“Another Bud Light, Cassie!” Jo called. Since I had no experience mixing drinks, she’d put me on beer duty while she did the heavy lifting. Moving faster now that I was learning where things were, I grabbed a bottle from the cooler and slid it into the bottle opener nailed to the side of the bar. With the flick of my wrist the top popped off. I was still struggling not to cheer and clap for myself every time I accomplished the smallest thing.
“Here you go!” I said, setting it in front of her while she shoveled ice into glasses.
The door swung open again, and I groaned when I saw more bodies pushing in. We were already so busy. There was no way Jo could keep up on her own and I felt guilty for lying to her and putting her in this position. Money waved at us while everyone vied for our attention, each desperate to be the next served.
“I can make drinks, too, Jo.”
“You sure?”
“Yes. I’ve got this.” Remembering I had an MBA before I got sidetracked, I knew I could figure this out.
“Who’s next?” I shouted, and the money flapped harder.
“Spotted Cow!” A woman called, and I laughed. My first official order and I was back to tapping beer.
Once I’d filled it and rang up her money, I turned around to the next person who’d just sat down. A camouflage baseball cap was tipped over his face, and he stared at the bar, elbows resting on the jagged wood.
“What do you need?”
Slowly his head rose, and a pair of icy blue eyes appeared underneath the brim of his cap. When they clapped onto mine, the intensity inside them forced me to step back, and I bumped the rack of glasses behind me, sending one to the floor. With a gasp I turned and watched it bounce across the floor, exhaling a deep breath when it rolled to a stop unbroken. Snatching it up off the floor, I fumbled while I set it by the dishwasher. When it was safely in place, I looked back up to see those translucent blues still watching me.
Those eyes. Not only were they beautiful, they were familiar. Something in them resonated with me, but the face surrounding them wasn’t one I’d seen before, and definitely one I’d never forget. That rugged jawline and those firm lips would have been the envy of every photographer in New York. With his broad shoulders, straight nose, and those piercing eyes situated beneath contrasting dark eyebrows, all I’d need to do is strip him of his camouflage outfit, toss him in a suit and he could own any runway at Fashion Week.
“Uh, hi,” I stammered. “I, uh, I... Can I get you a drink? Rusty nail? Bay Breeze? Alabama Slammer? Greyhound?” I started nervously rattling off the four drinks I’d memorized last night after searching “Drink recipes every bartender should know.”
Those eyes impaled me while he studied my face. The muscles around his jaw tightened momentarily, and I waited for him to speak.
“Whiskey coke,” he said, his coarse voice caressing the simple words. With a face and a voice like that, maybe movie star made more sense than a fashion model. How a man with features like that was sitting at a bar in Wisconsin and not at a swanky club in New York was a question I didn’t think I’d ever find an answer to.
“Sure, yeah. Coming right up.” I started away then paused, lifting a finger to my chin. “Wait, what’s all in that? Just whiskey and coke?”
One of his dark eyebrows rose. “Yep.”
“Oh, yeah. Makes sense.” Come on, Cassie! Flustered from the way he looked at me, I felt my face heat to boiling. It wasn’t that he looked at me like most men did, like someone they wanted to take home and screw. There wasn’t lust inside those eyes watching me, but a sadness that permeated the air around him. It settled around him like a cloak and I could see the sorrow brewing in those eyes before he dropped them back to the bar. It seemed as if it pained him to look at anything. Especially me. When the brim of his hat covered his face, part of me wanted to reach out and take it off. I hadn’t quite had my fill of the show.
Grabbing a tub, I filled it with ice and worked my way down the rail until I found the whiskey. Counting to three like Jo taught me, I poured it over the ice then picked up the soda gun and aimed it into the glass. Pressing the button marked “C” I watched red liquid shoot out.
Cranberry juice. Damn it! C is for cranberry not Coke, I remembered too late. Looking over, I saw him peek out from under his cap just in time to see me mess up his drink. With cheeks flushing even hotter from embarrassment, I dumped it out and got a new glass, repeating the process and this time pressing “P” for Pepsi. After I’d successfully made my first drink, I carried it toward him, moving behind Jo while she finished up her own drinks. She spun around fast and collided into me, sending his drink pouring down the Blue Ox tank top she’d given me to wear.
“Shit!” she called out, covered in some of her own drinks. “You’ve got to say ‘behind’ anytime you move behind me, remember?”
“I’m so sorry!” I said, remembering those instructions that must have flown out of my head that was bursting with new information.
The man at the bar stared at me again and then at the mostly empty glass I still clutched in my hands. When our gazes locked again, flashes of the unique eyes belonging to the mystery man in the funny suit hovering over me invaded my mind. Those were his eyes that had stared at me when he saved me from the snake. Even though his face had been covered with paint and his body covered in camouflage fur, I knew those were the same eyes now. My savior. I knew him from the snake incident, and that’s why I didn’t remember his face. It had been covered in black and green paint. Recognizing him sent me backward a step again, and I bumped into the glasses. Again. Two tumbled to the ground, and I cringed when I heard them shatter.
“Seriously?” Jo shouted over her shoulder and I cringed a little more.
“Sorry!” I said, but my eyes moved back to his. The heat that had already been building in my cheeks rose to unbearable levels. I worried my skin would slough off at any moment.
“Brooms by the register!” Jo shouted.
“Sorry,” I whispered to him while I raced by and grabbed the broom. But his eyes were already back on the bar, his shoulders slumped while he sat in silence.
Hurrying to clean up my mess, I swept the glass into the pan and dumped it in the garbage. When I was done, I made him a new drink and carried it across the bar with the same care I would as if it were a bomb ready to detonate at any moment. After I set it down in front of him, he glanced up and gave me a gratuitous nod before sliding it into the camouflage cocoon his body made over the bar with the way he hunched.
As much as I wanted to keep drinking in my fill of those eyes and that face, I was grateful he’d stopped watching me now that I had to start taking more orders. After several more messed up drinks and a few more irritated groans from the customers, and I was still struggling to make sense of this whole bartending thing. It was a lot harder than I’d anticipated and I had a whole new respect for the bartenders who’d kept up with me and my friends all those years. After one more glance at the solemn man at the bar, I pulled my eyes away and took my next order.
CHAPTER SIX
Jake
Of all the things I expected to see at the Ox tonight, the woman from the cabin working behind the bar wasn’t one of them. It seemed she wasn’t some weekend tourist after all. If she’d gotten a job here, that probably meant she was staying. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, at least it meant there wouldn’t be a steady stream of strangers next door each weekend. On the other, it meant my summer solitude had just gone up in a puff of spilled beer and broken glasses. Taking a swig of my whiskey and coke, I peeked up to watch her again.
I may have sworn off women completely, but I’d be a liar if I didn’t admit how good she looked fumbling back there behind the bar. Those jeans hugged every curve of her slender legs, and when she’d bend over to fill the glasses with ice, that low scooped tank top gave me a peek of the breasts that filled it out damn well. The long, blonde hair that had cascaded down her back when I’d arrived was now pulled
into a ponytail after she’d gotten frustrated fighting it a few minutes ago. Even though she didn’t look as out of place as she had stuck in that step, she still didn’t look like the kind of girl I’d see behind the bar at the Ox. And from the way she struggled to make drinks, it looked like she’d never been behind a bar in her life.
“What’s all in a gin and tonic?” I heard her ask Jo.
Pursing my lips together, I tried to stifle my smile waiting for Jo’s response. Ever since we were kids, Jo had a mouth on her and when I saw her face drop at the question, I held my breath for the incoming storm of words.
“Seriously? What’s in a gin and tonic? Um... gin and tonic! Come on, Cassie! Have you ever even had a drink?”
Cassie. So that was her name. When Jo snapped at her, those green eyes of hers shot to me rather than to Jo. A pink hue rose in her cheeks and she dropped her eyes back to the ground.
“Sorry, Jo. Stupid question.”
“Yes. It was a stupid question. He told you the ingredients. Remember? Gin and tonic is gin and tonic. Captain and coke is Captain and coke. Whiskey and coke is—”
“Whiskey and coke,” Cassie answered like a scolded child.
“Good!” Jo chided, and I felt a little sorry for the poor girl. Jo always meant well, but she was all business and when the bar was overflowing with thirsty customers, she didn’t have the patience to hold the hand of the new girl.
The ice in my glass clinked against my teeth when I slid the last of my drink out. After I set it back on the bar, I slid it forward toward the rail. Cassie appeared in front of me, and I looked back up from the spot on the bar I spent most nights staring past my pain.
“Another?” she asked, and those emerald eyes locked onto mine. The feeling that surged through me when our eyes met filled me with as much anger as it did some other feeling I was having trouble identifying. It was the same one I’d felt when I first saw her behind the bar tonight. The anger came from the fact I didn’t want to be having pesky feelings about some girl. The last time I had feelings about a girl ended up the reason I was sitting here drinking pissed off and alone, and intending to keep it that way.
I gave her a quick nod, and she picked up my glass and turned to fill it. Before she made it a step away, she spun back around. Uncertainly filled her eyes while she chewed on her lower lip.
“Sorry. What was it again?”
“Whiskey coke.”
“Oh, yeah!”
“That’s whiskey and coke mixed together,” I added, unable to stop myself from a little good-natured jab.
A soft smile lifted her full red lips and her chuckle induced a small one in me. It startled me to hear myself laugh. It’d been awhile. Struggling to suppress my smile, I lowered my eyes back to the stain on the bar I stared at every evening I came in for my two drinks after work.
Even though I tried not to look, I couldn’t help peeking up to watch her fill up my drink. Something about her stirred something in me, and I grumbled again at myself for allowing myself to feel it. Miserable and alone. That’s how I planned on spending my remaining days. Well, hopefully the misery would pass sooner or later, but the alone I fully intended on hanging on to.
When she returned with my drink and set it down, I gave her another nod and forced my gaze to stay on the bar. Nothing good could come of looking into those eyes. Nothing good at all.
After standing in front of me for a moment, she moved on to the next customer and I exhaled a deep breath. If she’d stood there any longer, I’d have been tempted to look back up at her. And if I looked back up at her that damned feeling would invade my misery again. I wasn’t ready to stop feeling miserable, so I did my best to ignore her.
“Hey, Jake,” Jo said while she blew by.
“Hey, Jo.”
“Those guys bought you a drink.” I looked up to the end of the bar where she pointed while she tapped a beer. I’d taken those two guys out on a fishing trip earlier. They both waved and still wore the same grins they’d had stretched across their faces since they each pulled in the two biggest salmon of their lives.
With a nod and a lift of my glass, I thanked them for the drink. The hundred-dollar tip they’d given me was more than sufficient, but I’d take another drink as well.
“Thanks, Captain Jake!” They lifted their beers toward me, and I heard them start recounting the tale of their trip to the men gathered around them. Free advertising, I thought when all eyes turned toward me. Not that I needed it this time of the year. My charters were booked up weeks in advance.
When I looked away, my eyes drifted back to the blonde behind the bar. Damn those jeans were making looking away more difficult that it should be.
“What’s up?” I heard Aaron’s voice and turned to my left. He pushed into the space between the stools and leaned up along the bar beside me.
“Hey, man. Not much. Finishing up and heading home.”
“Catch anything today?”
“Oh, yeah. We had a good run.”
“We got skunked.”
I sucked the air through my teeth. “Damn. Hate when that happens.” Aaron ran his own charter as well, and we’d been buds since middle school.
“Yeah, it does. But still sucks.”
“I got skunked a few trips ago. Happens to the best of us.”
“You saying you’re the best?” He raised a blond brow in a challenge, but his blue eyes could never hide his humor.
“Damn straight.” I took a swig of my drink and he burst into laughter.
“Whoa,” he said, his laughter stalling in his throat as his gaze stared behind the bar. “Who’s the hottie?”
A surge of jealousy rose inside me when I saw his eyes fixated on Cassie. Surprised by the sudden emotion, I cleared my throat. “New girl. Just started today. I think she’s my neighbor.”
Wide eyes stopped devouring every inch of her figure and he spun back toward me. His mouth, situated between his scraggly strawberry-blond beard, was open when he looked at me. “Seriously? She’s your neighbor? Dude! I’m coming over! And bringing binoculars!”
“You’re such a perv.” I rolled my eyes, but it reared its ugly head again. Jealousy.
“Dude! Look at her! How in the hell does a girl that looks like that end up here?”
“Hey!” Jo said, catching the end of our conversation. “I’m a looker, too. And don’t you forget it.”
He scoffed. “You’re like our sister. We’re not allowed to ogle your goods.”
“Even if you can’t ogle ‘em, doesn’t mean I don’t have ‘em.” She smiled and shook her ass.
Aaron slammed his eyes shut and tossed his head back like she’d smacked him in the mouth. “Knock it off! That’s like incest!”
Jo waggled her brows and went back to work. The men on all sides of us didn’t seem to mind her impromptu show.
“Who’s got dibs on the new girl? I don’t want to fight you for her. I mean, I know not many women can resist this face of mine,” he said, waving his hand over the face so covered in hair I barely remembered what he looked like under there, “but let’s be honest. If she’s anything like every other woman around, she’ll be throwing herself at you in no time.”
Snorting, I almost spit out my drink. “I don’t think so, man.”
“Really? Are you trying to say women don’t throw themselves at you?”
“Not really.”
He rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say, man. Hey, Jo!” he called. “Beer me!”
“Hold your horses, Aaron! I’m busy!”
The door opened, and a gaggle of girls dressed in hot-pink wigs and white sashes stumbled inside.
“Dude! A hot new bartender and now a bachelorette party? Can my night get any better?” Aaron spun around and gave them his best smile.
“Lucky you.”
“Lucky us! There’s like six of them.”
“All yours,” I said, turning my attention back to what I came here for.
Whiskey.
Loneliness amon
g friends.
Pain cloaking me like pleasure.
“Come on, man.” His voice softened, and he turned back to me. “You gotta snap out of it. It’s been months. It’s time to get back on the horse.”
“No horse. No more riding for this guy.”
“Jake. Get on the fucking horse. Like six of them just walked in and I bet you could ride any one you wanted!”
“Dude, you’re disgusting.”
The pack of wasted women moved through the Ox, turning the heads of every man they passed. I made the mistake of looking at one, and the whole group turned toward me like a school of fish. “Fuck.”
“What’s that about you not having women throw themselves at you?” he said while they came at me.
“Shut up, Aaron.”
“Hi!” The one wearing the maid-of-honor sash said when she stumbled up to me. “You’re hot!”
“As I was saying?” Aaron whispered, but I shrugged him off.
“What’s your name?” she asked, but I turned my back to her and focused on my whiskey. When she tapped me on the shoulder, I tried to shrug it off, but looked up to see Cassie staring at me. Not wanting her to think I went for every cheap piece of ass, then wondering why I cared what she thought, I plucked the woman’s hand off my shoulder and brushed it aside.
“Oh, come on!” she said, pressing her breasts into my back while she leaned into my ear. “We just need a pair of underwear for our scavenger hunt.” A hiccup broke up the last word.
“You can have mine!” Aaron said, squishing in between us.
“We want his,” she whined, but I continued ignoring her and caught Cassie’s quick glance with my own.
“Dude, I gotta go.” I slammed the rest of my drink and set it down. “Jo, I’ll tip you later. I’m outta here.”
“You got it. See you later,” she called over the crowd.
Rising from my stool, I tried to push through the group of women surrounding us while Aaron flirted with each one of them. As I turned toward the door it opened, and the face I never wanted to see again appeared. Rage rose inside me like an inferno burning away all my good senses. This was my bar, and he knew it. The Cornerstone was his, and this one was mine. Just because it’d been months since it happened, didn’t mean he could pretend away his betrayal and waltz back in here like we were still best friends.
The Other Half (Door Peninsula Passions Book 1) Page 6
