As soon as the girl comes into view, I understand why Meg was nervous for me to meet her. She’s gorgeous. Brunette with big brown eyes and a beautiful smile. She definitely has a nice body. It seems as though Meg really has no reason to worry. I’m not even thinking about the quickest way to get into her pants. That’s odd.
“Ashley, this is my cousin, Evan. He does all the hiring around here. Just try not to look into his puppy dog eyes and you’ll be just fine.” She pretended to lower her voice for the last part.
“Don’t listen to the wicked witch. Want to come with me?” I motion for her to head in the direction of my office.
“Thank you so much for seeing me like this, Evan. It’s okay if I call you Evan, right? I’m sorry. I can’t seem to shut up right now. I talk when I’m nervous.”
“There’s no reason to be nervous.” I smile at her just before we get to the hallway. “How long have you known Molly?” Molly has been with us since we opened Skyline and is probably the best waitress this place has ever had. Just because she mentioned this girl to us, she’s hired. I trust Molly just as much as I trust Danny with my car.
“Uh, I guess about two years now. I used to live in the apartment next door to her.” A sad look spreads over her face. “I had to move back home with my mom recently.”
“Okay.” She doesn’t need to torture herself by telling me about her ex-boyfriend. I offer her a seat and she takes it. “Meg said you have waitressing experience?”
“I do. I was at a club not too far from here about eighteen months ago. They let me go when I got pregnant,” she says, averting her eyes to the side.
My heart goes out to her. “I’m sorry,” I say and I honestly mean it. She looks at me with tears in her eyes. “You have nothing to worry about here at Skyline. We’re like family. We take care of each other.” She looks relieved. “I just need you to fill out the standard paperwork. Do you want to do it now, or would you rather come back?”
“I’ll do it now, if that’s okay?”
“Absolutely.” I open the bottom drawer of the desk and pull everything out that I need her to do. “I had two girls leave recently so there are plenty of hours available. When you’re done here, I’ll take you back to Meg and she’ll show you the schedule. You can have as many hours as you like.”
“Thank you so much, Evan. I really appreciate it.”
“You’re welcome. I’m glad we could help each other out.”
I sit there, fiddling around on my phone until she finishes all the papers and hands them back to me. Meg ends up coming into the office to see how things are going. “She’s all yours.” I smile up at her. “She can have any of the open hours she wants. Ashley, if you have any questions on concerns, here’s my card. It has my cell and the office’s direct line. Call whenever you need to.” I leave the two of them to work out the rest of the details. One problem solved.
“Thank you again.” She stands up to shake my hand.
“Welcome to Skyline. I’ll see you again soon. Meg, if you need me, you know where to find me.”
Just as I step behind the bar, Molly comes up. “How did it go?” she asks.
“I hired her. I know you wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t someone you trusted.”
“Thank you. She’s a good kid,” Molly tells me.
“Hey, do you know who has Jade Quinn’s table?”
“I’m not sure. Want me to find out?”
I shake my head. “Could you come back in about ten minutes? I need you to do me a favor.”
“No problem.”
I set to making up a tray full of the brain hemorrhage shots that I made for Kacie last night. My mind is still not made up about what to do, but there’s no ignoring how I haven’t stopped thinking about her. I tried. Man, did I try. She’s friends with Jake, though. So if I see Jake, I’m more than likely going to see her, at least for as long as she stays in town. We’ll just have to see how it goes.
When Molly comes back, I instruct her to take the tray to the table, but not tell them who it’s from. Standing behind the bar, I watch as she walks across the room to deliver the shots. Kacie still hasn’t noticed what they are. It looks like she’s talking to one of the girls. Someone must say something because she turns to look at them and her head pops up. She knows they’re from me. The huge shit-eating grin that spreads across my face can probably be seen from all the way over there. It doesn’t take her long to spot me. Once our eyes lock, I can feel my smile start to fade. Suddenly, the distance between us feels entirely too large.
Someone calls my name. I didn’t want to be the one who breaks our stare first, but I have to see who it is in case it’s important. It turns out to be a regular just wanting to talk. When my eyes look back in Kacie’s direction, she’s no longer sitting at the table. Her chair is empty and Jake is watching me from the spot next to where she was. Where the hell did she go? I go to run out from behind the bar to look for her, only to almost knock her over. Just the sight of her so close leaves me breathless. Tonight she has on a gray sundress. She must have been outside for most of the day because her skin has a lot more color than it did yesterday. Her hair is pulled up with a few of her natural curls hanging on either side of her face. Then she smiles at me. I’m not sure what that feeling is in my chest, but I’ll worry about it later.
“If you’re going to send over shots for the whole table, the least you could have done was come over and have one with us,” Kacie tells me, placing a full shot glass on the bar next to my hand. I didn’t even realize my hand had gripped onto it.
She’s holding her glass out to me. I pick up the one she set down for me and tap it to hers. “Welcome home,” I tell her, since that’s what she’s celebrating.
“It’s good to be home,” she says as we both down our shots. “That’s good and disgusting all at the same time.” Kacie holds the back of her hand up to her mouth and shakes her head. She makes me laugh with the expression on her face when she drinks those.
“They’re definitely a conversation starter.”
“That they are.” Kacie looks over at her table, then back to me. “Thank you for sending them over.”
“No problem. Did your friends like them?”
She looks down at her shoes and then back up at me. “I didn’t wait around to find out.” My smile may have just gotten a little bit bigger. “You looked like you were busy before I walked up here. I’ll let you get back to work. Thank you again.” Kacie starts to walk away.
“Actually, my cousin just offered to take over for a bit. Looks like I have some time to kill.”
Kacie bites her bottom lip, almost as if she’s trying to hold in a smile. “Want to come over for a drink? Jake’s there. I’m sure he would like some company.”
“You don’t mind? I wouldn’t want to crash your party.”
“Crash away,” she insists.
“I’m going to grab a beer. You want one?”
“Sure.”
I grab two bottles from behind the bar and we walk over together. Jake moved over a spot so I could sit next to her. I hold out Kacie’s stool and offer her a hand onto it. She lays her hand in mine. It’s hard to let her go once she’s in place. Jade whispers something to her, but she only answers with a look. Jake introduces me to everyone. One of the guys I recognize as someone from my mechanic’s shop. Two beers later, I’m still talking more to Jake and the guys than to Kacie, but that’s really to be expected when there are a bunch of people around. She’ll ask me a question every now and then, or I’ll get her attention with some stupid shit. However, watching her interact with her friends is very helpful in getting to know more about her.
Out of nowhere, this guy appears in between Kacie and myself. His back is to me and it’s evident he’s about to hit on her. My first thought is to grab him by the back of his shirt and strangle his ass. Jake taps my arm and when I take a quick look at him, he shakes his head. Then he tilts his bottle of beer in Kacie’s direction. He wants me to watch her, but not say anythin
g? Is he for real? I’m sitting right here and this douche bag has the balls to come up to her. I know we aren’t together or anything, but what the fuck?
“So, I was…,” douche bag starts to say before Kacie cuts him off.
“Get lost,” is all she says. She’s dead serious, staring right at him. To be honest, if a girl ever did that to me, I’d probably laugh. But if Kacie ever did that to me, I’d be afraid. Dude leaves with his tail between his legs. I smile into my bottle of beer and Jake starts chuckling next to me.
As if nothing happened, Kacie turns to me. Her eyes are pretty glazed over. She’s such a lightweight and is probably going to feel this tomorrow morning, if not before. Molly happens to be walking by, so I ask her to bring some water to the table. “Why did you leave New York?” Kacie asks me, leaning her chin on her hand. She’s probably having trouble holding it up on her own. Wow, that’s a tough question to for me to answer, considering I don’t know her very well. Not yet anyway.
“It was time to move on,” I tell her.
“Did you run out of girls there?” She’s obviously teasing by the look in her eyes and her cocky grin.
“No, smart ass. What kind of shit have you been telling her, Jade?” I joke around.
“Only the truth, handsome,” Jade slurs and winks at me. She’s loaded, too.
“I hope they don’t throw up in your car, Jake.”
“Me, too. I drove the Camaro. I just might throw them both in the bed of your pickup. At least you can hose that shit out.” We both start to laugh, but mine disappears the second I start to say something else to Kacie. There’s another guy leaning on the back of her chair. I don’t need Jake’s warning this time. My curiosity takes over at how this will play out. Does she always have this many guys hitting on her when she goes out? Probably.
“My friend and I were watching you from…,” idiot number two begins.
“Seriously? That’s what you decided to go with?” Kacie suddenly looks completely sober. “Did you not think this through on your way over here? Is that what you practiced in the mirror before you came out tonight? Go the hell away.”
Jade and the other girls burst out laughing. “Kacie, I’ve seriously fucking missed you!” Danielle tries to say through her fit of laughter. Kacie doesn’t look as entertained as her friend. She actually looks very irritated at the intrusions.
Jake’s chuckling again. “What was I telling you earlier?” he whispers. “That’s the Kacie Foster you get when she’s not interested. Being ignored doesn’t really seem so bad now, does it?”
“No shit,” is all I can say.
“Come on,” Kacie leans back on her stool. “If a guy’s opening line is admitting he’s a stalker, you know damn well I’m getting rid of his ass as soon as possible.”
“That poor guy was nervous as shit. Did you see him? He was covered in sweat,” Gabe adds, laughing.
“It’s fifty damn degrees in here. I’m freezing. He shouldn’t be sweating. That’s nasty.” She finishes off her glass of water.
“You’ll never get any if you chase off every guy after only a few words,” Amber teases. “You know how dumb they are. You should at least give them a chance.”
“If the guy is worth getting any from, he won’t be using stupid ass lines to get my attention.”
“What was wrong with the first guy?” Gabe’s friend Lance asks.
“The first guy stepped between me and my new friend, Evan,” she says, putting her hand on my arm and turning to me. “That’s just rude.”
Yeah, that’s what I thought, too.
Chapter Eight
Kacie
There may be a slight possibility I drank a little too much last night. The pounding in my head is as loud as a jackhammer on a crowded city sidewalk. It’s probably best not to think about the feeling in my stomach because only something bad will come of that. My entire body feels like I’ve had the flu for a month. The knocking at the door hurts my head even more.
“Stop banging so loud!” I call out.
Jake comes in, laughing. “That wasn’t even loud,” he informs me.
“Yes, it was,” I mumble, pulling the blanket over my head.
“Are you going to get out of bed sometime today?” Jake sits down beside me. He was afraid to let me go home by myself last night, so I stayed at his house.
“No.” I realize someone is missing. “Where’s Jade?”
“She woke up a few hours ago and didn’t want to disturb you with her moaning and groaning. Fortunately for me, she fell back to sleep on the sofa downstairs.”
I pull down the blankets to see he’s dressed and ready for the day. “What time is it?”
“Three o’clock.”
“No, it’s not,” I say.
Jake laughs again. “Yes, it is. Here’s your Coke.” He hands me the familiar red can and two aspirin.
“You’re so good to me,” I tell him, slowly sitting up.
“Evan called me twice to check on you.”
“Oh no! Did I do anything completely mortifying?” I ask, suddenly worried I made an ass out of myself.
“No, but I think you might have scared him when you so rudely sent those other guys away.”
“They deserved it.” I crack open the can and slowly drink some.
“I think Evan likes you,” Jake announces.
“He likes girls who scare him?”
“Guess so. Who knew?” He’s careful when he continues, “I also think you like him.”
I start to disagree, but stop myself. “Doesn’t matter. I didn’t come home for that shit.”
“Sometimes things happen when you least expect them to, Kacie,” he says, standing up. “Come downstairs after you’ve cleaned yourself up.” He’s laughing at me yet again, so I throw a pillow at him. He catches it easily. “I’ll make you something to eat for your upset stomach,” he says, over his shoulder. He leaves the room and quietly closes the door behind him.
Dropping back onto the pillows behind me, my aching head begs me not to think about Evan right now. The only thing I should be pondering is how to keep my parents from taking the house. The money Gram left me and my job at Shining Stars should be enough to pay the bills. The worst thing that could happen is I find a roommate, but that probably won’t be necessary. Being a grown-up really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
By the time I shower and make my way to the kitchen, Jade is already finishing up the soup her brother made for us to eat. “Next weekend, I’m staying home,” I inform Jade, dropping into the seat across from her.
This perks her right up. “No, you are not! That’s Memorial Day weekend. We’re doing something fun.”
Jake sets a steaming hot bowl of chicken noodle soup in front of me and sits down at the table. “Thanks,” I say.
Jake’s cell ringing on the counter behind me interrupts us. He sighs. “I should make you answer this time,” he says, giving me the evil eye. He walks over to pick up his phone. “Or, better yet, I’ll just give him your number,” he mutters, answering it. “Hey, Evan… Yeah, she’s finally up… Define okay.” Jake gives me another nasty look. “She’s showered and attempting to eat something but, by the look on her face, it doesn’t look promising.”
Jade throws a cracker at me. “Did you really need to encourage him last night?”
“Don’t start with me, Jade.” I push the noodles around the bowl with my spoon. “He sent over shots for all of us. I was polite and asked him to hang out. Obviously, we’re going to be seeing each other around. I’m not going to make it awkward for myself.”
“I’ll tell her,” Jake says, loud enough for me to hear. “Sounds good. Later.” He returns his phone to the counter and comes back to the table. “Evan wanted me to let you know that you can call him if you need anything.”
“Thanks.” I don’t make eye contact with either of them.
“You need to let this go,” Jake says to his sister.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me
. Evan hasn’t done anything wrong. If you think about it, he hasn’t acted like himself since he met Kacie. Maybe you should cut him some slack. And I guess you should know. He and I had a little chat last night. You have nothing to worry about.”
“What did you say?” She’s irritated by this piece of information.
“He said he wants to get to know her and I let him know that his usual bullshit won’t fly. You know he called three times today to check on her, right? He didn’t have to hang out with us last night or help me get the both of you to the car. I really think something’s different.”
“I’m not convinced,” Jade says, crossing her arms.
“You guys know I’m sitting here, right?” I snap. “Why are you acting like I’m a helpless child who’s unable to make decisions?”
“Kacie, I’m just looking out for you,” she defends herself.
“I know and I appreciate it. Don’t forget, Jade. We’ve done exactly what you’re worried about him doing to me a few times ourselves.”
“We’re nothing like him.”
“We can be.”
“Do you like him?”
“I don’t really know him. He’s been very nice and hasn’t even tried to hit on me. Let’s just not worry about it, okay?”
She sighs. “Okay.”
“Has Kyle called you?” If we can get the conversation focused on her, maybe she will let this go.
“He texted me a little while ago,” she gloats. “He asked me to go out one night this week, but I said I wanted to double check with you first.”
“You don’t need to check with me. Just because I’m home doesn’t mean you have to entertain me every night.” I smile at her.
She looks excited. “I’ll talk to him later. Want to watch a movie?”
“Sure.” I’ll do anything if it’ll get me out of talking about Evan.
***
For the rest of the afternoon and some of the evening, Jade and I lie around and watch a couple of movies. Jake’s probably sick of babysitting us because he took off a while ago and hasn’t come back yet. I’m going to have to be more careful when I drink. Jake shouldn’t feel like he has to give up his life to take care of me. Just as I’m getting ready to walk out of the Quinn’s backdoor, Jade’s phone buzzes. The gigantic smile on her face lets me know it’s Kyle and she’ll be busy for the rest of the night. I blow her a kiss before heading home.
Left Behind: Left Behind Series #1 Page 9
