His eyes immediately found mine and I made sure to look away to ensure that he did
not know I was looking at him. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his lips quirk up in an almost half smile as he crossed the length of the room and sat at the table with his friends. I made a conscious decision not to look that way because I knew he was staring at me and waiting for me to slip up.
It was hard to avoid his gaze but I was determined to do it. I decided to throw my all into my work. I concentrated on the customers and was nicer to them than I usually was. If anyone picked up on my unusual cheerfulness, they didn't say anything. It earned me more tips so I figured it was a good plan. I was able to kill two birds with one stone.
Everything was going fine until one customer came in. He looked to be in his mid- thirties with curly brown hair atop his head. He had stress lines across his forehead and smile wrinkles in his eyes. He was dressed in a tailored suit which was one thing I had never seen anyone wear to a bar. I took one look at him and I knew that he had a corporate job and judging by the ring on his finger, he was married.
He analyzed the bar carefully and I saw him look at Serena and me as if he was trying to know us. After a few seconds of just standing, he came to my end of the bar and sat down. I offered him the same smile I gave to the others and took his order. I noticed that he was a bit flirty but I didn't think too much about it. He didn't seem to be the type to get drunk and he didn't seem to be someone who would drink so much. There was something about him that rubbed me the wrong way.
"How long have you worked here?" he asked out of the blue and I responded with a dismissive shrug. "I see you're not very cheerful. I'm Liam and I'm a lawyer although I'm sure you already guessed from the suit and tie."
"What's a lawyer like you doing here, Liam?" I asked deciding to feed into my curiosity. "I have never seen you around town before. Are you new or are you just passing through?"
"My car got stuck and I had to call a tow truck so I'm stuck in this town for at least a day. I would love to have someone who could show me around. You look like you've been here a while."
His fingers reached forward and grazed my arm. It felt so wrong that I pulled my hand back immediately and gave him a patronizing smile. He seemed to get the hint because he placed his hands back in his lap but somehow I doubted that was going to be the end of it. After that, I tried to minimize the interactions I had with him but he always seemed to try to pull me into another conversation.
For the first time since my shift started, I risked a glance at Darius' table and I saw that they were not looking at me, their eyes were fixated on Liam as if he was their prey and they wanted to attack. I had no idea what was going on but I knew that I wanted no part of it so I tried to avoid Liam and that worked until he called me over to close up his tab.
"I think I've had enough for the night," he said with a drawl. He was not even close to being buzzed. "My offer still stands on showing me around later. If you change your mind then, call me."
I was about to say that I had no way to call him but he stood up and walked out of the bar. I picked up his receipt only to see that he had left me a hundred-dollar tip and right underneath it was his number scrawled on the paper.
"Someone has an admirer," Serena mused over my shoulder and I jumped because I hadn't noticed her approach. "He looks expensive but there's something off about him, I think you should stay away."
"What do you mean?" I asked and she gave me a shrug.
"I don't know but for starters, Darius does not look happy about it."
I risked another glance at that table and sure enough Darius was practically fuming. To someone else, he would have just looked bored but I could see the vein ticking in his forehead and how hard his jaw was clenched. I couldn't help but smirk- it looked like I wasn't the only one who was affected. Darius Lunar was jealous of a stranger in his bar.
For the rest of the night, I upped my flirting game with most of the customers. I didn't know why it meant so much to me to get a reaction out of Darius but it was my mission to make him as uncomfortable as possible. Every single time I flirted with a customer, he looked like he was one second away from storming over to the bar but he managed to keep his self-control and keep himself from reacting.
"You're playing with fire," Serena whispered to me once we were on our break. "You have no idea how volatile Darius can be when pushed to the edge."
"Darius has no reason to be volatile. I am a single woman and I can flirt with anyone or everyone that I want."
She turned to me with a sly smile. "Say it like you mean it and I might be convinced to believe you."
"Why are you so adamant that I accept Darius?" I asked. "What is it about him that you can see and you want me to see? He has done everything backward. If he wanted me then he should have courted me instead of demanding that I belong to him."
She let out a sigh and ran her hand through her hair. Sometime during her shift, it had come out of its ponytail and now hung around her face. She opened her mouth to speak but closed it at the last minute as if she was rethinking her words. She stood to her feet and for a second, I thought she was not going to respond but then she spoke in a soft voice.
"Sometimes life is not black and white and we meet people that we just instantly know are ours. We know that it is our job to protect and claim them and if you just opened your mind a little bit then you would know that Darius is that person for you."
There was something about the way she spoke that had me looking up at her. I decided to look at Serena through a new lens and I briefly wondered if she was one of them- the wolves. I couldn't ask her outright because I did not want to arouse suspicion but she had now become my number one suspect.
"We should get back to the bar," I said as I found my feet. "Our break is going to be over in a few minutes."
She knew I was cutting off the conversation but she didn't push. Instead, she nodded and helped me brush off the dust that had settled on my pants when I sat down.
"There's a festival holding tomorrow," she began. "It started a few years ago to celebrate the town and the founders. It is usually held in the town square and it starts late around nine. We are entitled to a three-day break every month and I'm sure Darius wouldn't mind giving us tomorrow off."
"That sounds fun, I'll be there."
She smiled and we walked back to the bar but as we got there, I instantly knew that something was off. For starters, the patrons all seemed to be avoiding my eyes. It didn't matter how much I smiled at them or tried to be nice, they were too respectful. I lifted my eyes and one glance at Darius told me everything I needed to know- he was behind it.
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I was furious for the rest of my shift. He had no right to try and scare everyone into not talking to me. I was having fun before and he just ruined it. I was pissed but a small part of me liked it and I did everything possible to shove that part of me beneath the surface.
As soon as my shift was over, I practically rushed out of the bar. I did not want to spend a single second in there any longer. I wanted to get as far away as I could from Darius before I made any stupid mistakes. I thought I had succeeded when I was about to get into my car but he walked out of the bar with Ian in town.
âI'm taking you home today,â Ian said to Serena and she did not protest as she quietly got out of my car and followed him to his bike.
I turned to Darius who was standing in front of the door with his arms crossed. I had not parked in front of the bar so I knew the patrons could not see me. I tried to get into the car but in a flash, he was by my side and holding the door shut. His body was practically pressed against mine and I had to count backwards from ten to prevent my body from reacting to his.
"I don't appreciate you flirting with the customers," he said through gritted teeth. "Your job is to work and not to put yourself on a golden platter for them."
"What I do with people is none of your damn business," I spat back at him. "You have
no right to tell me who I can or cannot flirt with. I can go around flirting or fucking every single man in this town if I want to."
"If you want to be responsible for the deaths of every single man in this town then go right ahead."
I turned around to face him at those words and there was no hint of a joke on his face. He had said those exact words to me before and I believed him then. I didn't know what he was but I believed him. Now that I knew what he was, there was no shadow of doubt that he would do it and it infuriated me.
"Why are you doing this?" I hated how defeated my voice sounded. "This is my life and I was living it perfectly fine before you decided to come in here and turn it upside down."
"There's only so many ways I can tell you this, Leindra. I cannot allow others to have what is mine." He'd leaned forward sometime during our conversation and his lips were almost brushing mine. "If I have to threaten every man within a five-mile radius of you then I will, including the man in the suit."