Page 30 of Old-Fashioned

I bit out, “He has plans with that woman at the end of the bar.”

She gasped, “Well, shit. Okay, my attraction radar is way fucking off. That asshole.”

She was right.

But what more could be said, I had been treated like I was trash by everyone in my life except for a handful of people.

So, what was one more person doing it going to matter?

It would seem a lot as I cried softly into Ryker’s neck for putting myself out there for the first time in my life.

Chapter 6

Abel

I stood there.

I fucking stood there as I watched Birdie walk away, as Isla joined her, and they both headed back to the kitchen.

I hung my head and wanted to bitch slap my own fucking self.

Fucking hell.

But I repeated my own words in my head.

And as I looked at the good-looking woman, who wasn’t anywhere near as gorgeous as Birdie… I just knew I couldn’t do it.

Not when my heart, my body, and apparently my soft dick ever since the woman sat down, wanted one person. And I knew that because when Birdie walked up to the bar, it had gotten hard as a fucking rock.

This time, I didn’t need to recite multiplications in my head, no, when I saw the hurt look, she didn’t cover quick enough, and that made it deflate like a popped balloon.

Just the thought of what I was willing to do, knowing where my feelings lie for Birdie, made my skin crawl. I wasn’t a cheater. And I never fucking would be.

Before I could talk to the woman and tell her I couldn’t do dick with her, she beat me to it, “I think I’ll find another man. Looks like you’re taken, even if you don’t want to admit it,” the woman who I didn’t even bother asking her name earlier said.

I didn’t say anything to that, I just said, “For your troubles, your drinks are on the house.”

And with that, I tapped Frank on the shoulder and headed to my office.

Behind the closed door, I sat down in my chair, rested my forearms on the desk and stared unseeing at the back of the door.

I knew I fucked up.

I fucked up huge.

But I just couldn’t get past knowing I wasn’t good enough for her.

Only… come Friday night, in just a little over twenty-four hours, I would be the one who realized… I was one dumb fuck.

***

As Frank and I moved behind the bar for something we did every two months, there wasn’t space to move as we mixed drinks, and poured shots.

Thankfully, we knew the fire marshal, and it also helped the entire fire department was here tonight, so we couldn’t get closed down for being over max capacity.

It was known, widely, that you didn’t put your hands on the girls who worked at Virgin Mary’s. That was because once everything changed for the better the moment Birdie started working here, I had hired three bouncers.

They had eyes on everything, and also, they walked the girls to their cars.