I stifled a smile and whispered, “And what kind of dog are you then, Carter?”

He sniffed and returned to his food. “I’m the fucking wolf, Angel.”

This. Guy.

I laughed and ate my greasy hash browns, already hoping my vagina pain would heal ASAP because when those blue eyes looked at me, they made me want to do very X-Rated things.

We thankfully stopped talking about Rome, but I wondered about their friendship. Would they ever get along?

For the sake of their future band, I hoped to God they would.

Thirteen

“Your boyfriend is sexy as fuck,” said Melanie, leaning back against the bar.

It was my first week after training working alongside her, and she was extremely blunt, to put it mildly. She was around my age, and she seemed like the social type. The second Marlena had introduced me to her, she wouldn’t leave me alone. I was sure it was because the other waitresses were double our age.

She stared at Carter from across the room, watching him discuss the band with Rome while biting her lower lip. The want was there in her pretty grey eyes.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I muttered, tapping my pen against the bar top, watching him too.

Melanie raised a dark brow. “Serious? I saw him touching your ass when you walked in.”

Shit.

He had, hadn’t he? He was normally very good about not touching me in public. That was one of the conditions about being friend-zoned with benefits, I guess. Whatever it was, it sucked ball sacks.

I avoided looking her in the eye and wiped off an imaginary piece of fluff on my black uniform. Maybe if I looked busy, she wouldn’t press for more info, but I could feel her stare burning holes in the side of my face. I didn’t want to tell her anything. I wasn’t sure I could trust her with that kind of information. She could be like the bitches from my school, using me to get close to him, or being an overall backstabber.

“So, he’s single?” she proceeded to ask, studying my reaction very carefully.

“I guess,” I answered with a shrug. I gripped the pen tightly, considering sticking it in her eye if she so much as insinuated she’d try him.

“And it wouldn’t bother you if I…”

I looked at her hard. “If you what?”

She motioned to him and wiggled her brows. “You know what.”

We just stared at one another for a long moment. Was she seriously intending on doing it? Did I have to really put a claim on him? I wouldn’t stop myself. Before I opened my mouth to speak, she burst out laughing. I frowned at her, wondering what the hell she was smoking to laugh out of nowhere like this. She leaned into me and rested a hand on my shoulder. I stared at the hand and then at her.

“Jesus, you should see your face!” she said. “I’m only kidding, babe. You’re obviously lusting after him, and I’d be the biggest bitch in the world to take a marked man from her friend. That shit’s wrong on too many levels. God, I can’t believe you’d think I’d do that! What’s wrong with you?”

I was so confused. Was she high? “What?”

“Anyway, you’re going to open up to me about it eventually. You obviously think I’m some big mouth or something. I’m not. I keep secrets just fine. I’m not those manipulative bitches vying for attention like I’ve been daddy-deprived my whole life. You’ll see.”

She left me alone after that and tormented Marlena. I shook my head and started to get ready for my shift. I hoped the other waitresses weren’t as intense as her. Even Marlena was a constant fly on your wall, wanting to hear and see everything going on. I had to be careful around her.

“You’ll do fine,” Carter suddenly whispered in my ear.

I whipped around, a hand over my heart. “You scared me!”

“I wasn’t being quiet. You’re just freaking out inside your head.”

I slumped my shoulders. “I know. I’ve never worked before, Carter, and I don’t want to mess up.”

He grabbed my hand and squeezed my fingers one by one. “You’re smart. You’re beautiful. The only thing I worry about are the drunks taking advantage of you, but you’re tough. So I know that won’t happen, and if I see it happen, I’ll beat them to the ground.”

I laughed lightly. “I know you will. How’s the band search going?”

He nodded. “Heading out now to meet some guys.”

“Settled on a name yet?”

He shook his head. “Nah. Rome’s suggestions are awful. If he didn’t know how to play drums, he’d be useless as tits on a bull. Once we get the guys together, we’ll figure it out in the end.”

“That’s good. You know, Rome may be bad with names, but he’s an excellent artist. He might be able to put together a design for the name for you guys once you figure one out.”

“That shit’s not so important.”

“Of course it is! You need people to remember you. Visual things help. Well, actually, you’d be the visual part they’d remember, but all the other stuff might help too.”

He chuckled. “Right.”

He continued holding my hand long after he’d squeezed it. Then he pulled me to him and gave me a warm hug that melted my insides. “Be confident,” he told me. “I’ll be back in a bit, okay?”

I nodded. “Okay.”

He pulled away and stared into my eyes, a soft smile on his face. “See ya, beautiful.”

He walked out with Rome after that, leaving me smiling to myself.

Until I saw Melanie’s face. She was giving me a thumbs up and a wink. I rolled my eyes and reluctantly laughed. It was so damn obvious.

I watched Harold turn the sign over and unlock the door. I held my breath, trying to get rid of the nerves that wracked my body.

After all that training, I would be on my own now.

I hoped I wouldn’t fuck it up.

*

Maybe Melanie wasn’t so bad after all.

She was helping me out loads without one single complaint. I would have kissed her feet if she’d let me.

I was flustered, running around, forgetting tables, getting orders wrong. Fuck, it was stressful, and had I been the owner, I would have fired my ass right there and then. Fortunately, Marlena was extremely understanding, reassuring me that everyone starts off from the “very, very, very bottom”. I wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or dismayed by her remark, so I just decided on being numb instead.