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thepaintedlady00 · 1 year

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Nightshade

Chapter 9 | Chapter 11

Chapter 10: The Idiots

TW: Jake's kind of an asshole at the beginning of this, more Howard ick, a bit of jealous Lena, a bit of jealous Jake, one very heated make-out session (lots of biting and lipstick stains 👀), sassy Sasha, Simone's a bitch (as usual), Jake's making progress with his shitty coping mechanisms this chapter, a nice calm ending before the spice storm.

Quinn stared at me as she sat on my bed, her eyes wide and mouth curled into a giant smile. “Say it again!”

“Jake kissed me.” I was breathless, clutching onto the giant tiger and awkwardly standing in my bedroom. Every inch of me tingled with an odd sense of numbness… One produced from my absolute shock and complete realization of just how fucked I was.

Prue was still squealing from the living room as she rushed to make snacks so I could tell them all the details with something for them to munch on. Then, finally, Quinn fell back onto my bed. “God, I’m fucking amazing!”

“Jake kissed me,” I muttered again, the numbness wearing off, and the crushing anxiety of what had happened hit me. I dropped the tiger to the floor and cupped my cheeks in my slightly chilled hands. “Oh my god, I kissed him back!”

“I’d hope so!” Quinn replied, looking me over. “Isn’t this what you wanted?”

“Yes,” I answered. “No! I mean…” With a deep sigh, I looked at the tiger at my feet. “Yes, but it’s just so…” Complicated.

I remembered little about the drive back into the city, mainly the distance between Jake and me. He’d left with the rest of the group without speaking to me. I hadn’t heard from him since, not a reply to my goodnight text. Then, Quinn began apologizing for the limo digging up bad memories.

My heart hadn’t stopped hammering since the kiss, since the look we shared after. Nothing would be the same as it was before, and it terrified me. But, of course, I was used to bad-boy bartenders and their reputations among women, so hearing about Jake’s salacious history within and outside the restaurant wasn’t shocking. I didn’t hold it against him; I’d done the exact thing plenty of times. But it did make this particular situation difficult.

If I’d just been interested in the sex, then all this would have been so easy! But it wasn’t about that, not now that I knew Jake. I wanted him in every filthy and carnal way… But I wanted to be with him just as badly. The pull between us was electric and wild, the perfect storm for sex, but what happened after the deed was done? What happened when Jake finally conquered the feisty redhead that had been shutting down his advances from day one?

“I can’t sleep with him,” I whispered, fear nearly erasing the elated feeling in my chest.

Quinn groaned. “Oh, come on! This has been months in the making, Lena! Why can’t you just-”

“Because he’s going to move on, Quinn!” I shouted. “He’s gonna get what he wants and move on to the next girl. And I…”

My friend’s face softened as she pulled me into a hug. “Jake likes you, Lena. I know he does.”

Simone’s words filled my head, and the so sure smug look on her face taunted me. “I don’t want to lose him… I can’t…”

“It’s okay,” she assured me. “It’s gonna be okay because he is heading over heels for you. He doesn’t just want to fuck you. He wants you.”

“How do you know?” I asked quietly.

Quinn smudged my cheeks and smiled. “Just… Trust me. Okay?”

“Okay…” She wouldn’t stand here and give me false hope for no reason. Quinn must’ve known something I didn’t, or that look in her eyes and the way she sounded so sure wouldn’t have eased my fear.

Prue jumped into the bed, nearly spilling the popcorn she had cooked all over it. Then, with a bright smile, she signed, “Start from the beginning!”

With Quinn’s hand in mine, the anxious fear slowly faded, and a hopeful, maybe idiotic joy took over as I told my friends every detail about the kiss I’d shared with my coworker, Jake… the boy I liked.

Jake kept as much distance as he could between himself and Lena until he finally got a chance to leave. He went home where no one could see how visibly shaken he was. This is ridiculous, he scolded himself. How many women had he kissed before tonight? Hundreds! He wasn’t some virgin, nor was he inexperienced in workplace affairs. But this felt different… All of it.

Kissing her had been impulsive, but after hearing her admit that she’d wanted him to do it during that dumb game, how could he not? He’d almost done it then… He almost couldn’t stop himself from kissing her there in front of their coworkers and her friends. Jake had waited, thinking it wasn’t what she wanted… But it was. Lena wanted him to kiss her, and he couldn’t deny that he wanted to kiss her too, had for a long time.

That kiss… It was better than he expected. Even the thought of it lingering in his mind made him feel heavy with lust and the purely sinful desire to show up at Lena’s door and kiss her. He was heavy with the want to kiss her until they both grew tired of it, which Jake was convinced would be never. Not for him, at least. As he lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling, watching the lights from his windows flash on it, all he could see was her face. Her perfume lingered on his jacket, swarming around him in a cocoon of cherry, making it hard for him not to imagine her here, lying in his bed… doing much more than sharing one little kiss.

Lust was a feeling he was used to, but there was something more significant that absolutely terrified him. He liked Lena. He liked her personality, fun, feisty, and kind. He liked how she thought, how insanely smart and equally badass she was. Jake liked how she laughed, scrunched up her nose, and smiled so wide it looked like her face hurt afterward. Lena was so much more than just another back waiter; she was a person… was someone he cared about, and that wasn’t something he had expected.

He had his fair share of relationships, but those were short affairs. Simone had told him he wasn’t cut out for long-term things. She’d told him more than once he didn’t have the depth to take something as important as a relationship seriously. Simone also contributed some of the blame onto the women he’d chosen to pursue. All young and naive, without a clue as to how to handle him in any capacity. “They’ll never know you like I know you,” she’d say. “How did you expect this to end, Jake? It wasn’t going to work out, not when you can’t be bothered to hold anything sacred.” Simone was right - she always was. He didn’t have the capacity to love anything but her, and that was only because Simone put up with his selfish bullshit when most people would’ve left a long time ago.

Lena wasn’t like most of the women he pursued. She wasn’t naive or too young. Instead, she matched him well, burning like a steady flame that made him want to follow her into utter darkness. The past few months being showered in her friendship and included in her tight-knit group of friends, family, and weird drug dealers had made Jake feel more alive and accepted than he’d ever felt. And, on top of all of that, Lena knew more about him than anyone, save Simone, did. She’d helped him without judgment after he stumbled to her drunk, high, and blubbering about his dead mom. She’d taken care of him without asking anything in return, and then she’d let him follow her around all day. He knew her too, he realized. He’d witnessed her at her lowest point and pulled her out of the freezing ocean.

What he had with Lena differed from what he had with everyone else. The only relationship he could compare it to was the one he shared with Simone, but even that felt wrong… Even that wasn’t the same. Simone’s love was cold and filled with constant nagging, judgments, and hiding. They switched between lovers and siblings and a mother and son. Lena’s lov - friendship was warm, accepting, and full of fun and support. They’d agreed on being friends, but… That leap to lovers, that pull between them shouting that this was more, had always been there. They were so different, yet he could feel that pull tethering him to the redheaded woman just as he’d been tethered to Simone. It scared him, but what scared him more was the all too real possibility that he’d just fucked everything up tonight by kissing her.

He wasn’t prepared to face her again, possibly have her reject him or abandon him completely. And so, lying in his bed, Jake looked at the small green frog and resigned himself to following the same plan he always did. He’d ignore her, brush her off, and put distance between them to lessen the ultimate blow of her departure from his life. He stared at the screen of his phone, at the simple goodnight she’d sent him, for a long moment before he rolled over, leaving it behind him.

That night Jake mourned a loss that hadn’t even happened yet because that was easier than hoping for more. It was easier to accept he wasn’t capable of love or being loved, especially by someone like her.

Quinn and Prue left after breakfast, knowing I had to swing by Ozzy’s to help Patrick move inventory before I headed to work. Even just the thought made my body tingle. I’d spent hours freaking out over what-ifs until I’d decided to just give in to Quinn’s advice and face the music head-on. Jake was still going to be Jake. Sarcastic, flirty, and every bit the bad boy bartender I’d been friends with for months.

I’d showered and tossed on a simple T-shirt scouring for pants and unintentionally reminding myself of his shitty marker tattoo that he’d quickly scribbled on my skin. The longer I looked at it, the more I liked it. The mermaid almost perfectly held the heart with the little J in her hands. I smoothed my finger over it, reassuringly that he wouldn’t have drawn something so intimate for nothing.

The slightly on-edge walk to The Ring wasn’t at all helpful in calming my buzzing nerves. Peter sat behind the front counter, a cat curled up on his lap as he read his book. Lifting his head, he offered me a lazy smile. “Pat’s changing. How was Quinn’s party last night?”

“It was good,” I answered. “Dinner, drinks, coney island. Quinn stuff.”

He took one look at my face and smirked. “Kiss any cute boys while you were busy with Quinn’s stuff?”

I scoffed, shifting on my feet. “Quinn told you?”

“Nah, I just know you better than anyone. It’s written all over your face.” He closed his book and sat up, carefully keeping the cat comfortable. “So, was it everything you’d been fantasizing about?”

“You don’t even know who I kissed.”

“Pleeaasseee!” He laughed. “Ignoring the blatantly obvious sex dream, I’ve seen you and Jake in a room together, little sis. That tension was bound to snap back at some point.”

Damn him. “It was…” For a second, I considered brushing it off with a simple fine, but Peter would see straight through that. “It was perfect.”

With a smile and a nod, he relaxed. “Good. I’m assuming he was a perfect gentleman about it.”

“Don’t know yet. We didn’t get a chance to talk about it after.

“Well,” he started. “If he’s an ass, just give me a call, and Pat and I will give him a stern talking to.”

“I hardly need you two for that.”

Peter shrugged. “Yeah, but it’d be fun.”

I shook my head, chuckling at my brother’s antics. “You shouldn’t think threatening boys I like is fun.”

“Oh, so he’s a boy you like now?” His smile widened. “Bout damn time. We were all getting tired of playing along with your dumb little game.”

“Shut up.”

Patrick barreled down the stairs, quickly moving through the gym toward the back with a breathless nod. “We gotta hurry. Oz is on his way!”

“Shit!” I hissed, jogging to join him.

The bar deliveries always dropped things off at the very front of the bar, next to the front door. If it hadn’t been for Dom and his gang frequenting the place, we were reasonably sure it’d get stolen every week, but lucky for us, having a badass biker gang like you has its perks. Patrick dragged the boxes to the back, where I quickly opened them and started shoving things in their rightful places. We’d gotten almost all of them unpacked before Ozzy’s voice boomed through the bar. “Oi! What the hell are you two doin’ here so damn early?”

Patrick and I peeked our heads up from the other side of the bar. “It was all her idea, Oz!”

“Like hell it was you copperhead moron!” I shouted back, slapping his shoulder.

“She’s been on my ass for weeks about helpin’ you out,” Patrick continued.

My mouth fell open. “Oh, yeah, well, Patrick’s been calling me every morning to talk about sneaking vitamins into your food!”

Ozzy held up his hands, waving them between us until we grew quiet. “Good lord,” he huffed. “You two are worse than your father! Always sneakin’ around tryin’ to do more work than me.”

“Oz,” I started.

“Shut it,” he ordered lovingly. “I appreciate your concerns and your help. I ain’t as young as I used to be, and having you two idiots around to help pick up some of the slack ain’t too bad.”

Patrick looked at me with a thin smile. “So you’re gonna let us help out?”

“Hell no,” Ozzy replied with a deep laugh as he ushered us out the door with a wink. “Now get the hell out and worry about your own damn problems!”

“Stubborn ass,” I sighed.

“I heard that!”

Patrick shook his head, scratching the back of his neck. “Well, guess we’re gonna have to double down on the efforts.”

“He’s not gonna make this easy,” I warned. “We’ll probably have to switch to end-of-the-day stuff to fly under the radar for a while.”

“Smart,” he replied. “So, how was your kiss at coney island?”

I scoffed at him. “Unbelievable. Is it really that easy to tell?”

He narrowed his eyes. “Quinn told me. She was at Nana’s this morning when Oz left to head down here, so she gave me a heads-up and clued me in on your little Ferris Wheel makeout session.”

“You guys are so fucking annoying,” I complained, checking the time as we returned to the gym. “I gotta head out. Have a good day,” I hollered, giving Peter a quick pat as I rushed out the door.

The whole walk to 22West consisted of me doing my best not to freak out over seeing Jake again after our kiss. It was a kiss. One. And yeah, we both obviously liked it, but it shouldn’t change anything between us. He was my friend. Surely he knew that.

I wove around the kitchen and went up the stairs to the locker room, where Jake stood, quietly buttoning up his shirt. My heart raged within my chest as I swallowed my anxiety and walked into the room, opening my locker and frowning slightly. Usually, he’d try sneaking his jacket into my locker, but there it was, empty, save for my bag of extra clothes at the bottom. Shit. Shit. Shit.

“Hey,” I greeted, turning to look at him. Jake barely glanced back at me before he closed his locker and silently made his way out of the room. With a silent huff of air, I shook my head. “How was your night?” I asked myself, bitter frustration making my voice waver. “Oh, it was fine. Thanks so much for asking. Hey, we should probably talk about that kiss.” I shook my head, letting it fall onto the lockers beside mine. “Goddamn it.”

Isaac slid into the room, glancing between the stairs and me. “Everything okay?”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t think it is.”

“Anything I can do?” He asked, quietly setting his hand on my back.

“No,” I answered, looking at him with a forced smile. “Thanks, though.”

He bumped my shoulder. “Anytime, Red.”

Service felt slower than usual today. Scott put me in charge of plating, instructing me not to let a single dish go out without looking perfect. So I stood at the little metal table separating me from the servers and the dining room beyond, carefully wiping plates and handing them off to the servers. It was a slightly tedious task that required a lot of attention to detail. Still, I was good at it, having been shown exactly how each dish should look by the awry bitch that made the menu. Simone seemed happier than usual as well. She offered me soft, smug smiles whenever she picked up her dishes.

“Lena,” Howard called into the kitchen as he came sweeping in through the doors. “I need you to help run tables tonight.”

I quickly stripped myself of my apron and shrugged off my cooking coat. “Something going on?”

He smiled tightly. “It seems we’ve had another slight scheduling mishap.”

“How bad?”

“Nothing too horrible,” he assured me. “But I’d feel much better with your capable hands on the floor.”

I smiled. “You got it, boss.”

He set a hand on my arm, looking down at me for a moment. “Be careful not to fall.”

Rolling my eyes, I squeezed his hand and hurried out the doors with plates of food balanced perfectly on my arms. The dining room was full, packed with people who looked slightly put off by the slow service. I hurried through the chaos and did the job perfectly, only stopping to strip some of the tables on the second floor once the guests had left.

From the second floor, I could see Simone slide up to the bar with that fucking smile. She and Jake conversed for a moment, not unusual for them, but after receiving his cold shoulder in the locker room, the sight of him smiling at her and chuckling at whatever she’d said made my blood boil. The blonde woman vanished into the kitchen, mumbling about finding a specific bottle of wine for one of her tables when the front door opened and a woman quietly made her way to the bar.

“Hey, Jake,” he hadn’t expected to hear the soft voice again as he looked up to find Tess standing in front of the bar, picking at her fingers nervously.

He didn’t know what to say or do, not after how they’d left things and all she’d put him and Simone through. His teeth ground painfully together. “What are you doing here?”

That smile he once found cute and comforting fell. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you.”

“And I think I’ve made it clear I don’t wanna talk.”

“Jake,” she huffed. “Just give me five minutes, please?”

No. He wanted to say the word more than anything, but something inside him… something he’d pushed so far down he thought it would never come back to the surface urged him to say yes. With a stiff nod, he dropped what he was doing, snapping his fingers at the first person that walked by toward the kitchen. Lena. Of course, it had to fucking be her. Her green eyes met his, and he felt like he was about to fall apart at the forced look of boredom they held, mirroring how she’d looked at him before they’d become friends. “Cover me for a minute.”

She glanced at Tess but slid behind the bar anyway, jumping into work beside Nicky with ease as he practically dragged Tess out of the restaurant to spare Simone the pain of seeing her again. “What do you want?”

“I want to apologize,” she answered. “I’ve wanted to for a while now.”

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” he replied coldly. “You did what you did and lost your job here for it.”

“Do you get why I did it, though?” she asked, big brown eyes looking up at him pleadingly.

Jake shook his head. “No, I don’t, and I don’t give a shit.”

“I did it because I care about you, Jake,” she insisted.

“Care about me?” he laughed dryly. “You went behind my back, you fucked Howard, and you tried to get Simone fired!”

Tess’s lips pulled into a thin line. “I know how it sounds… I didn’t really know what the fuck I was doing, but-”

“You were doing what you wanted,” he told her, unimpressed. “That’s fine, do whatever you want; just don’t expect a pity party to roll into town when shit catches up to you.”

“Just…” she sighed. “Meet me at Home Bar tonight? I want to talk… want to explain things to you, so you understand why I did it.”

He shook his head. “I. Don’t. Care.”

“Yes, you do. You’ve always cared, Jake. Please, just… come?”

“Fine.”

She let out a breath of relief. “Thank-”

Jake turned on his heel and walked back inside the restaurant, ignoring the newly dug-up pain that Tess’ unexpected visit brought up within him. For a moment, he took relief in seeing Lena behind the bar with Nicky, but then he remembered the kiss and the cold shoulder he gave her to avoid the inevitable. Her green eyes met his as he slid back behind the bar.

“You can go,” he said, so tense he almost couldn’t get the words out.

“Are you okay?”

Fucking… Why did she have to care? “I’m fine. Go back to the kitchen.”

“That how it’s gonna be?” She asked, forcing eye contact with him. Forcing him to see the plain hurt and anger that stared back at him.

“Get back to work.”

In an instant, she closed herself off, bored disinterest retaking her face and shining back in her eyes as she shrugged past him. “Alright then.”

Jake closed his eyes, trying to ignore how brushing her off brought a sting to his chest. He couldn’t do this. “Fuck.”

“Who is she?” I asked Nicky, nodding to the window where the girl and Jake stood.

“Tess,” Nicky answered, not even looking. “She was a back waiter a few months before you got hired.”

“I’m assuming they were close, judging by the particularly grumpy pout he’s sporting.”

“All I know is that they got together, and shortly after, she… got close… with Howard, tried to get Simone fired, and basically burned all bridges with him.”

“Shit,” I breathed out, serving a drink. “Sounds complicated.”

Nicky nodded. “Tell me about it.”

Concern filled my lungs as Jake stormed back into the restaurant, quickly returning behind the bar. “You can go,” he said, almost through his teeth.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Go back to the kitchen.”

I scoffed, looking up at him with an angry, quirked brow. “That how it’s gonna be?”

“Get back to work.”

“Alright then.” I brushed past him and went back to work. If Jake wanted to play this game, he’d do it alone.

Service continued to rage, but now I could feel the familiar weight of Jake’s eyes following me every time I entered the dining room. What the fuck is his problem? I thought to myself, rapidly clearing another table. It was one fucking kiss. One good kiss… It… I shook my head. It doesn’t matter. The whole thing was stupid. I ignored the disappointment and the feeling of my fears being confirmed in favor of getting through the night with my head held high. Jake wasn’t the first dumb pretty boy to brush me off, and I refused to let him get any satisfaction from seeing me crumble.

I helped the kitchen close down, staying to wash dishes beside Santos and Isaac until it appeared that I was the only one left that hadn’t gotten changed. So I headed up to the locker room, that painful pang striking me directly in the chest when it was just Jake and I left alone once again. I changed quickly, not caring if he was going to turn around and peek, too afraid that if I snuck off to the bathroom, I’d miss an attempt of his to reach out and talk to me.

When that didn’t happen after I finished putting my pants on, I looked at the back of his head, watching and waiting for him to do anything but stand there and ignore me. He was already dressed, save his jacket, but still, he just stood there in front of his locker, refusing to look at me. Finally, with a frustrated sigh, I moved. Fuck this. I slammed his locker shut and glared up at him. “Are you seriously gonna pull this shit?”

“What?” he demanded.

“You’ve been avoiding me all day, and every time I’ve tried to talk to you, you’ve been an ass.” I shook my head. “You kissed me last night. I kissed you back. It’s not that big of a deal. It certainly doesn’t change things and give you the right to be a stuck-up asshole to me.”

Jake’s eyes sparked with something as he turned to look down at me. “It doesn’t?”

I swallowed the urge to kiss his stupid lips. “No, it doesn’t. We’re still friends.”

“Most friends don’t kiss,” he replied, head leaning down ever so slightly. “So, did it change things, or didn’t it?”

“It didn’t change anything,” I hissed angrily.

He smirked. “Well then, when you want another kiss, I’m gonna make you ask me for it.”

Rolling my eyes, I turned away from him. “Good luck with that asshole.”

Storming back down the stairs and out the kitchen doors, I settled into a seat furthest from the bar and closest to the door, waiting to see who was coming to Ozzy’s. But when Prue walked through the door, I knew my plans to run home and hide my disappointed, frustrated anger among my friends, and the bar I knew like the back of my hand, was out the window. Instead, she turned and saw me, quickly sitting across from me to sign. “Hi! How’s your day been?”

“Shit,” I answered.

She looked closer at my face, her brows furrowing. “What happened?”

I nodded to the bar. “Apparently, we’re sixteen-year-olds that can’t have a simple discussion about one dumb kiss without the whole world imploding.” I shook my head. “He’s been an ass all day.”

“Fucking idiot,” Prue replied. “Well, you wanna come with Will and me to the bar they frequent?”

“Not particularly.”

“Please,” she begged. “Apparently, Will’s ex is going to be there tonight, and he wants me to come for support. Buuttt we both know how…” Pausing, she searched for the word.

“Insane,” I offered. “Violent. Crazy. Unhinged.”

Rolling her eyes, she reluctantly nodded. “Yes to all.” She smiled back at Will, who’d just returned from the manager’s office. “You know how I get around people like that. Please come and keep me from jumping this bitch?”

Sparing one last look at the bar and the annoying bartender that just slipped back through the kitchen doors to leave, I sighed and nodded. “Okay. I’ll come.”

“Thank you! Go home and change for a night out! We’ll meet you there.”

I followed Prue’s advice, heading home to change into a simple long-sleeved black dress. It was simple but made my boobs look amazing. It was totally coincidental and not a deliberate precaution I’d taken in case Jake was there. Dressed and ready, I headed out, using my annoyance with Jake to keep the twinge of fear that every loud car and dark silhouette brought me.

They were waiting outside for me, huddled up together like two adorable little birds. Prue’s eyes lit up as she saw me, while Will’s lit up at the sight of her beaming smile and joyful face. “You two are adorable,” I said and signed. “This the shit hole, then?”

Will nodded. “Yep. Home Bar. We used to come here every night, but after you joined the group and introduced us to Jack and Ozzy’s, it’s gotten a bit neglected by us.”

“That’s because my bar’s better,” I teased, following them through the door.

Home Bar was filled with the sounds of a hundred conversations happening at once, accompanied by the loud clack of pool balls striking against one another. It was slightly smaller, with only a few booths and tables to hang around. However, the bar was large and clearly, the focal point as the woman behind it happily mixed drinks and served them to the surrounding crowd. With a tight hand in hers, Will led Prue through the space, and as we neared the back of the room, I saw them.

My coworker’s loudness fit in here, almost causing them to blend into the crowd, but I’d know the feeling of Jake’s eyes anywhere. He sat on the end, likely so he would have access to leave whenever he wanted, with the girl from earlier sitting beside him and Olive sitting at a chair she’d pulled up to the table just so she could be near him. I rolled my eyes and tapped Prue’s shoulder. “So, who’s the ex?”

She nodded to the table, to the brown-haired girl. “That’s her. Tess.”

“Shit,” I sighed, drawing her curiosity. “Apparently, she’s Jake’s ex too.”

Prue’s mouth fell open. “We’re fucked, aren’t we?”

“I think we might be.”

“Well, at least Quinn isn’t here to encourage us.”

We sat in the booth, forcing everyone to smush together, aka Tess and Jake, with Olive leaning entirely into Jake’s free side. I bit the inside of my cheek and forced myself to breathe out the angry, bitter jealousy that burned my lungs. I didn’t have any right to be angry or jealous. Jake wasn’t mine, and I wasn’t his.

Sasha smiled at me. “Tiger Bitch! It’s so nice of you to join us here for a change!”

I shrugged. “It’s not so bad here. But I’ve gotta say my bar’s still better.”

“I have to agree,” Ari replied with a smile. “The girls there are cute.”

My eyes met Tess’s as she looked me up and down with a smile before she reached over and offered her hand. “I’m Tess.”

Prue was the one to shake her hand with a wide toothy grin. She pulled back and signed. “I’m Prue. Will’s girlfriend.” She looked over at me. “Will you translate?”

“Of course.” I looked back at Tess while keeping Prue’s hands in view. “She says: I’m Prue. Will’s girlfriend.”

Tess nodded. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Wish I could say the same.”

“She says: Wish I could say the same.” I shook my head and watched Will hide his smile.

With an uncomfortable laugh, Tess nodded. “Guess she’s heard about me, huh?”

I nodded. “Seems so.”

“Who are you?” She asked, looking at me.

“Lena,” I answered. “I started working at 22West a while ago.”

She looked sad for a minute. “That’s good. It’s a special place.”

A special place. I wanted to laugh at her but remembered when I’d once thought the same thing. “It’s just a restaurant.”

Sasha rolled his eyes. “Her auntie is Maddie Glover. She was used to the place long before us, Baby Monster.”

“Your aunt…” she paused, eyes growing even wider. “That means your Jennifer Glover’s daughter!”

Every inch of me tensed at my mother’s name. “Yep.”

Tess smiled, shaking her head in disbelief. “She’s the most sought-after ballet trainers in the world! That’s amazing! You must be really talented not just in the restaurant but in ballet.”

The crack of the stick against my leg stung, but I refused to cry. “Straighten your leg, Lena! For god’s sake, did you not practice at all?!”

“I practiced all night,” I answered, tired and stiff.

I could feel the blood ooze between my toes as my mother shook her head at me with another crack of the stick against my hip. “Again.”

Prue’s hand squeezed mine, slowly easing me out of my head to answer. “Not really.”

Jake’s eyes were on me, and he looked like he cared for the first time all day. Tess sensed the tension but didn’t shut up about ballet for the next hour until Olive became even more apparent with her infatuation with Jake. She set her hand on his leg, whispering something to him with a giggle. I was shocked when he didn’t immediately pull away from her and give her the look of disinterest he always did. Still, when his eyes flashed to mine, smug and full of himself, I realized what he was doing. With a shake of my head, I rose from the table. “I’m gonna get a drink.”

If he wanted to play this game, then I’d play, and I’d make him fucking regret it.

Jake hadn’t expected Olive to be at Home Bar tonight, but for once, he was actually glad she was. She wanted to fuck him still, even after his harsh words at his apartment when she’d shown up with Simone. And he couldn’t think of any better way to rile Lena up than by entertaining the moon-eyed girl. But, of course, he hadn’t expected Tess to get jealous. So there he sat, crowded between the two dark-haired girls as they fawned over his arms and hair and desperately tried to catch and keep his attention.

It was a perfect plan that worked far better than he’d expected. Except for one fact. Lena. She’d gotten up to get a drink and stayed at the bar, just within earshot. So Jake only had a view of her back and the face of the new man who had saddled beside her, offering her another drink. It’d been thirty minutes of men coming and going from her side, all eventually returning with a new glass and compliment and crowding around her like moths to a flame. She flirted back, drinking slowly and shifting her hair over her shoulder to further expose the deep cut of her dress and the silky skin of her neck.

He watched her giggle at their stupid jokes and squeeze their arms as she laughed with a tight jaw. Every time she happened to glance over her shoulder at the table, he’d lean over to whisper in Tess’s ear or tuck Olive’s hair out of her eyes, hoping those small acts would be enough to make her break, but they weren’t.

Lena was pissed off at him, so she was out for blood. She wasn’t going to break. So Jake did. He slid out of the booth and shrugged off his jacket, setting it on the table in front of Olive’s chair before he made his way toward the bar with only one goal in sight. Her.

Jake slid in between the man at the bar and me, his dark eyes staring down at me for a minute before he leaned in and whispered, “Excuse yourself to the bathroom.”

“What?” I asked sweetly, making that burn of jealousy in his eyes glow as he shook his head and gently took my hand to lead me from the bar toward the bathrooms.

Once he shoved the door open and quickly shut it behind us, he turned to me, leaning back against it with a simple tilt. “What are you doing?”

I shrugged, tucking a loose strand of my hair back. “I don’t know what you mean.”

“Oh, please.” He chuckled. “You’ve been batting your eyelashes at every guy you pass and rubbing their arms and playing with their hair like you’re some doe-eyed dream girl looking to fuck one of them.”

“And you’re not doing the exact same thing?” I retorted. “Or do you just brush every girl’s hair out of her eyes and lean in to whisper in their ears?”

His smirk was unbearable as he said. “I thought that kiss meant nothing.”

“Stop pretending like you’re not fucking heated seeing every guy in this shit hole fawn over me,” I scoffed at him, taking a step forward. “I have eyes.”

Jake smirked wider, eyebrows rising as he matched my bold step forward. “I’ve got eyes too, princess, and you’re just as fucking jealous of Tess and Olive.”

“I don’t have any reason to be jealous of your two little groupies,” I insisted.

“Cause you think you could have me whenever you wanted me, I know,” he nodded, encouragement filling his voice as he whispered, “Ask then.”

My chest heaved as my heart raced beneath my skin. “What?”

He closed the space between us, backing me against the sink. “Oh, come on, princess, you were so confident just a second ago. Say it.” His eyes were dark, black against the shitty dim lights of the bathroom. “Say it, or I will.”

“Kiss me again.” I barely had time to get the words out before Jake followed the desperate command behind them.

His head ducked down the rest of the way, lips pressing to mine. My body molded to his, arching up into him as his hands took hold of my hips and pushed me back into the cold, stained porcelain of the sink. When his teeth tugged on my bottom lip, my mouth fell open with a sharp gasp that had him smirking. I ran my fingers through his hair, pulling him back down for another dizzying kiss, stroking my tongue along his to taste the remnants of his drink.

Tugging at his hair, Jake groaned into my mouth, the deep sound vibrating right down to my core. I pulled away, gasping for air as his hands pulled at the sleeves of my top, lips, and tongue trailing down my neck until his teeth wrapped around my collarbone. I saw the bathroom door open from the corner of my eye and watched Olive’s eyes grow even larger.

We stared at one another for a moment. The pure rush of satisfaction her deflated face brought me mingled with the pleasure of Jake’s lips. I held her eyes, pulling Jake’s head up. I glanced briefly at his gorgeous eyes and slightly puffy lips before I tucked my head into his neck and wrapped my teeth around the skin beneath his ear. A deep, possessive part of me took over, nipping and sucking until a dark mark stood out against his skin. I kissed his jaw until Jake’s entire right side was covered in bite marks and the light tint of my lipstick.

He brought his hands up to my face, cradling it for a moment before he pulled my hair free of the small clip and crashed his mouth against mine. I didn’t care if Olive was still watching. I didn’t care about anything but his lips on mine. His hands caressed and squeezed my flesh as he pulled away again to return his attention to my neck and the top of my half-covered breasts.

My head tipped back, hands fisting in Jake’s hair and clothes as a soft moan of his name slid past my lips, “Jake.”

“God, Lena,” he groaned.

“Oh. My. God.” A voice said from the doorway, pulling Jake and me away from one another to look. Sasha sauntered in, a broad smile on his face as he looked at both of our disheveled states. “Thank the white baby Jesus! I was worried you two would drag this out and cost me a hundred dollars!”

“Get the fuck out, Sahsa!” Jake growled, positioning his body in front of mine, reminding me of the compromising state of my top. I tugged my sleeves back up and ensured my breasts were covered again before gently pushing against Jake.

His jaw ticked as he let me slide by to slap Sasha’s arms, yelling at him in Russian as I ushered him out the door and closed it with a sigh. “So… uh…”

“That was…” We started at the same time. Jake leaned back against the sink, looking at me for a long minute before he spoke again, “I’m sorry for today. I was an ass.”

“Yeah, you were,” I answered. “Are… are we okay now, though?”

The look in his eyes said no… it said there was still so much between us that was left unsaid that he couldn’t tell me for sure if we could go back to being “just friends,” but Jake nodded. “We’re okay.”

I looked down at my feet and sighed. “You were right. That kiss, and the one we just got caught up in… it does change things. I don’t… I don’t know in what way yet, but I don’t want it to cost me our friendship.”

“It won’t,” he assured me. “It was a good kiss.”

“Which one?” I asked, quirking a brow.

Jake smiled. “Both. I’d invite you back to my place, but I have a feeling I know what your answer would be.”

I bit my lip. You don’t, I wanted to say, knowing full well if Jake asked me to come home with him… if he kissed me again, I wouldn’t be able to say no. I wouldn’t want to say no. “Not tonight.”

“Not tonight?” He asked with a tilt of his head. He straightened up and moved closer, pressing me slightly back against the door as he looked down at me with a smirk, tugging on a loose curl before tucking it behind my ear. “That your way of saying I’ve got a shot?”

My eyes drank in his disheveled hair, the light tint of my lip marks against his neck, and the dark hickey I’d left beneath his ear. Then, finally, I shrugged as I reached up to wipe some lipstick off his jaw. “You might want to clean yourself up.”

He nodded. “I doubt it’ll help now that Sasha’s seen us.”

“Yeah,” I chuckled.

“You headed out?”

“Yep. It’s gonna be a long day tomorrow.”

Jake glanced at my lips briefly before he leaned back and said, “Goodnight, Lena.”

I smiled up at him, slowly stepping away to open the door. “Goodnight, Jake.”

I returned to the table where everyone sat, now all whispering about the juicy gossip Sasha had just told them. Prue looked up at me with a smile. “Heading out?”

“Yeah,” I answered. “I’ve gotta get some sleep.”

“Sweet dreams,” she replied, signing almost too quick for me to catch the, “About Jake,” she added at the end.

I shook my head, leaning on the table slightly to say goodbye to Will. There beneath my hand was the smooth leather of Jake’s jacket. With a sly grin, I slipped it off the table and shoved my arms through it. Tess glared at me from her seat across the table. “That’s Jake’s jacket.”

“Is it?” I asked with a knowing smile as I turned, catching Jake’s eyes as he emerged from the bathroom and giving him a smug wink before heading out the door and into the slightly chilled night.

The next day at work was a pleasant surprise. Nicky had the day off - an occurrence that happened absolutely never - which put me behind the bar with Jake. After the family meal, we migrated to the bar together, laughing at some stupid joke one of us had told. He settled into his usual spot, slicing one of the garnishes. “Alright, since you’re so new to this, I’ll give you a few pointers.”

I smirked over my shoulder as I finished stacking the clean glasses. “Oh, please! I can’t believe I’m finally getting the chance to be beneath the master bartender!”

“You coulda been beneath me at any point,” he teased. “Still can, just say the word.”

“Are you going to flirt with me, or are you going to teach me your special tricks?”

Jake bit his lip, letting his eyes wander. “I’m sure I can do both.”

I shook my head at him, finishing my job and sliding beside him, just a hair too close. “Well, come on then, teach me something.”

With a breathy laugh, he positioned me in front of him, carefully running through the steps of a signature drink Howard wanted us to recommend to the guests tonight. His lips skimmed the shell of my ear as his hands dragged up and down my arms, occasionally moving to grip my hips and manhandle me to one side or the other. I was lucky I already knew the cocktail, or I would’ve had to suffer the embarrassment of asking him to explain it to me again.

“Jake,” Howard said, bringing us out of our bubble of flirting to look up at the man. “My office, please.”

I looked up at him with a quizzical look. “Are you in trouble?”

He shrugged, moving to follow behind the angry-looking manager. “Probably.”

“Please, sit,” Howard offered as he settled in his chair.

Jake clasped his hands behind his back and stood up straighter. “I’ll stand.”

Howard gave him a displeased look like he always did when Jake refused to comply with even the simplest request. “Do you recall I changed some of the restaurant’s policies a few months ago?” He didn’t answer. “Implemented a new rule about employees disclosing romantic relationships to management?”

“Oh, I remember,” Jake assured the little manager. “There’s nothing to disclose.”

Howard sighed, his thumbs tapping against the wood of his desk in an offbeat rhythm. If Jake had been paying attention, he would have been annoyed by the inconsistencies of it, but he wasn’t. This was just another one of Howard’s sad displays of power. “She’s not like everyone else, you know.”

“What?”

“Lena,” Howard said. That got his attention. Jake could feel every inch of him tighten with repressed rage at the man’s implication that he knew her better than Jake did. “She’s not like all the other back waiters or hostesses you’ve run through over the years.”

With a slight tilt of his head, Jake asked, “What makes you say that?”

Jake saw Howard’s resolve crumble for the first time in a long time. “I say that because she is one of the most talented, determined, and pure souls to have ever worked here. She has done nothing but add to this restaurant, and I will not have you and your… habits… drag her down.”

“You think I’d drag her down?” Jake chuckled.

“You do it with everyone else,” Howard deadpanned. “Just look at Simone after all the years she’s had to spend carrying you.”

Jake’s jaw clenched, as did his hands. “Like I said, there’s nothing to disclose.”

Howard nodded. “Good. Get back to work.”

When Jake left, quickly making his way back to the bar and the redhead waiting for him with wide, almost nervous eyes, he decided even further to pursue Lena, mostly because the two of them clearly worked together as friends with this odd twist, but now also because Howard of all people tried to tell him not to. “Everything okay?”

He nodded. “Yeah, he just wanted to remind me to help you keep up tonight.”

“Yeah, right,” she scoffed, returning to her task. “If anything, I should’ve been the one I pulled aside then.”

Jake let the comment side off him despite how it made him sick to his stomach thinking about Lena alone with Howard. “Just pay attention, princess.”

“Holy shit,” I groaned. “I don’t think my face has ever hurt this bad from fake smiling.”

“Yeah,” Jake agreed. “Lucky for me, I don’t have to look nice to get tips.”

I rolled my eyes at him, sliding back behind the bar, now in my regular clothes, as I massaged my sore cheeks. “Fuck off.”

We served a few drinks to the equally tired group as they filled the gaps between the seats to finally complain about the night. Heather accepted her drink with a smile. “God, Lena should work behind the bar every night. She makes my drink absolutely perfect!”

“And I don’t?” Jake asked with a raised brow.

“You always add too much rum.”

“Oh, so you prefer it the lightweight way,” he clarified, earning Heather’s long middle finger and flipping him off.

Howard left quietly, something I was grateful for today after feeling him watching me all throughout service. Simone had stayed in the back, away from the bar, swirling a glass of wine in her poised hand, seemingly minding her business. She and I hadn’t interacted with one another outside of remaining professional during our shifts. Even then, we didn’t linger a second longer than we had to. Every time we locked eyes, though, I could only quietly hope for the day Jake told me he was finished with her bullshit so I could finally make good on my promise to her. Then, finally, the front door opened, and everyone went silent as Olive strolled in from her day off, dressed head to toe in nice clothes and sporting new, bright red hair.

“Oh my god,” Ari breathed, quickly covering her mouth as Olive made her way around to sit at the bar next to the kitchen doors.

It was probably the shitiest hair dye job I’d ever seen, with huge chunks of brown still peeking through and a visibly uneven dye coating making her hair look like multiple shades. She smiled. “Hi, Jake.”

He bit his lip. “Need a drink?”

“Sure,” she said, twirling her hair around her finger. “Just a glass of Irish whiskey.”

Isaac and I looked at one another over the bar, quietly giggling at the obvious attempt she was making to associate herself with me. Jake slid the drink across the bar to her, and we watched her gag on the liquor. “How was your day off?” Santos attempted to ask kindly.

Olive shrugged. “It was boring. That’s why I came here. Are you guys going to Home Bar?” She batted her eyelashes at Jake. “Jake?”

“No,” he answered. “We’re going to Jack and Ozzy’s tonight.”

“Oh,” she deflated. “I was hoping you’d be coming to Home Bar so we could hang out.”

He clicked his tongue. “Sorry to disappoint.”

Sasha finally burst. “What the fuck is with your hair?”

“You like it?” she asked, never looking away from Jake. “I dunno, I just kind of decided the other night to dye it. I think it suits me, don’t you?”

Jake gave me an amused look before he just nodded to back. “I’m gonna go change.”

“I’ve got the bar handled,” I assured him, smiling happily as he slid by Olive without even glancing at her, no matter how obviously she twisted the new red hair between her fingers or shoved her chest out to make her boobs pop.

“Oh, sweet baby,” Sasha cooed, examining the splotchy red dye job. “Red fur does not a tiger make. It’s all about the stripes of the beast. The experience and the… sex appeal. You, little Olive, have neither.” He stuck a finger in her face and grinned. “There is only one Tiger Bitch, and it is not you.”

Heather giggled, lifting another poorly executed strip of her hair. “Ohh, I dunno, she sure has some stripes.”

Ari shook her head. “Sploches is more like it. But, seriously, if you were going to dye your hair to copy her, you at least couldn’t have done a better job?”

Olive shook everyone off her with an offended, proud look. “I didn’t copy her!”

“Red hair, brown hair, blonde hair,” I started from behind the bar. “It doesn’t matter. She’s not me, and she knows she won’t ever be me.”

When Jake entered the locker room, Simone was already there, half changed into her regular clothes. He greeted her with a smile and a polite nod as he moved to get dressed. “Tonight was certainly interesting.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Good for tips, though.”

With a sigh, she replied, “Yes, it was. I saw Howard pull you into his office. Is there anything I should know?”

Jake glanced at her over his shoulder as he finished pulling on his shirt. “No. Just a reminder of his policy about disclosing employee relationships to him.”

“Oh?” She sounded hopeful as she continued, “Did you and Olive hit it off?”

He scoffed. “Hell no.”

“Why not?” Simone asked, continuing to change her clothes.

Jake’s eyes narrowed. “Guess she’s just not my type.”

She made an amused noise. “Everyone is your type, Jake. I figured Olive would be no different, and yet… You skipped over her. Maybe she is more like Tess than I thought.”

“She’s not like Tess,” Jake answered. Tess was naive and somewhat selfish in her choices, but ultimately, she was herself. Olive wasn’t. She changed her hair and personality, trying to fit whatever character she felt would get her what she wanted. “She’s just a girl playing pretend and embarrassing herself. Those people are always horrible in the sack. They never know what they’re doing or what they want.”

“And Lena’s better?”

He groaned, slamming his locker shut. “Jesus fucking Christ, how many times do I have to say we haven’t slept together before you believe me.”

Simone just shook her head, deep blue eyes shining and red lips cast into a frown. “Walk me home?” She asked, stepping toward him with a gentle hand on his chest.

That was their code. It had been for years. A whole year had passed since she last asked him to come home with her, to be with her how they used to be. In that time, she’d slept with Serena’s husband and Etienne. Her having other lovers never bothered him, but the fact that she’d lied about it did. Usually, Jake would push these feelings down and do as Simone wanted, but tonight… After everything that had happened between them and between him and Lena, Jake shook his head. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Excuse me?”

“When you slept with Serena’s asshole husband and Etienne, you didn’t tell me because you knew it’d hurt me. But it hurt more knowing you lied. I’m still not in a place where that’s not on my mind.”

Simone laughed humorlessly and shook her head. “Unbelievable. Are you such a child that you can’t get over things that happened months ago?”

Her words cut him to the core, as they always did when he received her ire. “I’m sorry Simone, I just… It wouldn’t feel right.”

“Go on then,” she urged. “Run down to the bar like the good lapdog you are, and when she’s broken your heart, just like I said she would, or you finally decide to grow up, you know where I’ll be. But you’d better have one hell of an apology prepared, or I swear to god, Jake, I’m just going to be through with you.”

Don’t say that… He thought, pain, fear, and sorrow welding to his chest as he watched Simone turn away from him and leave. For a minute, all he could do was stand there and stare at the empty doorway. Would she really be through with him? Would Simone finally abandon him like everyone else had?

A flash of red filled his vision as Lena paused in the doorway. “You coming?” Her voice brought air into his lungs, lifting that feeling from his chest. “Drinks are on Sasha tonight.”

“Yeah,” he said quietly.

“Everything okay?” She asked, narrowing her eyes and tilting her head to the side.

Jake nodded, pulling his thoughts from Simone and her anger and her threats to focus on her. Those green eyes, that red hair, and how her lips curved into a smile only made him want to kiss her again. Lena was here. Even after he’d been an ass and deliberately entertained Tess and Olive to get a rise from the fierce redhead. She was here, looking at him like he mattered like she cared. She does care, he realized.

He cleared his throat and nodded again. “Yeah, everything’s good.”

She smiled, leaning forward on her feet to tap his chest. “You’re it.”

Laughing, he moved forward, laying his hand on her head. “You’re it.”

“You’re it,” she said one last time before turning and bolting down the stairs, laughing as he moved to follow her. “Last one to Ozzy’s has to buy shots!” She screamed through the front room, nothing but a blur of red hair and his leather jacket.

As Jake watched his coworkers, his friends, shoot out of their seats and rush after the woman with shouts and laughs, he couldn’t help but smile. Once he’d finally caught up to her and swept her off her feet, he nearly collapsed as she kicked and squealed. That red hair fell back into his face, filling his nose with sweet cherries and rose as he laughed breathlessly, his lips brushing against the back of her neck. A promise of a kiss. “You’re it, princess.”

“Laugh it up, tough guy,” she said, leaning back into him. “I’m gonna be tagging you right back once you let me go.”

I’ll never let go then, he thought to himself, quietly inhaling her scent, searing it and this moment into his memory. “We’ll see.”

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