter, and I’ll take you through everything.”
Courtney led her into the back room first.
“This is the kitchen where a lot of food is stocked and prepped. We also have an industrial fridge and freezer over here. We keep the back door dead-bolted and only take the trash out at the end of the day.”
Nylah’s lips twitched. That sounded like something her father or brothers would implement. “For safety?”
“Yep. You get attacked a couple of times through the back door, and suddenly your boyfriend wants to brick it up. I joke, but…not really.”
Nylah frowned. “You were attacked more than once?”
