Page 40 of Love in Pieces

“I’ll do my best.” Logan holds his beer up to me before disappearing into the crowd.

At least I’ve got another set of eyes on her. And if she’s with her friend, she should be safe enough. I can’t promise she’s one hundred percent safe unless she’s with me, and that makes me nervous, but I have to trust that Logan and Meredith have her back. Plus, she deserves to have a little fun. It’s been a rough week for her. Her fake ID must be good if it got past our bouncer. I laugh under my breath, thinking about innocent Abby walking past big burly Greg. She probably batted those long lashes and flashed him her cute, lavish little smile and he would have had to let her in. I would have.

A server must be getting them drinks because neither comes to the bar all night, but their cups remain full. Though, I secretly wish Abby would come up to the bar. Any extra time with her is something to savor. Plus, it would give me a reason to check in on her. But she does look happy. That’s the only thing that keeps me behind this bar. Reigning in my emotions is harder than it should be, but she does something to my head that drives me wild.

“Last call!” Aubrey shouts over the crowd.

The live band relays the message over the speakers. A rush of people gathers around the bar to get their last fix before the night ends. The servers have closed all their tabs to start cleaning up. To my delight, this forces Abby and Meredith to the bar for their final drinks. They end up on Aubrey’s end, but I catch Abby’s eyes, and she freezes in place. She thought I wasn’t working tonight, meaning she assumed she wouldn’t have to explain how her night truly went. Instead of sending her a disapproving look, I smile and tell Aubrey their drinks are on me. She smiles back when Aubrey relays the message, and they disappear toward the stage for the final few songs.

“What was that about?” Aubrey asks as we finally start closing the bar.

“What? Paying for their drinks? Just being nice,” I say, hoping to come off as nonchalant as possible.

“Dal,” she starts, not a hint of amusement in her voice. “I’ve never seen you pay for anyone’s drinks. And based on the way you two looked at each other, there’s clearly something going on. So, spill.”

“She’s just a friend.” At least the cleaning gives me an excuse to avoid eye contact because I’m sure she’d pick up on every shred of deceit.

“A friend? I saw the way you looked at her Dal. She’s obviously more than that.” She’s stopped cleaning and has turned to face me, a hand on her hip. She exudes annoyance. “And if so, then what are we? Done?”

I sigh, leaning both hands against the bar top. “Aubrey, it’s not like that.”

“Not like that? Like what? Dude, I’m not saying you can’t date. I know we’re not exclusive, but maybe you want to let me know at least?”

“Honestly, she’s just a friend that I’m helping out. She was in a rough spot and needed a place to stay, so I let her move into the spare room in my apartment.”

“Seriously? The same room I’ve been asking to move into for ages? Come on, Dallas. Do you really not understand what I’m getting at here?”

“What? Getting at what?” I pivot to face her, arms crossed. “Letting you move in would have been a big problem. You’re my boss, Aubrey. We shouldn’t be living together, let alone sleeping together. Can you imagine how complicated things would get?” I catch myself before I start yelling, but a few customers have noticed. With a deep breath, I head out the back door of the building to get some space, but Aubrey follows me.

“Complicated? As if it’s not already. You really don’t get it do you?” Her arms are splayed wide. “I haven’t seen you all week other than here at work,” she says, voice faltering.

“Get what?” I practically yell. I take a deep breath before continuing, rubbing my hands down my face. “Look, Aubrey, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about our friends-with-benefits thing and I think we should end it.”

Both brows raise in astonishment, and she huffs. She takes a moment to fix her ponytail. “End it? You want to end this relationship?”

There it is. That’s what I was worried about. That word. With her. I have tried so hard to keep things from going too far, from getting too involved, but I see now that that was never possible. “We can’t end a relationship that was never started.”

Her face twists tight together and she turns around. “Okay. It’s done, or whatever fucking word you want to use here.” She turns and walks back inside, leaving me standing in the chilly evening air.

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