Pete's was pretty quiet tonight, so Ashallia worked through her tasks pretty quickly and with few interruptions, albeit with continued stares from the man in the corner.
Kacey had come over and tried to order her around once, with a sly smirk on her face, but Josh had stepped in quickly, which had quickly wiped it off her tanned, sulky face.
Ash was sure Kacey would have loved to find a way to make her work life horrible, but neither Josh nor Pete were giving her a chance. She was grateful to them both.
Pete pulled her side a couple of hours before close, after Liam and Kacey, and their friends had left, "Hey kiddo, I've gotta head off. Charlie's in charge for close, but I'm only a phone call away if you ever need me, okay?"
She smiled warmly at him, "Thanks Pete, I appreciate it." He smiled back, then left through the kitchen. Only moments after she'd heard Pete's loud bike pulling away, the front door opened, and she immediately cringed.
A group of older men came in, they were semi-regulars, but far from the most pleasant of guests. She sighed, knowing this would be her table, and put on her nicest fake smile as she went over to greet them.
"Hey guys, welcome, where would you like to.." she trailed off as one of them talked right over her, "Well heyyy sweetheart, somewhere with a good view of that fine ass of yours will be perfect," he winked at her and laughed, his friends joining, and they went and sat themselves down at a table near the bar, talking so loudly and incessantly at each other that she wondered if any of them even heard what the others were saying.
She stood in place a moment, feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Feeling his eyes on her again, she glanced over at the man in the corner and found him still staring at her. If she thought he'd looked like he was glaring before, he looked downright pissed off now. She was glad Josh had taken his table.
Pulling her gaze away, she shivered, walking quickly towards the kitchen, where she nearly walked right into Josh. "Ash, careful!" he said, grabbing her shoulders. She started to apologise, but it was lost as one of the men began shouting, "Hey sweetcheeks, how about you bringing us some drinks, eh?"
Josh looked at her and pulled a face. He recognised the voice, as all the servers here did. And they dreaded it. "Well, so much for closing on time," he sighed, and followed her back out as she turned to attend to the table.
She took their drink order, forcing a smile through a few more vulgar comments, and took it over to Josh, who made them and placed them all on a tray for her to carry over. She'd only just placed the last glass in the table when she jumped, feeling a hand on her ass.
"S'alright sweetheart, it's quiet tonight, why don't ya sit here on my knee and keep us company, hmm?" the rough looking one to her left said. Her face paled and she shook her head, forcing another fake smile, "Sorry, they need me out back too," and left the table quickly, heading to the kitchen to hide until they needed something again.
The rest of the night went much the same, until finally, more than 40 minutes after closing, they decided to leave. Scary corner guy had left only 30 minutes before. Her and Josh both sighed in relief, and had just finished cleaning up when Charlie stuck his head through the door from the kitchen, "If you guys are done, head on home. It's been a long enough night."
They nodded, heading to their lockers, before leaving through the back. "You want a lift home, Ash?" Josh asked her. "Thanks, I'm good," she replied, smiling. He always offered, despite knowing she liked the walk in the quiet hours. He nodded, have her his trademark grin, and headed to his car, parked in the side street.
Ash turned the other way, down the alley that would lead around to the main street. Ash she neared the end, she stopped, as four figures moved into the alley around her. "Well hello again, sweetheart."
'Shit, no!' she thought. Josh had already driven off. She turned, thinking of running, only to find one had moved behind her, closing her in. "You can't run and hide in the kitchen this time, darlin'," one said, looking abused as he moved closer and ran the back of his fingers down her cheek.
She swallowed, trying not to panic, backing away from him slowly only to bump into one of the others, who wrapped a strong arm around her waist, his other hand clamping over her mouth when she tried to call for help, "Awwh, don't worry sweetheart, we'll take real good care of you," he laughed, as he lifted her sightly, dragging her towards a large, old, white sedan, ignoring her struggles.
Now her panic really set in, but as much as she tried to kick, scream, claw, and bite, she was held firm. The others just laughed more, one of them reaching to open the back of the car.She suddenly remembered something her Dad had told her, and pressed the heel of her workboot against his shin bone, and dragged it down hard, right along where the flesh was thinnest. He yelped and released her, grabbing at his leg. She almost fell, but pushed herself up and ran as hard as she could, while they were caught off guard.They were surprised enough that she managed to get a few metres from them, only to suddenly slam into what felt like a solid brick wall. It knocked the air out of her and she stumbled back, looking up, right into the eyes of the creepy guy from the corner of the bar, who'd spent the night staring at her.And she froze. The expression on his face looked absolutely murderous. The four sleazebags seemed to think so too, she heard them
The moment he saw her step out from the kitchen, he knew she was responsible for this nightmarish sensation he'd been feeling since he woke up.It was coming from her, and drawing him to her. At this distance, it was taking all too much effort from him to resist its powerful pull, and that kept him constantly on edge.What kind of being was she, that she could cause this strong an effect on one like him? On a human, he could understand, they likely wouldn't even sense what was happening. But he was far from human, and despite her appearing so innocent and unaware, it seemed the same was true of her.Both furious and intrigued, he sat silently, watching her closely all evening. He noticed her face when she saw the people at the other table, noticed the other server making sure they didn't bother her, noticed those sleazebags hitting on her - which only made him angrier, both at them, and that whatever she was doing made him feel somehow protective of her.
An hour had gone by before she moved again, getting up to wash her face and drink some water, her hands still shaking as she took off her work clothes and left them on the floor. She grabbed one of her Dad's old band tees from her drawers, pulled it on, and climbed into her bed, exhausted.She hadn't bothered setting an alarm, and slept, mostly restlessly, until late morning. Rubbing at her eyes and yawning, she reached for her phone. There were a bunch of new notifications from her senior year's group chat, and a message from Josh, checking she got home okay.She paled, thinking of the night before. She almost hadn't, but she didn't want to with worry him with it, 'Yep, all good. Thanks Josh! :)' she wrote back, before sighing and sitting up. Hearing a lot of noise downstairs, she grimaced. Obviously, her step dad, Kevin, was home today. This would be awkward.Getting up and pulling some leggings on, she went to the bathroom, and then downstairs, he
Lukas turned off the highway at Violet Cove, refuelling his bike at the first service station he found, near the edge of town, before continuing on to the address his brother had given him.As he pulled in, one of the garage doors lifted, and he noticed that their other brother was already here. He smiled, it would be good to have the three of them together again, even if only for a week or so.The roller door closed again as he parked his bike and dismounted, heading for the door he assumed led into the house itself. It opened before he got there, and his older brother filled the frame, leaning against it with a grin."Little brother," he said, happy to see him. Lukas walked over to him, grabbing his outstretched hand and pulling him into a casual hug. "Mikael," he said, with a grin, "it's been far too long, big brother." Mikael nodded, more solemnly, "Too long indeed," and turned to head inside.Lukas followed, dropping his backp
Jason stormed out of the room, heading upstairs. He needed to.. he didn't know what he needed, other than space. He didn't want to even think about that possibly, let alone talk about it. It wasn't right, it couldn't be. And yet, it made sense. It would explain this feeling that had been pulling at every fibre of his being, and why it wouldn't go away. And why she seemed completely unaware of anything unnatural, why she didn't fight back when..He stopped that trail of thought as he felt his inner rage swelling to dangerous levels. Undressing, he turned the shower on hot, stepping in and letting the steaming hot water distract him, calming him. He took his time, scrubbing every inch of his toned, muscular body with the subtly scented shower gel.He stepped out in a better frame of mind, cooler and in control again. Even though that feeling tugged at him still. He sighed, drying off and wrapping the towel around his waist and reaching for his shaving kit. Taking his tim
It wasn't hard to find her, he just followed where the feeling was pulling him to. It got stronger and stronger as he walked, until he arrived at a large, yet dishevelled looking house, in a somewhat nicer part of town. It looked like it had been nice, once.Standing across the street, it all looked quiet. He melted into the shadows and moved silently through them, crossing the street, into the yard, and doing a full lap of the house to be sure. He could sense her, upstairs. After watching her window for a few minutes, he frowned. There was no light, no movement, and it was still fairly early. Was she asleep already? His eyes followed the shadow of a large tree that cast over the house and across her window. He could use that, and did, climbing up unseen. Peering inside, he could see most of her room, and her, asleep on her bed. He pulled out one of his small daggers, slipping it under the window and lifting it gently. It was unlocked and began sliding o
"What the hell do you mean, 'what do I need to bring'?!" she asked, her voice raised and her tone angry. She wasn't about to go anywhere with him. For one, she never seen him in her life before last night, and for another, he was absolutely terrifying. 'Except when he held me, he felt so.. perfect,' she thought, then internally scolded herself for even thinking it. Was she completely insane? He'd clearly been ready to murder someone just a moment ago. 'Though only because they'd hurt me,' her clearly malfunctioning brain added, making her wonder if she did actually need to go and get checked out by a doctor. He rubbed his forehead, looking frustrated, "My brother can check you over," he said, as though he could read her mind, "I just want to make sure you're okay." It looked like it was taking a lot of effort for him just to keep his voice calm, the guy clearly had a short temper.Shaking her head, and immediately regretting it, she winced, "I'm fine, I'
Lukas had smiled as she was placed on the seat next to him, looking absolutely terrified. He kept quiet and stayed still, trying not to add to her fear. It was hard though, he could sense that she was injured, and the instinct to heal her was difficult to resist. Yet he knew they'd all have to tread carefully with this one, none of them wanted to spook her too much. Or too much more, at least. He couldn't help but laugh softly as she recoiled from Jason, right towards him. He had reached in and lifted her out, helping her to stand, which meant he could get a better look at her injury. She tried to pull away, which was something that always annoyed him. These humans never seemed to understand that he only wanted to help.Holding her firmly, he studied her face and eyes. No wonder Jason had asked them to bring the car, she was clearly concussed, and her cheekbone likely fractured. He nodded at his brothers, letting them know it was bad enough to require hi