Page 18 of Lucifer's Revenge
“You’re right. Sorry.” They all looked up at a commotion at the pool tables, and he sighed heavily. “Again, sorry, but duty calls. May I have your number?” He pulled his phone out of an inside pocket of his leather vest and handed it to her, but not before unlocking it.
Lilith took it, programmed her number in it, and passed it back. When their fingers touched, they both jerked at the sparks from the contact.
“Thank you,” he said with a nod to her, then turned to his sister. “Starr. Thanks for stopping by.”
“Not a problem.” She smirked at him, and both women watched as Luc walked over to the commotion, holding his ginger ale and lime, and just stood there with his signature cocked brow.
“Is there a problem here, boys?” he asked in his gravelly voice, and the commotion immediately stopped when the guys trying to fight stopped and started to tell Luc to mind his own business. It took about thirty seconds before someone with the young men rushed to the tussling men and whispered to them. In the next fifteen seconds, the chairs and table that had been knocked over during the commotion was put back to rights, the young boys, roughly around the age of twenty-two or three, profusely apologized to Luc, who only stood there with his quirked brow, and blank expression.
“That was your only warning, boys. If you’re inmyestablishment again and cause a ruckus, you will be barred from here. For life.” He sipped his drink and shook his head, like it saddened him to speak the next part. “Don’t think I won’t put the word out to blacklist you from every bar in the tri-county area.”
“You can’t do that,” one of them cried out to him.
“Try me,” Luc said, and looked at the members of the club who had come up to stand beside and behind him. “If they mess up again, see that they’re escorted out.”
“Yes, boss,” they all echoed, and Luc looked over at Lilith with a wink when he had turned his back on the punks, and the entire bar heard them swear and say they didn’t know he was a biker.
“Wow,” Lilith said as she leaned in and stared at Starr. She picked up her now cold burger to take a bite. She didn’t care that it had gone cold. It was still good, and she had had a wonderful conversation with Luc. She wasn’t going to hold her breath that he would call her anytime soon. When the waitress came to clear their plates, they asked for the bill, but she shook her head at them.
“Luc said it was on the house.”
“Starr, I can understand,” Lilith said as she withdrew her wallet. “But not me.”
“Please, don’t piss him off, he said it was on the house.”
Starr reached over and put her hand over Lilith’s. “Trust me on this. Luc is extremely, and I mean, extremely tight fisted with his money, and the money for the bar. If he says it’s on the house. It’s on the house.” When Lilith still looked skeptical, Starr looked at the waitress. “Tell me, does Luc still bring in his own ginger ale and limes?”
“Yes,” the waitress sighed. “How do you know that?”
“I’m his sister. I asked him when he first opened the bar why he didn’t just get his drinks for free here. He said he did the cost analysis and it was cheaper for him to bring in his own. He didn’t want to be accused of dipping into the till.”
“Oh, wow,” Lilith said, then waited for the waitress to walk away with their empty plates. She placed a ten dollar bill on the table, beneath the salt and pepper shakers. “Just because Luc paid for our meal, that doesn’t mean the waitress has to go without a tip.”
“I agree,” Starr said, and laid her own ten beneath the other one there.
“Want to get a table over in the bar area?”
“We can, and as much as I don’t like to switch my drinks, I would love a glass of white wine.”
“Let’s go.” They ended up using the facilities, washing their hands from their meal, then got a table in the corner. There were several women already there, and Starr knew them. She introduced Lilith to them, and it didn’t take long for them to all begin talking and laughing like they had all known each other for months instead of minutes.
Bandit walked up to stand beside Luc as he stood in the kitchen looking out at the bar, and frowned when he saw where Luc was looking.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Why are you staring holes in your sister?”
“It’s not her.” Luc kept his answer short and decided to let Bandit figure it out for himself.
“Who’s the beauty sitting beside Starr?”
“Her friend,” Luc turned with a smirk. “Someone I’m going to call in the coming days to ask out on a date.”
“Holy shit, really?”
“Yes, so hands the fuck off.” Luc waited until Bandit held up his hands and backed up two steps.
