Page 8 of Wish You Were Mine
“It’s not your fault,” I said, but before I could say more, she was already darting off toward a nearby table and grabbing a white puffy coat.
She shot me a look I didn’t understand over her shoulder, andthen she was off, chasing after the security team and the two guys they were escorting outside.
I stood there, watching her leave, feeling a strange sense of concern for her.
I really hoped she was going out there to break things off with him. Because if not, well...I didn’t want to think about what might happen if she found herself on the wrong end of his temper.
Hopefully she’d be okay.
I turned back to the area where the fight had broken out, scanning the space for any signs of broken glass or damaged furniture. There was a lot of noise and frantic energy, but thankfully, everything seemed to be intact.
“You guys okay?” I asked, quickly checking in with the few people who’d been nearby. “Anyone get hurt?” They shook their heads, and thankfully, everyone seemed to be okay.
“Sorry again for the disturbance,” I said. “Hopefully, that’s all the excitement we’ll be having tonight.”
When I turned to head back to the bar, my eyes caught on the girl Lucy had been hanging out with. She was grabbing a black coat from the booth Lucy had just run from.Good.Hopefully that meant she was going to help her friend.
With a deep breath, I walked back to the bar to check in with Irina and Malik. They were chatting, glancing at the aftermath, but their eyes met mine when I approached.
“Everything good here?” I asked, trying to shake off the tension from the scene.
They both shrugged, looking at each other. “I think we’re fine,” Irina said, giving me a half-smile. “That was...intense.”
“Yeah... Man.” Malik let out a low whistle. “That was crazy.”
“It was.” I let out a breath, running a hand through my hair. “I knew I should’ve kept a better eye on the hockey team.”
“Sorry about that.” Irina winced. “The big guy told me he was getting drinks for him and his girlfriend, so I didn’t realize how much he’d had already.”
“It’s okay,” I said, shaking my head. “His girlfriend was only drinking water, so I think he played us.”
“Should I add him to the blacklist?” Irina asked, eyes already flicking to the computer.
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Put him on it.”
I turned back to the bar, my eyes scanning the room. It was just after midnight and the busiest part of the night was past, so I decided to take a few boxes from the back room out to the dumpster.
The cool night air hit me as I stepped outside, the gentle fall of snowflakes brushing against my cheeks. I opened the lid to the dumpster and tossed the first two boxes in. I was reaching for the next box when I heard voices coming from the parking lot.
“You can’t drive like this,” an all-too-familiar voice said. “You’re way too drunk.”
I froze. It was Lucy again. And I had a good idea who she was talking to.
How did such a seemingly bright girl end up with such a loser?
I quickly tossed the last box into the dumpster and jogged toward the voices, careful not to slip on the ice. When I rounded the corner, I saw Lucy tugging at her boyfriend’s arm, clearly putting all her weight into her attempt to stop him from getting behind the wheel of a sleek sports car.
Her friend was nowhere to be seen. Had she taken the other guy from the fight home, then? The girls had been drinking water, so maybe they were the hockey team’s DDs for the night.
I looked around to see if my bouncers were still outside, but they must have already gone back to their posts inside.
I shook my head. I should’ve called the cops on this guy earlier. If he was trying to drive in this state, he clearly needed someone to lay down the law. Before he put anyone else in danger.
I picked up my pace and when I reached them, Josh was already pushing Lucy off him, mumbling something under his breath about him being fine and that she should stop getting in his way.
When he tried to get into the car, swaying on his feet and with his balance all off, I could see the panic in Lucy’s eyes. And I was suddenly twelve years old again, back in my parents’ driveway and trying to keep my mom, who suffered from addictions of her own, from driving off in the middle of the night.
I shook the memory away and tried not to think of all the things I’d lost, the tragedies that came from bad decisions. Because I knew all too well what could happen if Josh got behind that wheel. The kind of consequences that could wreck everything in an instant.
