But since hating another person was a sin, she decided to strongly dislike him instead. He’d walked into Rush, Hogan’s nightclub, five minutes ago and hadn’t taken his eyes off her once.
Nursing a glass of whiskey at the bar, he somehow fit in and stood out at the same time. He was in possession of a wicked black eye, yet he’d walked through the door with the confidence of a man who doled them out, not received them. Tall and broad-shouldered with the cut muscles of a working man, he caught the attention of women and men alike, drawing looks of appreciation as well as apprehension. The way he moved said do not fuck with me, louder than if he’d shouted the statement. His dark blond hair had been tousled in a way that looked purposeful, like a woman had just been holding on to it for dear life.
Sera shook herself, realizing she’d been openly scowling at him. These were not the type of thoughts she normally had. She shouldn’t be picturing a woman in the throes of ecstasy with her fingers clutching some stranger’s hair.
With
a
muttered
admonishment
directed at herself, she picked up her tray and turned, resolving to ignore the stranger. She’d been waitressing at Hogan’s nightclub for two weeks and she’d gotten no closer to incriminating him. He’d given her a room upstairs and ordered her to heal his cousin, whose condition began to decline, much to her alarm. She’d wondered if the man even wanted to survive. She’d begged Hogan to take him to a hospital, knowing the action would ruin her chances of bringing him down. No matter how hard she’d pleaded, Hogan had refused to pursue medical attention and against all odds, she’d managed to stabilize the patient after several days.
Once she’d made him reasonably comfortable and he appeared to be out of the woods, she’d thought Hogan would send her packing. He’d thrown her an apron instead. Whether he’d decided her healing skills might come in useful in the future or he simply didn’t know what to do with her, she couldn’t decide. Not having answers had begun to wear thin, making her jumpy. She’d even requested to be allowed to leave and return home several times so she wouldn’t appear eager to stick around, but he continued to put her off, using his injured cousin as an excuse to keep her there. Sera had caught him watching her on a few occasions, a thoughtful expression on his face, as if he were deciding her fate. That cold calculation unnerved her, and his wariness hadn’t exactly been conducive to her investigation, but she’d gotten a glimpse of the ledger book early yesterday morning. She refused to give up her chance at him.
Hopefully, all of her time-biding would come to an end tomorrow. She’d overheard Hogan on the phone yesterday as he sat at one of the tables in her section. He was going out of town for a week to check on operations at another nightclub he owned at the Jersey shore.
If he let her remain behind to care for his cousin, she would finally have her chance to access the office downstairs he always kept locked.
Against her will, her gaze landed on the man at the bar again. Something about him was familiar, but she couldn’t place the reason for such a feeling.
Before he’d been appraising as he watched her; now he simply looked angry. Talk about confusing.
“Sweetheart, I’m dying of thirst over here.”
Sera turned with a pasted-on smile and cleared away the three men’s empty pint glasses. “Same round again?”
Grunts served as her answer. With a nod, Sera slipped through the rows of tables to retrieve their order from the bar.
At early evening on a Friday, Rush had started to fill up, and she knew from even limited experience the regulars were demanding. Rush lacked any similarity to the nightclubs she’d been to, which was admittedly very few. No frilly, overpriced drinks or coolly sophisticated customers. Here, they were
rough
and
suspicious
of
newcomers, herself included. After a few shifts, they seemed to accept her only because she was with Hogan.
Sera propped her elbows on the wooden bar hatch until the bartender scanned her through bloodshot eyes.
“Two bottles of Bud, one Carlsberg.”
“You got it, honey.” As he shuffled toward the other end of the bar to drag her beers out of the ice, Sera felt the staring man move closer. It annoyed her, the way her skin prickled as he sauntered toward her, taking his sweet time. She didn’t want to talk to him and silently urged the weary bartender to hurry up with her order. No such luck, though. She’d be willing to bet he’d never hurried to do a single thing in his life.
“You know, if I were working for tips, I might smile more.”
The words were spoken so close to her neck, the small hairs at her nape shifted, sending a wicked shiver down her back. An unusual stirring took place in her belly before exploding through her veins, hot and liquid-like. Her lips parted on a small gasp. At his audacity?
At her reaction to this stranger? She didn’t know.
Pull it together. Play your part.