Page 19 of Stroke of Fate

“Damn girl, what are you doing hiding your gorgeous face around here? And those long legs. You should be out strutting on catwalks.”

“Dude, not cool,” Owen mutters, bumping Jackson with his shoulder.

“What? I didn’t mean it in a bad way. It’s a compliment and hot.” Jackson flashes me a wink, and I laugh, feeling slightly self-conscious.

It’s not like I’ve never been told to try modeling. I even did a few catalog shoots in middle school, but that’s where it began and ended.

“Not my thing, but thanks for the compliment,” I say, offering him a lopsided grin.

“Bear is shadowing me tonight, and I still need to show her a few things. But I wanted to get the introductions out of the way,” Macy informs everyone.

After a few minutes of small talk, everyone returns to their tasks. The boys wave, and Elsie mouths,You’ve got this.

Macy spends the rest of the time pointing out various things as I follow, trying to absorb as much information as possible. By the end, I feel overwhelmed trying to remember everything and say as much.

“Understandable, but you’ll see it’s much easier once you’re in the flow of things. Our menu is pretty straightforward—just your standard casual dining type food.” Reaching the bar area, Macy grabs a drinks menu. “Now, this can get complicated.Static has some amazing drink options. Luckily, the bartenders handle that. We can pour beers from the tap if they’re backed up and you feel comfortable doing it.”

"Okay, got it," I say with a determined nod. "The hostess seats them, we take their order and enter it into the POS system, the bartenders handle the drinks, and we pour beers if they're busy,” I repeat everything we went over, ticking each point off my fingers.

“In a nutshell, yes,” she says. “Don’t worry, tonight is purely training. You’ll get the hang of what’s what quickly. And no one expects you to get it right on your first night.”

Macy gives my bicep a light squeeze, and I realize I need her reassurance more than I thought.

7 | BEAR

A few hours into my shift, and what do you know? I am getting the hang of things. After shadowing Macy for the first few hours, I felt confident handling a few tables myself.

Despite being a Tuesday, Static has been nonstop busy since the doors opened earlier. According to Macy and Elsie, this is one of the more popular places for students to hang out. The three of us have hit it off, and, like me, both girls attend Huska.

The bell above the door rings as I pour a drink, signaling another round of customers. Usually, I ignore it, too focused on what I’m doing, but something about this time pulls my attention away from the beer to the door.

A group of four guys hovers around the hostess stand, but my eyes are drawn to only one.

It’s easy to pick him out when his features are burned into my memory. I’d recognize that midnight-black hair anywhere.

The quickening of my pulse is another sure sign that it’s him. For whatever reason, it never occurred to me that I might bump into him here.

I watch as his attention drifts from his friends and then shifts in my direction. Somehow, despite the noise and the crowd, his amber eyes immediately find mine.

My face heats at being caught staring, but I can’t look away. Iwantto keep staring.

His sole attention on me sends a wave of goosebumps over my skin like someone running a finger down my bare spine. It feels sort of…erotic.

An odd expression flits across his face, and I wonder if he feels it too—this undeniably intense, almost hypnotic attraction between us.

When his friends are led to a table, he doesn’t immediately follow. My eyes widen as I watch him take one, two, then three steps in my direct—

“Shit!” I yelp, jumping back as cold beer sloshes over the rim of the glass and onto my hand.

I release the handle, cutting off the flow of beer, and shake the excess liquid from my hand.

One of the bartenders comes to my aid, handing me a black dishcloth. “Everything good?”

“Thanks. Yeah, just got distracted,” I mutter quickly, taking the cloth from her.

“Happens to the best of us,” Brittany says easily.

Feeling all sorts of frazzled, I can’t do more than smile and nod.

---