Page 15 of Devil's Last Dance

“But is that all you wanted to be?” he asked.

“To be honest, I never knew what I wanted to be. At school, I never really had the smarts, and I got by and just graduated. School was hard enough and I wasn’t interested in going to college. Life kind of played out the way it did, and then I bounced from job to job, until my parents passed. Then I moved here, found this apartment, then my job, and life has just been on ‘play’ since.”

She flipped the pancakes, giving them a couple of minutes, and then grabbed two plates. She began to serve the pancakes, putting all four onto his plate, and then drizzling them with maple syrup.

She dolloped out more pancakes for herself. In her kitchen, she possessed a small table and she glanced behind her in time to see Antwone pulling out one of the chairs and taking a seat.

He looked so out of place, and she couldn’t help but smile as he sat down, and then using his fork, sliced down the stack of pancakes and took a bite.

When he looked toward her, she turned back to her pancakes and quickly flipped them over. It wouldn’t be long before hers were cooked, and she had enough batter left over to store in the fridge.

She grabbed some plastic wrap and placed it over the bowl, returning it to the fridge. By this time, all her pancakes were cooked, and she piled them onto a plate and drizzled out the last of the maple syrup. Sitting opposite Antwone, he was finishing his plate as she started hers.

“Well, what do you think?” she asked.

“I’ve always been a waffle kind of guy, but they were stunning.”

This made her laugh. “You’re insane, you know that, right?” she asked.

Chapter Four

One Week Later

Antwone knew he had to stop going to see Candice. Every time he went to see her, he promised himself it would be the last, but something kept pulling him back. He didn’t know what it was.

Each night, he’d sit at the bar, nurse a glass of water, even though he wanted only scotch, and he’d watch her work. Fridays leading into the weekend were the busiest, and he rarely got the chance to talk to her.

He had also come to find that he hated seeing random men flirting with her. Married or not, they flirted with her, asking for her phone number. There had been a few occasions when he’d been waiting for her that some of the men had also been waiting to see her after hours. He made sure they were gone before Candice came out. She had confided in him that she wasn’t interested in their attention. It had something to do with what her mother would say. He dealt with them swiftly.

Draven was driving him crazy with his incessant calling. He didn’t want to listen to his brother, nor did he plan to. He needed to be left alone.

He was The Boss, the man in charge, yet over the last couple of months, he had felt even more trapped. He shouldn’t feel trapped when he was the fucking top dog. None of them should be telling him what to do, and he was growing tired of the bullshit.

Arriving at the bar, he was surprised to see the light wasn’t lit, declaring them open. The main doors were closed, with a single chain keeping them out. Candice was sitting on the bottom step of the club and the moment she saw him, she stood.

“I wondered when you were going to arrive,” she said.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“The boss decided to close for the night. He randomly does it from year to year. Picks a night and closes the club.” She shrugged. “I got the call this afternoon, and seeing as I don’t have your number and for the past week and a half, you’ve been coming to the bar, I thought I’d stay here to let you know it’s closed.”

“Do you know how long it will be closed?” Antwone asked.

“A day, a couple days, a week, maybe.” She shrugged. “No one really knows. I get the call when he’s about to open. If I had your number, I would have called you.” She held her hands up. “Not that I’m attempting to pressure you or anything. Just to tell you the bar is closed, and there’s no point in coming down, especially if you’re coming to see me. As you can see, pointless.”

It wasn’t pointless. He happened to enjoy coming to see her. Glancing over at her, he saw her sweet smile. That is what drove him to the bar every night.

Antwone kept promising himself he wouldn’t go see her, and yet every night, he found himself at the bar.

Draven had already given him the third degree on the fact he wasn’t taking care of himself, but he didn’t give a shit. All he cared about was seeing Candice. Right now, being around her was easy.

“So, I don’t know if you want to leave right away, or if you’d like to go dancing.” She clenched her hands into fists and did a little shuffle from side to side.

“I don’t dance,” he said.

“Dinner?”

He looked at her and she held her hands up. “As friends. After all, I don’t want you to feel threatened by my pancake ability. I’d invite you back to my place, but there’s a risk you’ll get the wrong idea.”

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