Page 20 of Silver Spoon Falls, Vol. I
SIXTEEN
ADALYNN
“Shit,” Tyler groans, holding up an empty bottle of Hennessy. “We’re out.”
“We’re almost out of Jack, too,” I tell him.
The bar has been crazy busy since I got here.
No wonder Bender decided to risk Razor’s wrath to call me in.
It’s a madhouse in here tonight. I feel bad that Bender fired Roger because of what he said to me.
At least, I felt bad about it until Razor told me everything they found when they looked into him.
He’s a sexist jerk with a long history of being a sexist jerk. Bender and Jackson don’t need him here causing problems for the bar. I probably shouldn’t be glad someone lost their job, but I am relieved I won’t have to deal with him any longer.
Graduate school isn’t cheap, and I make too much working here to quit because of him.
I know Razor thinks he’s paying my way, but that is so not happening.
I worked too hard to get where I am to just give it up now.
I love him so much for wanting to take care of me, but it’s important to me to be able to contribute.
I’ll never be a millionaire like he is, but I want to pay for my education.
I want to be able to look at my degree and say I did that.
Besides, he’s a caveman. If I don’t tell him no once in a while, he may run right over me. I don’t think I’d like that very much. And I don’t think he would either. He likes when I dig my heels in, even if he won’t admit it.
“I’ll cover the bar while you go to the storeroom and get…” I start to say to Tyler, only to see a line of bridesmaids rushing him. “Guess not,” I mutter, shaking my head. I cast a quick glance at Razor, who is deep in conversation with Bender.
He won’t even notice if I run to the stockroom and back real quick. It’s not like I even have to leave the bar area to go, anyway. He can’t possibly get upset about that.
I toss the bar rag down and hurry through the batwing doors into the kitchen.
My stomach growls as the smell of fried foods and spices waft toward me.
The chef here makes the best cheese curds and nachos.
He should really be working at a Michelin-rated restaurant instead of in an upscale bar in Silver Spoon Falls, but Bender and Jackson pay him a small fortune, and he says drunks are far more appreciative of his skills than uptight critics.
“Hi, Javier,” I say, waving.
He glances up from the onions he’s mincing to wave.
I sail through the kitchen and then into the stockroom.
“What the heck?” I mutter, frowning. The back door stands open, light from the alley spilling into the room. If the delivery people left it open, Bender is going to lose his mind.
I hurry forward to close it, and then I see him out of the corner of my eye.
Roger.
He steps from between two shelves, slamming the door between the kitchen and stockroom closed.
My heart lodges itself in my throat, the first inklings of fear whispering through me. He looks… bad. His eyes are wild and unfocused. His hair is messy, and his shirt is wrinkled.
“Roger, w-what are you doing here?” I turn slowly to face him.
“You mean since you got me fired?” He sneers, stepping between me and the door to the kitchen, effectively blocking my only way back into the bar. My only way back to Razor.
Razor. Please. Oh my God. Please be a caveman and come looking for me.
I inch toward the left, trying to position myself close to a shelf so I can grab a bottle. There’s no way I can outrun him. I don’t want to be in a dark alley alone with him anyway. But I can hit him over the head and scream bloody murder. Even if no one in the bar hears me, Javier will.
“I didn’t get you fired, Roger,” I say, striving for calm, even though I feel like jumping out of my skin. “I’m pretty sure you managed to do that yourself with the way you talk to me.”
“It wasn’t an issue until you started fucking the owner’s friend.”
“It was always an issue,” I growl, inching closer to the shelf. “You have no right to comment on my body, my clothing, or my choices. And who I’m sleeping with or not sleeping with is none of your business.”
“You were supposed to be mine!” he shouts, spittle flying from his lips.
I rear back in shock, cold dread surging through me. No. Oh no.
“Roger.” I take a shallow breath, silently coaching myself not to vomit on his stupid leather shoes. “Have you been following me around town?”
“I was just keeping an eye on you. You don’t seem to have a problem when Razor Montgomery does it,” he says sullenly. And then he sneers again, his face twisting with malice. “Or is that because he’s a famous rockstar?”
I stare at him, completely taken aback. I always thought he was just a jerk, but I think I was wrong.
He’s completely insane if he thinks he and Razor are anything alike.
No, he’s lost his mind if he thinks he stood a chance with me, period.
Even if Razor had never entered my life, Roger never stood a chance.
I don’t date assholes, especially not assholes who go out of their way to try to make me feel bad about myself.
I may be a big girl, but this big girl knows her worth. And I deserve a heck of a lot better than any man who thinks a woman—any woman—should be treated like that.
“Razor isn’t stalking me!” I cry to Roger. “He isn’t leaving fake blood and threatening notes on my doorstep. Or hiding behind clothing racks to watch me shop. He’s been protecting me from you , not invading my privacy and my life without my consent.”
“Yeah? Then where is he now?” Roger makes a show of glancing around. “Because I don’t see him here now, do you? It’s just you and me, and my car is waiting right outside.”
Bile crawls up my throat as he takes a step toward me. There’s no way he’s getting me in his car. Hell will literally freeze over before I let him get me in his car.
He takes another step for me, and I lunge for a bottle on the shelf, sobbing in desperation.
Before my hand even closes around it, the door to the stockroom flies open. Razor and Bender fill the doorway, looking like avenging angels.
My knees sag in relief, dropping me to the floor.
“You son of a bitch!” Razor roars, taking one look at the scene unfolding in front of him. He charges Roger, grabbing him by the throat. Bender stays where he’s at, blocking the exit in case Roger tries to make a run for it.
Roger attempts to shake Razor free, but my caveman is a wall of implacable, murderous fury. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you right fucking now,” he growls, his voice low and menacing.
“You wouldn’t,” Roger says. He doesn’t sound so arrogant now. I think he knows he doesn’t stand a chance against Razor.
“You threatened the woman I love. You tried to put your fucking hands on her,” Razor says, shaking Roger like a ragdoll.
“She will never belong to you, you piece of shit. She’ll never want you.
She’ll never love you. She’s mine . If you ever come near her again, it’ll be the last thing you do, you feel me? ”
“You can’t threaten me!”
“It’s not a goddamn threat,” Razor roars in his face. “It’s a fucking promise.” He shakes Roger again and then throws him into a shelf of bottles so hard the shelf wobbles and tilts.
Bottles roll off, crashing down on top of Roger. One after another cracks him in the head before shattering around him. Before the fourth hits him, he’s out cold.
No one makes a move to drag him out of the way.
“Did he hurt you?” Razor asks, spinning to face me. He falls to his knees at my side, his eyes alight with fear and rage. “Please, tell me he didn’t hurt you.”
I fling myself against his chest, sobbing as his voice trembles and his hands shake. He runs them all over me, checking me for injuries.
“I’m not hurt,” I whisper, clinging to his broad shoulders. “H-he didn’t touch me.”
“Thank God,” Razor breathes. “Thank God.”
“Hold me.” I burrow into him, sending up my own thank you to God for sending this caveman to me. He protects me better than anyone, loves me more fiercely than anyone. “Don’t ever let me go, Razor.”
“I just lost ten years off my damn life. You’ll be lucky if I don’t have you surgically attached to my fucking hip after this,” he growls.
“Ah, goddammit,” Bender groans from behind him. “This fucker broke my best bottle of Scotch with his stupid ass head.”
“Come here,” Razor says, pulling me into his arms as we ride the elevator up to his room. I cuddle against his chest with a grateful sigh. The last few hours have been a blur. All I want to do is shut out the rest of the world for a little while.
Roger is in jail. I don’t think he’ll be a problem when, or if, he gets out.
He admitted to stalking and trying to kidnap me.
He broke into the bar. Those aren’t minor crimes.
Sheriff Armstrong promised to make sure a protection order is put in place, barring him from coming anywhere near me if he is released before he goes to trial.
But I don’t think it’ll take that to keep him away. Once he regained consciousness, he couldn’t even look at Razor without turning a sickly shade of white.
He’s a coward and a bully, and cowards and bullies always go out of their way to avoid people like Razor…
the ones who can squash them like bugs. Besides, I don’t think he was ever in love with me in the first place.
He didn’t even like me. In his mind, I was a project, someone he could mold into his perfect woman.
Except I’m not his, and I’m not clay to be shaped.
I’m a grown woman, capable of making my own choices about my life and what I think, wear, say, and do.
No one decides for me except for me. If I decide to let Razor have his way, it’s because I decided.
It’s because I trust him to have my best interests at heart, and I chose to momentarily cede that control to him. Roger could never comprehend that.