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I did my best to avoid the gaze of the man at the other end of the bar, but I could still feel him staring at me. Gritting my teeth, I continued with my work, tucking some clean glasses back under the bar, and wondering when Freddie was going to get back from the errand he was running.
This guy had been trying to hit on me all night long, and it didn’t seem to matter what I did to shut him down – no, he would always find some way to come sloping back up to me and asking for my number again, demanding to know what time I was getting off my shift so he could meet me outside and take me out for a drink. I had started off being as polite as I could manage, but fuck, he was really pushing his luck, and I was starting to get worried about whether he was going to let me get out of here without causing a serious scene.
I had to keep my shit together. I couldn’t let him get to me. Guys like this, they thought that the bartenders were fair game, because there was no way they could go anywhere else – they had to stick around and entertain their bullshit attempts at conversation, unlike the other girls in this place, who could just head off without having to entertain him for an instant.
"Hey," he called to me again, and I ignored him, pretending like I didn’t hear him. He had been drinking all night, likely as an excuse to keep close to me, and by now, he was sloppy-drunk, the kind where all the good sense just went out the window, and he thought he was owed something he wasn’t.
"Hey, I’m talking to you!" he exclaimed, and he slid down the bar towards me. I lifted my head and plastered a grin on my face, praying this would be his last attempt to hit me up.
"Can I help you?" I asked him, keeping my voice as neutral as possible. I wasn’t going to give him anything to read into, not after the way he had been acting. Guys like this, they would take any little comment as proof of interest, and then spend the next two hours trying to wheedle a date out of you as a result.
"Yeah, you can get me another drink," he told me, flashing me a sloppy grin. I shook my head.
"I think you’ve had enough," I told him. His eyes darkened.
"You don’t want to piss me off, bitch" he snapped at me. I jerked my head back in surprise. All this time, he had been talking sweet to me, but now, it looked like he had decided he was done with waiting, done with pretending there wasn’t one thing he wanted and one thing only.
"Don’t speak to me like that," I told him. He leaned towards me, shoving his head closer to mine.
"You really think I care about what you think of me?" he demanded. I took a step back. Shit. When was Freddie going to get back here? I could see a couple of girls across the bar watching the confrontation, but they didn’t want to get involved, and I couldn’t blame them. I wouldn’t have wanted to put myself in the middle of this either...
But, before I could say anything back to him, a hand landed on his shoulder and pulled him roughly away from me.
"That’s enough," Sasha’s voice cut in, calm but pointed. The man reeled around on him, lifting a fist.
"Get your hands off me!” he insisted, and he tried to pull his fist back to land a punch on Sasha – but before he could, Sasha caught his wrist, and bent it up behind his back.
"Let me show you to the exit," he growled to him. The man tried to squirm out of his grasp, but Sasha was already walking him over to the door, giving him no choice but to leave me alone.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank God – that was what the enforcers were here for, right? I didn’t exactly like working for a Bratva family, but at least I knew I was always going to be taken care of when it came to pushy customers like this.
Sasha returned to the bar once he had deposited the guy outside, eyeing me with concern.
"Are you okay?" he asked me gently. I wasn’t used to this kind of sweetness from him – he usually came at me with a cocky, playful attitude, often when Avda was around like he didn’t want to let us spend too much time together alone.
"Yeah, I’m fine," I assured him. "I’m used to dealing with guys like that. The downside of the job, I guess."
"You ever get that kind of trouble again," he told me. "You let me know about it. I’ll deal with it. Okay?"
"Okay," I replied. "Thanks, that’s...that’s really kind of you."
"No problem," he promised me. "It’s what I’m here for."
He glanced around and furrowed his brow.
"Isn’t Avda meant to be working tonight?"
My heart skipped a beat when he said Avda’s name. Ever since I had seen him with Kyra, it felt like everything had shifted between us – I saw this softer side to him, this sweeter one, and I knew I would have done anything to get to see more of it.
"I think he’s over at the other compound tonight," I replied casually. "Surprised you noticed, though. Seems like the two of you are always at each other’s throats."
He grinned.
"You noticed that?" he remarked.
"It’s hard not to," I pointed out. "It feels like the two of you are always going at it, one way or another."
"I guess you would know," he shot back playfully. "You and Avda are always together."
