When his gaze catches mine, though, a hint of unpleasantness passes between us.
Nodding a touch mockingly, he says, “Boss.”
My eyes narrow on him as he walks by, but I don’t offer back a return greeting.
Smug little shit.
I’m the one who took her home, so I shouldn’t let it bother me, but something about him just rubs me wrong. Maybe Alyssa’s right—maybe I just don’t like anybody.
Nah, it’s him. He’s an asshole.
I stay up front for a while, making sure the place is ready to open, but it’s not like anyone’s waiting outside to get in the second the door’s unlocked. One of our regular daytime drinkers wanders in after about twenty minutes. Somewhere around twenty five, Dirk comes up to fill a cup and get himself some Sprite.
I watch as he heads to the back, then on a whim, I decide to follow him. When I walk through the doors, I see him already standing over by the sink, getting ready to clean up the few dishes there are from the morning’s prep work. He’s been back here long enough that he should’ve done that by now, but I don’t mention it. Mornings always start a little slow, I only want to pick at the little bastard today because I can’t shake the mental image of him with his arms wrapped around Alyssa.
My movement must catch his eye as I walk toward him because he glances in my direction, then does a double take and stands a little straighter.
As I slow to a stop by the sink, I reach into my back pocket and draw out my wallet. Wordlessly, I extract a twenty and hold it out to him.
Dirk frowns at the money in confusion then looks up at me. “What’s that for?”
“Reimbursement for the carnival food you bought Alyssa last night. Doesn’t seem right you should have to pay for it.”
Understanding dawns and smug amusement transforms his face. Shaking his head, he ignores the money and instead grabs the sprayer over the sink, squeezing it and going back to work. “Nah, I’m good.”
“I don’t feel right about it,” I insist. “Just take the money.”
“Nope.” He continues to spray out a large bowl before turning it over and dumping out all the water.
I watch, my annoyance growing as he releases the sprayer and grabs a scrubber off the sink, getting to work on the bowl like I’m not even standing here. “Why not?” I demand, a little more grumpily than I intend.
As he cleans it, he looks over at me with a deceptively blank face. “I don’t mind buying Alyssa food. She’s a nice girl, good date. I’d buy her food again. Probably will.”
At that, I can’t help smiling. “I don’t think so.”
“You think I care that she left with you, Brant?” Dirk asks point-blank. “I don’t. So I stumbled across her when she’s going through her older man phase.” To express how few fucks he gives, he shrugs and raises his eyebrows in a deliberately annoying gesture. “When she gets over it and realizes she needs someone who can actually keep up with her, I’ll still be around. Probably have a few more notches in my belt by then, but around, still.” Just to annoy me some more, he points at me as if he’s just had an idea and says, “Hey, if it’s not too weird, maybe we’ll come here for our second date, bring you some business.”
I can only stare at this ballsy little fucker, sorely tempted to fire him on the spot just for being such a pain in the ass. I mentally go over his work record to see if I could get away with it. I’m pretty sure I could, but then I think it through a bit further.
Alyssa said he’s her neighbor, and since he’s such a fucking irritant, I wouldn’t put it past him to casually tell Alyssa I fired him after their carnival date to stir her sympathies. Knowing Alyssa, it’d work, and the last thing I want is her yelling at me over this insignificant little prick.
I don’t especially like letting him think he won this round, but I know better. I know I’ll be the one going home to Alyssa tonight; mine will be the arms wrapped around her, it’ll be my cock she rides, my ring she wears… I’ve already won, I don’t need him to know that.
Smiling faintly, I tuck my money back into my wallet. “All right, then,” I say simply before turning and heading back up front.
As I roll up the dark driveway toward my house, my phone starts vibrating on the seat beside me. I flick a glance at it and see it’s Bri again. She shouldn’t even be awake at this hour. That she is tells me she must be really worried. Not for the first time today, I consider answering it, but then I don’t. The phone finally settles when it puts her through to voice-mail, and I sigh, the weight on my shoulders just a few ounces heavier.