Steal My Breath (Elixir 1)

My security guy joins me, and I motion for him to help me remove the asshole from the bar. Ten minutes later, the situation is dealt with, and I make my way back to where Callie is waiting for me.

“That looked nasty,” she says as she hands me her empty glass.

“Stay away from those guys, okay?” I’ve only kicked one out. The rest of his friends seem to have settled down, but I don’t want her going anywhere near them.

The frustrated look she often gives me—the one I haven’t seen in days—returns. “I wasn’t planning on waltzing over there and interrupting their little party, Luke.”

I pass her the drink I’ve just made, ignoring the attitude in her voice. “Good.”

A few moments pass between us and then she says, “You should go and look after your customers.” The attitude has disappeared. Soft Callie is back.

“Are you gonna stick around?”

She hits me with a smile that wipes away the stress of my day. I could get used to that smile. “Yeah, I’m hoping to monopolise some of your time later.”

“As soon as these customers are served, I’m all yours.”

She nods towards an empty table and says, “I’ll be over there.” She then gives me a cheeky grin and laces her words with sarcasm when she adds, “I won’t be anywhere near those men.”

I jerk my chin at her. “Smartass.”

Her laughter as she leaves reaches my ears, and my gut tightens. Fuck, I want that woman.

8

Callie

Luke’s bar is so damn busy tonight that I’m not sure I’ll have the opportunity to spend any alone time with him. That thought feels like an ache I desperately need to soothe. It’s been two days since he took me on our first date and I haven’t seen him during that time. He’s been busy working and with his son while I managed to pick up some shifts at the café. I also had a job interview at the local paper today, at a time he’d wanted me to come over. My fingers are crossed for this job because it would mean full-time work and job stability.

I finish my drink and head to the bathroom. As I walk past the mirror, I almost die of mortification. My hair looks like a bird's nest.

Luke saw me like this?

The wind clearly decided my hair was too perfect when I left home tonight. I will stab Avery with a very sharp object the next time I see her. She saw me at the bar while Luke was talking to me. Epic fail on best-friend duties.

“Do you have twenty dollars I could borrow?”

I turn to see who’s asking me this and quickly forget all thoughts of my appearance when I find a petite woman with the most haunted look in her eyes that I think I’ve ever seen, staring at me. Desperate. If I had to describe her in one word, that would be it.

Without hesitation, I nod and reach into my purse to pull out twenty dollars. Money I can’t afford to give away, but nothing in this world would stop me from helping this woman. Something tells me she needs this money more than I do right at the moment.

As I’m passing it to her, the bathroom door opens, and a tall, stocky man enters. His large calloused hand reaches in between us, ripping it out of her hands. “Johnny is waiting out the front for you.” His loud voice booms into the air surrounding us as I stare into some of the meanest eyes I’ve ever come across in my life.

The woman blanches. “I’m not going home with him tonight.” She cowers in front of the man as he bears down on her.

Stepping closer to the woman and putting my arm across her to push her behind me, I say, “You need to leave right now.” I meet his angry gaze and don’t falter. No way am I letting him force this woman into doing something she doesn’t want to do.

He bends his face to mine, and his nostrils flare. “And you need to stay the fuck out of something that doesn’t concern you,” he barks, but I’m not that easily intimidated.

I stand straight and cross my arms over my chest. “I’m not staying the fuck out of anything.”

He reaches for my wrist and takes hold. After pushing me to the side, his other hand slides around the woman’s neck, and he pulls her out of the bathroom before I recover from landing on my ass on the bathroom floor.

Oh, no you don’t, asshole!

I follow them out into the bar and trail them as the guy drags the woman towards the front door.

“Hey, you!” I yell, trying to draw attention to us. “You can’t do that!”