Page 13 of My Revenant
“Know how to serve things other than beer here?”
“Not usually, but I’m sure I can figure it out.”
“Vodka lime soda.”
“Wow, so complicated.” I rolled my eyes and started making his drink as he huffed in amusement.
I set his drink in front of him and went back to polishing glasses, serving a few beers here and there as I kept a subtle eye on him. He didn’t seem like he actually wanted the drink, occasionally taking a sip, but mostly just running slender fingers up and down the sides of the glass, leaving trails in the condensation. When he started impaling the lime with his straw rather than drinking, I shuffled closer on my side of the bar.
He just seemed… lonely. Like someone who shouldn’t be alone. Becca had recognized that in me back then. She said it was because she was the same. Maybe that’s why I recognized it in him now.
“You look like you have a story,” I tried.
“Can’t possibly imagine what would make you say that.” He rolled his eyes, that slight smirk pulling at his lips before he forced it away and frowned again. “It’s not a nice one.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, figured it probably wouldn’t be.”
His eyes remained fixed on the straw as he mashed the lime wedge into the bottom of his glass until it made the drink cloudy. “Why do you care?”
I shrugged one shoulder as I reached for a glass that didn’t need polishing, but gave me something to look at other than him in case he found the attention too much. I knew all too well what that was like. “You just…” I smiled softly to myself. “You seem like someone who shouldn’t be alone right now.”
He seemed to consider that for a long moment, and although I could feel the weight of his gaze on me, assessing me, looking for… something, I kept my eyes on the glass as I wiped it clean of nonexistent smudges.
“It’s… complicated.”
I nodded. “Most things are.”
“You really want to know?”
I shrugged one shoulder as I put the glass back down. “Well look, in a place like this I’m as close as it gets to a psychiatrist. It’s pretty much part of my job description here. So why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind, and I’ll prescribe you something to make it better.” I held up a bottle of vodka in my left hand and tequila in the right, swishing the liquid around invitingly.
He huffed a laugh and rolled those pretty blue eyes again, wincing slightly at the discomfort he must have held in the bruised one.
“You’re cute,” he said with a sigh, like he was trying to pretend he was annoyed when he really wasn’t. “Alright, Mr. Bar Man”
I held up a hand to stop him right there. “Ah, that’sDoctorBar Man, actually.”
“Alright,DoctorBar Man.” He laughed again, shaking his head softly before eyeing me up, considering his next move.
A pink tongue darted out to lick a slow stripe over perfectly straight white teeth. Too perfect. Were they veneers? “I’ll make you a deal, then. I’ll tell you my story, and if you haven’t heard one morecomplicated in the last…” He looked around, trying to determine just how complicated the people of Hollow Creek could be. “Six months… then that ‘medication’ is on the house.”
He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who needed free drinks, but I was so desperate to know what brought him here, to understand him, that I was willing to go with it.
I snatched up two shot glasses and placed them on the bar between us as I poured the tequila. “Alright.” I pushed one toward him. “A little incentive.”
He smiled brighter this time as he took it. We clinked glasses, and both downed the harsh liquid in one go. One drink wouldn’t hurt. I winced through the taste, but he seemed completely unaffected by it. “Go on, then.”
“Well… my name… is Harper Lorens.” He gave me another assessing look, like he seemed to think he’d already revealed something.
“Is this one of those ‘do you have any idea who I am’ moments?”
He huffed. “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Basically… my family is in the spotlight a lot.”
“Like celebrities?”
“Something like that.”
“Alright. Proceed.”
