Page 4 of Fierce-Matt

“I had a great time,” she said. “It was nice of Brendan to ask me.”

Brendan had asked her four times until she finally caved and said she’d go.

She hadn’t wanted to see Matt again and for a reason.

He acted the same as he always did.

Privileged prick and getting his way.

Thankfully, Brendan laughed off the interruption of their dance. She’d put Matt in his place so he didn’t come back and try to talk to her again.

She was no longer that young girl he could get a silly emotional reaction out of.

Life got hard and she grew up.

There was no time for that petty crap now.

“Are you two dating?” Jolene asked. “I hadn’t been aware of that.” She leaned in closer. “We know I’m aware of everything.”

Anya laughed. Jolene Fierce, Mason’s mother, still owned part of the brewery. She was also known for meddling in a lot of people’s love lives.

“We are just friends,” she said.

In her mind at least. In his and everyone else’s now. She wasn’t afraid to have her voice heard anymore.

Brendan had asked her out twice more. Once she wasn’t available, the second she didn’t want to lie and say she was busy when she wasn’t.

They had dinner, they talked, there was no heat on her end, and the last thing she wanted to do was get involved with a guy she had to see at work.

He hadn’t asked her again in the past two weeks since she slammed him into the friend’s zone.

“Your generation is so good at those things. In my time, men and women couldn’t be friends without one of them wanting something more.”

Anya smiled and shrugged. “It’s not like that on my end.”

“Ahhh,” Jolene said, smirking, then placing her elbows on the bar. “Guess times haven’t changed all that much. I’m surprised to see you here today. You normally work on Saturday night or earlier in the week.”

When she had time from her other job. The real estate market fluctuated, and the past few months showed more failures than successes.

It was a cutthroat business she didn’t have the stomach for. Not if she had to lie and stab people in the back.

But like everything else in her life, she wanted to give it a try.

The part-time bartending job here gave her more stable money in tips than her full-time career had in two months.

“I’ve been picking up one afternoon shift,” she said. “There aren’t as many people looking at housing during the day as there are at night.”

And most narrowed down what they wanted online so they only viewed what they were looking for exactly. It helped not waste her time, but also didn’t give her a chance to get a commission if she wasn’t pushing them to look outside their scope.

Again, sales wasn’t really her thing. Or maybe being pushy wasn’t.

One more decision she’d have to make soon. If life ever slowed down enough.

“That’s too bad,” Jolene said. “But it allows you to work here as well.”

“I love it here,” she said. “Hang on.”

The bar would open in twenty minutes. She was getting everything ready. Another bartender would be here soon, but she was always early.