Page 12 of Minotaur Bar (Minotaur Bar #1)

I thank Duke for helping out and hand him a hundred-dollar bill before he leaves for the evening.

“You really saved my ass tonight,”

I say gratefully. Duke waves me off, smiling as he eyes me up and down.

“Anything for you, Havoc. And anything for that beauty I can smell all over your ugly mug,”

he says with a wink.

“No idea what you’re talking about, old friend,”

I reply, shoving him out the door and locking it behind him. I laugh to myself, turning around to find Cash staring me down.

“So, you’re fucking her now?”

he growls angrily as I steel myself. I knew this was fucking coming. I walk to the bar, slamming my hands down on the wood as we face off on either side of the bar top.

“Even if I was, what’s it to you?”

I growl. It would be so easy to head butt the fuck out of his arrogant ass right now. I repress the urge. Enough blood has been spilled tonight.

“She already has everyone wrapped around her fucking finger. Now she’s got you pussy whipped,”

he seethes. I narrow my eyes.

“You’ve been sulking around, feeling sorry for yourself that you’ve been put in your place by a human female and it’s made your customer service suffer. In turn, your tips have gone down and so has my respect for you. Buck up, Cash. You whining about things that won’t change is getting on my last nerve. Me fucking or not fucking Tess has nothing to do with the fact that she’s an excellent bartender and you’re fucking pouting about it! Figure your shit out or leave. If it was another minotaur you were going up against, I bet you’d be inspired instead of threatened, and working twice as hard to prove yourself. You’re slacking hard and everyone knows it.”

“Fine! You don’t want me here? Fuck the last five years, is that right?”

he yells as I laugh hollowly.

“Yeah, I don’t want you here if this is the Cash I’m getting. You’re better than the way you’ve been acting,” I retort.

“Whatever, Havoc. I’m closing out the register then going home. Have fun fucking that bitch,”

he says with malice as I grab one of his horns and slam his face down to the bar top, squishing his white ear against the wood.

“Where I put my dick is none of your concern. Regardless of what you think I have going on with Tess, you will respect her. She’s your coworker and a very nice woman.”

I let go of his horn as Cash throws his head back with a wild snort.

“Fuck out of here. I’ll close it all down by myself.”

“Fine. Fuck off, Havoc!”

Cash cries as I shake my head in disbelief. He leaves out the back door, slamming it hard in his anger. I close down the bar alone, dreaming of red upstairs and getting to fall into my bed with her.

Tess:

I wake with a start after I have a terrible nightmare of being impaled on the end of a minotaur bull horn. I scream out, instantly wishing I hadn’t as my side explodes in lighting flashes of pain that hurt so badly, I swear I’m seeing stars.

“Whoa there, red,”

a deep, sleepy voice says as large hands cup my body, steadying me.

“Havoc?”

I ask in a high-pitched voice, turning to the side and seeing him shirtless, laying under the covers of the same blanket as I am. “Fuck!”

I yell. It all comes back to me. The fight. My injury. My boss stitching me up naked in his apartment on the middle of his kitchen island. The earth-shattering orgasm he gave me afterwards. I must still be at his place. “My dad!”

I’m back to panicking, the minotaur I’m in bed with soothing me as he talks me down.

“I called him. He knows you aren’t coming home.”

I stare at him, considering how fucking thoughtful he is.

“Does he know I got hurt?”

I whimper. Havoc shakes his head.

“I figured it’d freak him out and he’d try to come see you. I didn’t know if that’s what you wanted and you were passed out, so I couldn’t get your opinion on the matter. I’m so sorry if that was the wrong thing to do,”

he replies. My head begins to pound as I slump into him, losing all sense of myself as my adrenaline wanes.

“Easy, babe. Just take a breath.”

He’s been telling me that all night. Normally that would bug the shit out of me, but not when Havoc says it.

“Thank you, for everything,”

I croak.

“Can I trouble you for some water?”

I ask meekly, making him snort.

“Ask me for the world, babe, and I’ll figure out a way to hand it to you,”

he says cheekily, throwing the blanket off of himself and standing up. My eyes widen as they settle on his taut ass cheeks, looking so cute in his tight boxer briefs.

“Fuck, you’re so fucking hot. It’s not even fair,”

I mutter. Havoc laughs, turning back to me.

“Shut up, red. You know you’re the most beautiful being in this fucking place. Hell, the world.”

I might’ve rolled my eyes at any other guy who gave me that line, but not Havoc. I smile shyly as he leaves the room, his hooves clacking on the linoleum in the kitchen. It’s so endearing, I smile bigger. What a fucking life.

“Here, red,”

he says gently as he sits on the bed and hands me the glass. I drain most of it with a gasp at the end, groaning.

“I feel like shit, cookie,”

I grumble as he shakes his head.

“I know. Let me find some pain meds. As much as I hate to see you like this, I’m fucking happy you’re alive. It could’ve been a lot worse,”

he says solemnly.

“I know. That’s what my nightmare was about. Me fucking dying from this accident. Scared the shit out of me,”

I admit.

“I might be a little traumatized. But I’ll figure it out, I promise.”

“It’d be weirder if you weren’t. And I know you’ve got this. No judgement from me, remember? I’ve got you, red. Just, please. Don’t fucking get hurt like this ever again. I thought I had lost you. I’ve never locked up like that before during a crisis. It was scary. I think I fully realized the weight of what you mean to me in that moment.”

I grab his hand, holding it tightly as we stare into each other’s eyes.

“Thank you for telling me that. At least something good came out of tonight,”

I say quietly as he smiles, his black ears twitching a little.

“I’ll probably need a few days off to get this under control before I can work again, bossman.”

“Fuck off, red. Don’t even think about the bar right now. You know your job is safe, babe. Just let me take care of you. Please.”

“Done, cookie.”

I can see him melt as he hears his nickname.

“Good. Let me find those meds.”

I smile as I get to watch cute butt walking away from me again.