Liam
“Call,” Drew said as he tossed his chips into the center of the table. I’d become a regular at the guys’ weekly poker game. This week, the game was at Drew and Alex’s place, which doubled as wedding central. Nothing like playing poker surrounded by Jordan almonds and tulle.
David laid his hand down on the table. “Read ’em and weep.”
Groans sounded from around the table and we tossed our cards down in defeat.
The door opened and Alex came in, her arms filled with bags of more wedding stuff.
“Hey, Red,” Drew called over his shoulder.
“Hello, boys.”
The rest of us nodded in greeting while examining our cards.
Alex came up behind Drew, resting her arm on the back of his chair and studied his hand. “He needs two.” She plucked two cards from his hand and slid them over to David.
“Hey,” Drew whined.
“Trust me.”
He didn’t put up a fight, just took the cards his brother dealt.
Alex turned her attention to me. “Hey, Liam. I feel like I haven’t seen you in weeks. How’s the bar doing?”
“Good. Crazy, but good.”
“Floyd still giving you a hard time?”
I shook my head. “Nah, the new waitress is a good distraction. Keeps him off my back.”
I caught movement out of the corner of my eyes and looked up as Drew made a slashing sign across his throat.
“Oh, you hired someone to replace Bridget?”
I looked over at Drew, who shook his head, his eyes wide in an attempt to warn me from heading down this road.
“Uh…well…” I stammered and my eyes darted between Alex and Drew.
She frowned at Drew, who looked up at her with a smile plastered across his face.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I said. “Bridget can never be replaced, but I got someone to cover while she’s out.”
“Good. I know I’ve been M-I-A the past few weeks, but I promise I’ll be there for trivia next week.”
“No!” Drew and I both shouted at the same time. Alex startled at our shared outburst.
“I mean, don’t worry about it, Alex. You’ve been swamped with the wedding. You should take some time for yourself.”
“Yeah, Red. Like maybe a spa day or something,” Drew suggested.
“Okay,” she said, dragging out the word while her eyes volleyed between us. Alex was far from stupid and we weren’t exactly playing it cool, but I prayed she’d let it go. We needed to come up with a plan to ease her into the idea of Gwen working with me.
She furrowed her brow, muttering, “Freaks,” over her shoulder as she headed into the bedroom.
I sighed and shook my head. How did I get dragged into their drama? Last time I checked, I wasn’t the one who fucked Gwen. Not that I hadn’t thought about it. She strutted around the bar in skin tight jeans and low cut shirts. She was hot, but it was superficial. Who could tell what she really looked like under all that make up and fake hair?
David leaned across the table toward Drew. “What the hell was that about?”
He sighed and nodded to me. “Guess who dipshit here hired as the new waitress?”
David frowned. “Who?”
“Gwen Stevens.”
“Bitchface?” Sean asked, his eyes wide with shock as he turned to face me. “You hired Bitchface to work at The Den?”
“No, your girlfriend hired her,” I said, my answer curt as I faced him.
He winced. “Son of a bitch. She told me she was helping someone get back on her feet, but she didn’t tell me it was Gwen.”
“Well…” Drew shrugged. “She wasn’t around when all that happened, so she didn’t know.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Neither did I and now I’m stuck.”
“Stuck? What do you mean you’re stuck? I thought you were getting rid of her.”
“I can’t just fire her because she slept with you. Finding a waitress you haven’t slept with is going to be pretty difficult.”
“The man’s got a point,” David said, his gaze never leaving his cards.
“Fuck you all,” Drew said.
“Look, Alex is a reasonable woman and besides, what happened was a long time ago you guys are solid now. You’re getting married, for fuck’s sake. She’ll deal.”
Sean shook his head at me and clicked his tongue as he studied his cards. “You don’t know Alex, man. Trust me, you do not want to cross her.”
“I’m not planning on it, but Gwen stays, at least for now. I will talk to her and we will deal with Alex when the time comes.”
“Oh, I got to be there to see this,” Sean said.
“I just hope that when this is all over, I’ll still be able to walk down the aisle with my balls intact.” Drew shifted his cards and laid his hand face up on the table. “Straight flush.”
“Son of a bitch,” I said, tossing my lousy hand down on the table.
“Red’s instincts are rarely wrong, Liam,” he said. “Just keep that in mind.”
***
I walked into the bar just as Gwen flipped the sign to closed. I waved at Al and went straight to the register to pull the reports and receipts from the night.
Gwen hopped up on the bar and swung her legs around to face me. “So, what were you up to tonight? Hot date?”
“Yep, real hot,” I said over my shoulder.
“Couldn’t be that hot, it’s only…” She paused, looking down at her watch. “Eleven-thirty.”
I pushed the register closed and turned toward her. “What can I say? I’m a gentleman.”
She scoffed. “Gentleman, my ass. Weren’t you the guy who threw me over his shoulder the other night all caveman style and carried me up the stairs?”
Al raised an eyebrow at me. “It’s not what you think.”
“Whatever you say, boss,” Al said, his voice a little hard.
I frowned, watching him as he snuck a peek at Gwen, who was still perched on my bar adjusting her cleavage.
“Al,” I said. He didn’t respond, his stare locked on Gwen’s chest. “Al!” Finally, he looked up. “Will you go check the kegs?”
He nodded and gave Gwen a smile as he passed her on the way to the back. She smiled and wiggled her fingers at him. I leaned against the bar and watched her watch Al walk away.
She licked her lips and then turned her attention back to me. Not even a little bit embarrassed at being caught checking out her coworker’s ass.
“What?” she asked.
“That can’t happen.”
“What can’t happen?”
“You and Al.”
She smiled. Her features went soft for a moment before, twisting into a wicked smile. “Jealous?”
“Of you and Al?” I scoffed. “Not a chance, sweetheart.”
Gwen jumped down from the bar, closed the distance between us, and pressed her chest against mine. Her sweet scent surrounded me and I swallowed hard, feeling her nipples pebble against me through the thin fabric of her shirt.
That goddamn shirt. The minute she stepped out of the bathroom with that shirt cut up, revealing all that perfect tanned skin, I was granite. I’d never been that hard in my life and it pissed me off. This girl was high maintenance and way more trouble than she was worth, but that shirt….
“Why not?” she asked. “Don’t you like me, Liam?” She looked up at me, batting those beautiful eyes as she trapped her bottom lip between her teeth. All I could see were those lips, those soft pink lips. I wanted to tasted them, to…
Fuck. What am I doing?
I shook my head to break whatever witchy voodoo spell she’d put me under. Reaching for her hands, which had somehow begun to snake up my chest, I grabbed her wrists, pulled away, then took a step back to create some distance between us.
“Nice try, Princess, but that shit doesn’t work for me.” Her face fell as that blinding smile she’d worn a minute ago changed to disappointment.
“Then why do you care if I go out with Al?”
“I don’t care who you go out with. I just don’t need my employees fucking around at work.” I turned my back on her and went back to sorting the receipts.
Gwen narrowed her eyes. “You don’t think very highly of me, do you?”
“I don’t think you think very highly of yourself.”
“What or who I do is none of your business,” she said, the hurt was clear in her voice.
I kept my eyes on the receipts I was sorting and refused to meet her glare. It was the worst thing I could have done, ignore her. I could feel the heat as it came off her. She just grew more and more angry.
“It is my business, when it’s in my bar.”
“You’re a controlling prick, you know that?”
I turned and stepped right into her personal pace. “And you’re a spoiled brat. What’s your point?”
She glared up at me, her blue eyes swirling with fire. She was pretty cute when she got all worked up, like a Jack Russell spotting a squirrel through a window.
“Ugh!” She growled, spun around on her heel, and headed for the back.
“Where are you going?” I called behind her as she retreated down the hall.
“To hit something,” she said as she stomped down the hall toward the stairs.
“Don’t forget to rotate your hips and throw your weight behind it.”
“Fuck off, Liam,” she snarled. She shouldered past Al as he came out of the kitchen with a case of beer.
I laughed and shook my head returning to the receipts.
“What’s her problem?” Al asked.
“It would take decades and at least four clinical psychologists to figure that one out.”
Al raised his eyes brows and whistled, returning to his work without another word.
I heard the door to my loft slam. I smiled. I enjoyed teasing her a little too much.