Chapter Thirty-two

Owen

The day has never gone slower. And the night? The night is dragging by so slowly I’m starting to wonder if I died in a freak accident on the way to work and went right to Hell. Charlie isn’t here, so there’s no way this is Heaven.

A group of guys are out celebrating a twenty-first birthday. They’ve spent a ton on beer and shots, and we’ve been watching them closely to know when to cut them off. It’s late and the crowd is starting to dwindle, but they’re still going strong.

This happens every now and then, and usually it doesn’t bother me. If we’re making money, I’ll stay open for another half hour or so. But tonight, tonight I want to go home, strip off my clothes, and feel Charlie’s body against mine.

Everything feels right in the world. Charlie is back, and this time she’s staying. I want to tell her I love her, but won’t. It’s too soon. She wants something serious this time around, and I do too. But freaking her out isn’t the way to go.

I turn on the lights, giving the birthday group a hint it’s time to leave. We start cleaning up the bar, and one of my employees pays attention to how the partygoers are getting home. We take drinking and driving seriously around here and do our best not to ever over-serve.

Once the group is finally gone, we clean up as fast as we can. I’m half-tempted to leave shit and come in tomorrow morning to get things neat and tidy, but Logan is opening with me and usually comes in early to do bookkeeping shit. I don’t feel like dealing with him getting all pissy over the state of the bar. Plus, you never know when an inspector will come in, and we have a perfect reputation to uphold.

Getaway profits enough for Logan and me to both step back into more of a manager role and be less hands-on, but hiring two full-time employees is an expensive endeavor and I’ve gotten quite used to my comfy lifestyle.

Finally, everything is spotless and ready for another day of the same thing tomorrow. I’m the last to leave and double-check the alarm system and locks. It’s after three-thirty and Charlie is no doubt fast asleep.

I take a quick shower to get the smell of the bar off me and then get into bed still naked with damp hair. Charlie rolls over, eyes fluttering open. She smiles when she sees me and she wiggles closer, resting her head on my chest. As much as I want to have sex again, I’m beat, and holding Charlie is the most comforting thing in the world. She might be in my arms, but it feels like she’s the one holding me.

*

“Owen?” Charlie’s lips press against mine.

“Are you waking me up for sex?” I blink my eyes open and pull her back into bed. She’s dressed, with her hair and makeup done.

“I wish. I’m running late, actually. But I wanted to say bye before I left.”

Wrapping her in my arms, I nuzzle my head into her neck. “Call in sick.”

“I can’t. I’m meeting another client today.”

“Another boring client?” I squeeze her ass and my cock jumps.

“This one doesn’t sound boring. It’s a young nurse. She got hired, went through orientation and then got fired once the employer found out she’s six months pregnant. They told her she was disabled. Can you believe that?”

“What an idiot. You can’t do that.”

“Exactly. I’m sure we’ll come to a settlement outside of court, but this is the kind of case that reminds me why I became a lawyer. To get justice and try to make the world better in a legal way. Remind assholes they can’t treat women that way.”

“You’re amazing, Charlie.”

“Thanks. I’m just doing my job.” She sits up and runs her hand through my hair. “Do you work again tomorrow?”

“Yeah, but during the day. I’ll be done by six at the latest.”

“Do you want to go out for dinner? I can make us a reservation at the one and only fancy place to eat downtown,” she says.

“Yeah. I’d like that.”

“Good, because I want to talk, which I know is something people say when things are bad, but it’s not. I just want to make sure we’re on the same page with everything.”

“If that page means my cock in your pussy, we are.”

“I’m serious,” she giggles. “I like this. I like us. But I’m still a little scared,” she admits. “I don’t want to get hurt again.”

“I will never hurt you, Charlie. Trust me.”

She puts her lips to mine. “I do.”

Then she leaves, needing to go to work. I fall back asleep until my alarm goes off. Then it’s up, eat breakfast, get dressed and head into work myself. Maybe I will look into hiring someone else. Or at least trying to get on more of a daytime schedule. I’m the boss and can move my shifts around as I want. Well, as long as it’s doable with everyone else.

I’m the boss—okay, one of the bosses—but I’m not an asshole. We have a good thing going here, and I like knowing that our employees generally enjoy working here.

Getaway is busy today, busy enough that even I wait on a few tables and run food out to the lunch crowd. Charlie called me while she was on her break, but I missed it. I call her back and get her voicemail. She must be with her client, and I know she’s going to win this case with ease.

There’s a lull around four o’clock, and I go into the office to eat my lunch and get off my feet for a few minutes. Wes, Scarlet, and the kids are at a table when I come back out, and I start to head over there to say hi.

Weston meets my eye and then looks at a guy in a navy blue suit who is sitting at the bar. He looks back at me in question, and I shake my head, not sure what he’s trying to ask.

 “What’s going on?” I ask, pulling a chair up to their table.

“That guy,” Weston starts. “Do you know him?”

I look back at the bar at the guy sitting there. The guy has an air about him that screams asshole. “Never seen him before in my life.”

“I think that’s Charlie’s ex,” Scarlet whispers. “Quinn and I kind of stalked her social media to get clues on how to push you two back together.” She holds up her hand, silencing me before I can tell her that was borderline creepy. Though I did have Quinn do something similar. Call it a dirty move, but it made Charlie happy, didn’t it? “Quinn was able to recover or unlock or something—whatever—and we found one photo of Charlie with her ex. I think that’s him.”

“What’s he doing here?” I ask though I’m sure I know. He’s here to try and win Charlie back. Too late, asshole. “And it’ll be easy to figure out if it’s him or not. Her ex’s name is Todd.”

“We had Logan ask for his name, and he told him it was Dan.” Scarlet shakes her head. “Can’t you go card him or something?”

“Not unless he orders alcohol.”

She looks at Wes. “Pretend you’re investigating him or something then.”

“I can’t do that.”

She bites her lip and hands Violet to Wes. “Don’t arrest me, babe.”

“What are you going to do?” Wes asks, cradling the sleeping baby.

“I’m going to find out that guy’s name.” She pulls her dress down, exposing enough cleavage to make me feel like I need to look away. Then she fluffs her hair and saunters over to the bar, sliding up next to the Mystery Man.

In under a minute, she has him buying her a drink. I watch, impressed, as she goes on to spill a bit down her breasts. Mystery Man reaches over to give her a stack of napkins and makes a move to wipe the alcohol off her chest. Wes starts to get up.

“She knows what she’s doing,” I assure him and he sits back down, eyes narrowed. Another minute passes and Scarlet catches my eye, and motions for me to join her in the back. Pretending to go to the bathroom, she slips into the office.

“I forgot how much fun that was.” She smiles and takes a sip of her drink. “I mean wrong. How morally wrong that was.”

“You just talked to him for less than five minutes. What’s wrong with that?”

She cocks an eyebrow and holds up a wallet.

“You picked his pocket? Damn. I’m impressed, Scarlet.”

She bats her eyes. “Thank you.”

I take the wallet from her and look at the guy’s ID. Yep. This asshole is Todd.

“What are you going to do?” She takes the wallet back. “Kick him out? Beat him up?”

“I want to, trust me.” And I would have in the past. I’ve gotten into my fair share of fights over the years. But I want to prove to Charlie that I’ve changed. I’m not that guy anymore. “But instead, I’m going to talk to him.” I look at the wallet. “You’re giving that back, right?”

She purses her lips. “Yes. Though if that is Charlie’s ex, he’s exactly the kind of guy who needs to be taught a lesson.”

“Easy there, Lucifer. Leave the punishing to the law.”

She lets out a sigh. “That’s so boring.”

“It is.” She goes back to the bar, telling Todd she saw his wallet tumble out of his pocket. He checks it right away for any missing cash, and seeing that there isn’t any, he offers to buy Scarlet another drink. She turns him down and goes back to the table with Weston and the kids, leaving Todd sitting there dumbfounded.

No wonder she liked hustling so much. It comes naturally for her.

I go back around the bar, fill a few drink orders, and put in an order for sweet potato fries.

“You passing through town?” I ask Todd.

“Do I look that out of place?” he chuckles.

“You do.”

“I’m trying to locate a friend.”

“Who are you trying to find? I know most people in this town since they tend to pass through here too.”

He looks me up and down. “You wouldn’t know her.”

I arch my eyebrows. “You’d be surprised who I know. So this old friend…you two lost touch and you don’t have their number anymore?”

“Something like that.”

It’s more like Charlie either blocked his number or won’t take his calls.

“Ever think they don’t want to be found?”

He laughs. “Trust me, she needs to be found.”

“Needs to be?” I plant my hands on the bar and narrow my eyes a bit. “You make it sound like she’s in some sort of trouble.”

“If she’s here, she is. She doesn’t belong here.”

It’s getting harder and harder to keep my cool. “Have you asked her what she wants? Maybe she likes it here.”

He shakes his head. “You know how women are. They might think they know what’s good for them, but really, they need someone to show them.”

What the fuck was Charlie thinking, getting engaged to a guy like this?

“I disagree. And I have a feeling this friend is much better off here than in New York with you.”

“H-how do you—who are you?”

I smile pleasantly just to piss him off. I extend my hand to shake. “Hi, I’m Owen Dawson. And Charlie and I are back together.”

Todd stands up so fast the bar stool falls to the ground behind him. Then he balls his fist and tries to punch me right in the face.