Page 85 of Reaper and Ruin

I found a free stool at the bar and sank down on it.

The bartender came right over and grinned at me. “How you doing?”

I nodded. “Good. Whiskey neat.”

The man raised an eyebrow. “Strong choice. I would have picked you more as a vodka and lemonade sorta guy.”

I chuckled at that. “Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

He shrugged. “Guys who look like you generally force themselves to drink whiskey and bourbon when they’re at straight bars, then they come in here and realize it’s perfectly acceptable for them to order something pink or fruity.” He eyed me. “You sure you don’t want a cocktail…” He winked at me. “The cock comes free after my shift if you’re interested?”

I laughed and shook my head. “Thanks, but honestly, I really do like whiskey.”

The rejection didn’t bother him any. It slid off him easily, and a moment later I had a whiskey neat in front of me. The bartender waited until I took a sip.

I tried not to grimace. It was cheap and nasty, and clearly not their specialty.

He sniggered. “You sure you don’t want a cosmopolitan or something? They’re my specialty.”

I pushed the whiskey back at him. “I think you just convinced me to try one.”

He pumped the air like that was a victory and set to work, pouring various liquids into a shaker filled with ice. I crowd watched while he worked, eyeing people filing in.

I was on my third cosmo when Levi walked in with Violet, Dax, and X. X immediately pulled Violet onto the dance floor,twirling her around, not giving a flying fuck they were the only people on it. They started something though, because a moment later, the dance floor filled up, mostly with men, all moving to the fast-paced beat.

I caught Levi’s eye across the room, but I wasn’t in the mood to try to work him out tonight. He was painfully stiff and uncomfortable and out of place. Like he wanted to run out the door at any moment and the only reason he wasn’t was because Violet was here. His gaze flickered away from mine, and he focused on her.

“How very fucking straight of you, Levi,” I muttered into the fruity-smelling pink drink that Kade, the bartender, had been plying me with all evening.

“What was that, Daddy?” he asked with a wink.

He’d been calling me that since my second top-up, but it was with a playful tone and I’d heard him calling the older guy at the other end of the bar the same thing, so I knew it was nothing personal and barely even flirty. We’d already passed that point and established I wasn’t interested.

Would have been a whole lot easier if I was. But apparently the only cock I was interested in was Levi’s.

And the cocktails I was miserably downing like they were candy. They were surprisingly good and way too easy to drink.

Kade’s gaze slid past mine, and he leaned his elbows on the countertop. “You’re being checked out, you know?”

“Stupidly attractive prison vibe with a tat on his cheekbone?”

“That’s the one.”

“Eh.”

Kade sniggered. “If you aren’t interested, I am.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Do you ever go home alone after a shift?”

“Not if I can help it. And the dark and dangerous vibe does it for me.”

“That man is never going home with you.”

Kade pouted, but he must have seen something in my expression because his eyes widened, and he leaned in even closer. “Spill the tea. There’s history between the two of you, isn’t there?”

I shrugged. “Not if you ask him.”

He poked his bottom lip out. “Oh, he rejected you? That why you’re here tonight, drowning your sorrows?”