Page 10 of Craved By You
“That’s such a fucking childish nickname,” I heard him mutter as the other guys continued laughing.
“C’mon Chris,” Ryder tried to add a positive spin to it. “It could be worse.”
“Oh yeah?” Chris challenged. “Like what?” I watched as he puffed up his chest.
When no one responded, he took it as he had won this time. ????“Did you see the friend? What was her name?” Ryder stumbled over a short list of names that weren’t even close.
“Haileigh,” Chris cut in.
“She was fucking hot,” Ryder continued. “Too bad she’s married.”
Before he and Chris got into a brawl over who was next in line for Haileigh’s hand in marriage, I announced that it was time for me to get home. I looked around to ensure all of the stagehands were doing their jobs right. “Looks like all of us can get some real sleep tonight.”
????“You don’t want to go out with us and celebrate another successful night?” Jax inquired.
“Not tonight.” I glanced down at my phone as a notification made my phone vibrate. It was the tracker letting me know that Astrid had arrived home. She only lived a couple of blocks away from the bar. “In case you didn’t hear, I’ve got a date tomorrow.” I waved my phone at them, and walked off.
“Night man!” Ryder yelled at me, but it barely registered, I was already gone. Astrid was taking over, pulling me deeper into the abyss and I couldn’t wait to see what this journey had in store for us.
???
The next morning, I rushed out the door, wanting to beat Astrid to The Mean Bean.I wanted to ensure that we had one of the more private areas away from the horde of people.
The barista greeted me as soon as I walked through the door. “Hey, Colt.”
“Hey Sarah,” I raised my hand in a fake wave, brushing her off. That woman drove me crazy, and unfortunately for me, I couldn’t just kill her off to save my sanity. Lucky for me the coffee shop hadn’t started getting too busy yet, so I sauntered over, hung my hoodie up on the back of one of the chairs, and went back to the counter to order.
In typical Sarah fashion, she was wearing a low-cut top. It was low enough that even while wearing her apron she still exhibited an insane amount of cleavage. She always tried flirting with me, no matter how many times I brushed off her attention. It almost made me uncomfortable with how aggressive she was, which was saying a lot.
This was Astrid’s favorite place to go. One day, I would introduce her to another coffee shop about five minutes from here and hopefully convince her that the drinks were much better there. I also found myself hopeful that my being seen with Astrid would give Sarah the final clue that would cause her to back off.
Sarah batted her lashes at me. “The usual?”
“Yeah.” I paused looking over the menu. “I also need you to make a latte just the way that Astrid normally orders hers.” I hated that I wasn’t clear on exactly how she orders the drink she gets but I was hopeful that Sarah knew; she seemed to remember most of her regulars’ orders.
I caught the disgusted look on Sarah’s face just before she turned her act back on. “Astrid isn’t here.” Her words came across as annoyed.
“She will be.” My voice was calm and collected. “And I would like her drink to be ready when she arrives.”
“It will be cold.”
“She will be here in the time it takes for you to make her drink, so I would like for you to make it.” I paused and observed Sarah’s mannerisms. “Please.”
Sarah let out a humph and turned around, probably rolling her eyes as I continued to stand there, waiting for her to remember that I still hadn’t paid.
Then the bell on the door rang and I turned to see Astrid standing there, staring in my direction like she was trying to convince her feet to move closer to me.
“Astrid.” Sarah’s voice sounded harsh and unwelcoming.
“Hey Sarah.” Astrid turned and looked at me with awhat did you do?look. I just shrugged my shoulders and shook my head to indicate that I didn’t know who had pissed in Sarah’s cheerios this morning.
Sarah set the drinks down on the counter. “Here are your drinks.” She didn’t even look up and quickly disappeared to the back.
??“Sarah, you forgot to finish ringing these up.” I was frustrated by her behavior. We stood there for a minute and when she didn’t return I just set the cash down on the counter and led Astrid over to where we were sitting.
“What’s up with her?” Astrid seemed concerned, for someone who gave zero fucks most of the time, she sure didn’t like it when people didn’t seem to like her.
“I’d imagine that she has a problem with us being here together.” I smiled and caught Astrid blushing again.
