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LIA

I felt the air change. One moment, everything was normal. Fine . The next, the hair on the back of my neck stood up on end, and I shivered.

Someone was watching me.

I paused in my steps and turned around.

There was no one and nothing there but the trees and dirt. The woods seemed to mock me. Ironic, considering it was one of the reasons I decided to apply for a job here at this specific coffee shop.

I thought it had its charm. During the summer, it attracted enough patrons to purchase a cup of coffee and sit out back, enjoying the scenery.

But that was in the summer. We were just heading into fall in New York, and everything was dead silent outside. Dad hadn’t wanted me to work here in the first place. He didn’t think it was safe, but I had enough of my inheritance from my grandpa that I didn't need Dad’s approval on anything. I’d also graduated with a degree in accounting like he wanted me to, but I couldn’t bring myself to work in that field. In Dad’s field. I have been aimlessly hopping from one job to the next. This coffee shop was the longest place I’d lasted. And it was probably one of the biggest fights we’d ever gotten into. Not that we fought a lot. My dad was a mild-mannered man who spoke only when he felt there was something he needed to say. He had his own accounting firm and had wanted me to join the family business, but the last thing I wanted to do was crunch numbers for someone else for the rest of my life.

Caden would have been great at it—had he been given the chance to grow up. He was the more analytical sibling. He took after our father… but despite their similarities and the dissimilarities between Caden and me, we were close. He had been my best friend before he was cruelly taken away from me.

And now, I felt like all I was doing was trying to live in his shadow and failing.

Settling down in my job was supposed to be a step in a different direction. Something to make me feel passionate about. Something to make me feel… alive.

That wasn’t the case.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I thought working at a coffee shop would give me a sense of purpose. But all it accomplished was give me mere hours of reprieve from my own twisted, dark thoughts threatening to pull me under and cause me to feel so exhausted by the end of each day that all I wanted to do was curl into a ball on my apartment floor and just… let go.

How could I be this directionless?

A gush of cold wind picked up, and I hurried back inside the deserted coffee shop. It was after hours. I should be home, or hell, on my way home. Instead, I was coming back here because my mind seemed to have been elsewhere these past days, making me unable to sleep, and, in effect, it made me forget my phone. So now here I was, and feeling like I wasn’t actually alone.

But this was just my thoughts on a ramble. And perhaps the sleep deprivation was making me paranoid.

Who would be watching me?

My heart rate picked up from the thought, and I hurried inside, turning on the lights and taking in the empty shop.

Everything was as I left it. And it was so quiet that I could almost hear my own heart beating.

My phone was behind the register. I let out a small sigh and could feel all the stress coming back to me.

Why was I holding onto this job at the coffee shop?

Oh yeah. Because if I didn’t have this, what did I have? What was I supposed to do then?

I blinked. Not having an answer was almost more dreadful than the fact that I planned to keep working here for one more year. Of course, this was what I told myself every year.

One more year and I would do something different. I would finally find my passion in life.

One more year.

It had been five years already.

I was twenty-seven, directionless, and… sad .

The phone vibrated in my hand just as I picked it up. I looked down at the screen. A message from Victoria.

Victoria: Come out to Brody’s.

I grimaced. The last thing I wanted to do was go out to the bar with Victoria after a long and exhausting day at work.

But this was the third time she had asked this week, and I had already said no the other two times. I doubt she would let me get away with trying to get out of this one.

As if on cue, my phone vibrated once more. I didn’t want to look. I did so anyway.

Victoria: I know where you live. You’ll only make this worse for yourself if you make me get my drunk ass over there to kidnap you.

I shook my head and texted back.

Me: Not funny. Don’t joke about drinking and driving.

Victoria: I was talking about taking an Uber. Besides, I’m not that drunk… yet.

Another text came through shortly after this one.

Victoria: Come quick. There’s this cute boy here, and I need you to fulfill your role as my best friend and be my wingwoman.

I smiled as I texted back.

Me: You don’t need me to help you get laid.

And wasn’t that the truth? My best friend was an exceptionally gorgeous redhead with a killer body. She broke more hearts than I could count, and what was more, she knew she was beautiful.

Victoria: You can come out and see your boyfriend.

I rolled my eyes over her text. Technically, Brody wasn’t my boyfriend. He was the owner of Brody’s Bar—hence the name—and was someone I enjoyed talking to.

Me: I’m coming.

I shoved the phone in my pocket, knowing the dream of going home and changing into my pajamas to watch an old nineties romance film was nothing more than just that. A dream.

I walked out the same path I took to get inside, turning off the lights I had turned on as I went. Just as I got to the last light switch, I hesitated.

Slowly, I turned around and took in the lonely white rose lying on one of the tables.

That wasn’t there when I left earlier, and I had been the last one out the door.

I would have noticed. I was usually good at detecting things that were out of place.

I walked over to the rose and cautiously reached for it, as if this were a horror movie and the rose would turn into a snake and bite me.

But it was nothing more than a harmless?—

“Ouch.” I dropped the rose when a thorn pricked my finger. A bead of crimson pooled at the tip. It didn’t hurt, but I was wearing a white shirt, and I didn’t want blood to get on the fabric.

What an inconvenience.

And why were there suddenly white roses everywhere?

There had been one lying on the windshield of my car earlier this week. And a man had mistakenly delivered a bouquet of white roses to the shop two days ago. Did he accidentally leave one behind?

I bent down and picked the rose back in my hand, careful to avoid the thorns. The petals still looked fresh.

This was recent.

Was I the only one noticing this?

I didn’t know. I brought the rose with me out to the car and placed it on the dashboard. My mind was moving a million miles an hour as I drove to the bar.

It was a Thursday, and though there was a decent number of cars in the lot, I knew it wouldn’t be as crowded or wild as it usually got during the weekend.

I found Victoria right away, flirting with a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties, classically handsome, and wealthy . The man just had this look about him that I knew well, after all, I grew up in a similar crowd.

Victoria was in the same outfit she usually wore at work, which told me she had headed straight here as soon as she got off. Victoria worked as a digital marketer for one of the big tech companies here in New York, Roth Tech. It paid well, considering she had been there as an intern her senior year in college and had stayed with the company ever since.

It was all so… grown up.

Sometimes, I find myself hit with a wave of envy at how Victoria seemed to have everything figured out. She went to college, then got a job in her related field. She made it seem easy, and I knew Dad had wished I was more like her. I just didn’t know why I couldn’t do the same. I didn’t want to do the same, even if I was envious of her for being able to do it.

I wouldn’t call myself spoiled, but I knew I was privileged growing up.

Instead of walking over to Victoria, I made my way to the bar top, where Brody was showing off his bartending skills to a group of young, impressionable college girls. They clapped when he finished pouring everyone’s drinks into small glasses, and he winked at the girl closest to him.

I could literally see them swoon.

I smiled a little as I watched the interaction before focusing on Brody.

He was tall. Taller than most men around by at least a head, with curly, short black hair, a muscular build, blue eyes, a charming smile, and tan skin.

He was handsome. And hardworking. And obviously successful. Not someone Dad would have wanted me to end up with, but I had already strayed far from the path he wanted for me. I doubted me marrying a bar owner would really be the thing to push our relationship over the edge.

At any rate, I didn’t think it would be a problem because while I talked to Brody, had gone on three dates with him, and shared some heavy make-out sessions, there was no spark.

I couldn’t even convince myself that the “spark” was real anymore, considering I had never felt that with anyone.

But I wanted so badly to feel it with Brody. I wanted so badly to find someone who could be in my corner… who could be my person. Victoria was a great friend, but I wanted something more intimate than that of friendship.

I wanted that closeness only possible between two people, that… spark.

I deflated a little from where I stood.

Brody wasn’t the one for me. And I was doing nothing more than stringing him along because even though I didn't feel anything, I knew Brody did.

And he was nice.

“Hey, you,” Brody greeted, coming up to me.

I plastered on a smile I didn’t feel. “Hey.”

“I didn’t know you were coming out tonight,” he said, leaning his body over the bar to get closer to me.

I gripped the edge to keep myself from backing away. “Oh yeah, Tori threatened to come pick me up if I didn’t show.”

He laughed as if I had told a funny joke. I smiled a little at that. “Whatever it is, I’m glad you came. What are you drinking?”

“A beer.”

He nodded, moving away to grab me a bottle. I watched him crack it open, handing it over.

I tried to pay for it, but he shook his head, backing away from me.

“Have fun,” he said, turning to the next customer. I stood where I was and watched him for a beat, trying to think of a way I could let him down gently.

I let out a small sigh and took a sip of my beer, turning away from Brody and taking in the bar.

Victoria was in my line of vision. I smiled when she threw her head back at something the man talking to her said, the sound traveling clear across the room and drawing the hungry attention and jealousy of other men around.

She caught my eye and waved enthusiastically at me. I held up my bottle in greeting, hoping she could read my expression and stay where she was so she could work her magic on the man.

She winked at me.

I looked around the bar once more, taking in the fact that almost everyone was paired up with someone. Perhaps they’d come in with that person, or they were meeting for the first time, or maybe this was a first date. Whatever it was, everyone seemed to be having a good time.

And I was suddenly hit with a bout of loneliness so strong I nearly fell to my knees.

My eyes moved over to Brody of their own accord.

Being lonely didn’t give me the excuse to string along a good man when I knew there would never be anything there.

I quickly looked away from him when I thought he was about to turn his head to look at me, and my eyes clashed with another man from across the bar.

I froze.

My skin prickled with awareness, and my breathing started to come as uneven pants as I took in quite possibly the most interesting-looking man I had ever come across.

Tall and imposing, with a dark gaze that could hold anyone captive.

And he was looking right at me.

And I was held captive.

But why would he look at me so intently?

I blinked and turned away, glancing from one side to the next, thinking he might be looking at someone near me and not at me, but there was no one close by.

When I turned back to the man, his focus was still on me.

He was mesmerizing.

Not handsome.

No, he was too rough-looking to be handsome, but interesting enough that I noticed most of the people around were staring at him.

He was also big.

As wide as he was tall, he could have been a professional athlete in another life. Not this one, at least, I didn’t think so. No, he looked like someone who worked with his hands. And that he was good at it. There was just that air of confidence surrounding him.

I wanted to get closer.

But I was scared to at the same time.

Scared I might get burned if I got too close.

The bar wasn’t well-lit, but it was light enough that I could make out his features. I could tell he wasn’t looking away, and I didn’t want to be the first to do so. It felt like I was baiting him to make a move, even if that was the last thing I wanted… wasn’t it?

Slowly, one side of his lips curved up in a small smirk.

I swallowed, feeling like prey.

Did that make him a predator?

A commotion sounded at the door as a group of girls came in, drawing my attention. I looked away from him for probably a handful of seconds, but by the time I turned my gaze back to the man, he was gone. I searched around the bar for him. He shouldn’t be hard to find, but it was like he had never been there in the first place—as if he had been nothing more than a figment of my imagination.

Something heavy settled in the pit of my stomach that felt a hell of a lot like disappointment.

I shook my head and took another sip of my beer just as another man from across the bar caught my eye. He smiled and made a move to approach me. I turned away before he could, hoping he’d take the hint and leave me alone.

I didn't feel like socializing much, which was why I probably should have stayed home tonight and risked Victoria’s “woe is me” treatment the next day.

It was going to be a long night.