Page 9 of Heart of Stone
Barbara, the new server we’d hired to fill in for Jade, had told me she needed to leave early to pick her husband up from work. She waved to me as she walked out with her purse and coat. She’d been waiting on Hunter and Slade.
It was still a half hour until closing, but I was down to just three tables. As the crowd thinned, it grew harder to avoid their table. When Slade slid out and pulled some money from his pocket for a tip, I nearly crumpled in relief. They walked out together. I conveniently walked into the office as they strode through the bar.
It hadn’t been easy, but I’d managed to avoid talking to Hunter all night. I had no idea how long this silence between us would last. It felt incredibly strained and awkward, but at the moment, I was sure I couldn’t talk to him without breaking into sobs. And the last thing I wanted to do was show him how hard this was on me.
By the time the last customers had finished their beers, the dishwasher and other server had clocked out for the night. I was left alone to close up. If Jade had been there, she would have stayed to help, even if she wasn’t on the clock. But I couldn’t expect it from the others. Jack had thrown his back out. His health seemed to be deteriorating with each passing month. He was close to seventy, and retirement was definitely pulling at his heels. He’d talked to me about taking over as manager, but I wasn’t sure. Lazy Daze had kept me from living in complete poverty, but I’d never really seen it as my future or career.
I flipped over the open sign and pulled down the shade on the front door. Deciding some music would help the cleanup go faster, I programmed my favorite tunes into the jukebox. Eddie Vedder crooned into the empty room, aspace that always looked much bigger after the customers had left for the night. I swept up any tips from Barbara’s tables and stuck them in an envelope with her name on it.
I walked into the office to lock up the cashier box for the night. A light tapping sound startled me. Someone was knocking on the glass door. I walked out to the bar. “We’re closed,” I called.
Jack kept a gun under the bar counter for emergencies. I had no idea if it was loaded because that kind of emergency had never come up. I also figured I was more the crack someone over the head with a bottle type than the pistol wielding type.
I couldn’t see past the shade on the front door. Another knock. I grabbed a full whiskey bottle and walked closer to the door. “We’re closed.”
“Street, it’s me.” His voice was deeper and sadder than usual.
The usual heart flutters tickled my chest. I took a deep breath and unlocked the door.
SIX
HUNTER
I’d gotten into Slade’s car, but as the front light went out and the parking lot went dark, I knew there was no damn way I was leaving Amy by herself. Even knowing I was the last person she wanted to see, I got out of the car and stomped toward the bar. Slade warned me that my pissed off mood was only going to make her madder, but I couldn’t cool myself down. She’d been acting like a damn kid, and I was done with it.
Amy opened the door. Her bottom lip turned down in a pouty frown, a face I knew too well and a face that I missed even now as she wore it in front of me. It had only been a few days, but it already felt as if she’d been ignoring me forever. I was done with this silly dance.
“I’ve fucking told Jack that he can’t let you close up alone.”
She stared up at me, silent at first but then she twisted that pouty bottom lip, a sure sign that she was pissed. “You talked to my boss? You fucking talked to my boss? What right did you have to do that?”
“I’m just looking out for you because you don’t seem tounderstand that being in here alone at night, especially in this shitty ass neighborhood, isn’t safe. Anyone could show up here?—”
“Yeah, I see that.” She walked to the first table and started piling the chairs on top. “But as you can see, I’m fine. I can use the broom to beat back any attackers. So get out and stop intruding on my life.”
I pushed the chairs off. They clattered to the floor. She stared at them for a long second. Her angry, twisted bottom lip quivered slightly. She rarely ever cried in front of me, and I was always thankful for that. Seeing her cry made me soft as fucking pudding, and I didn’t need that. “Shit, Street, it was a pair of fucking panties. I tossed them. I never even called the girl.”
“Well, you’re like a damn saint then. I thought I saw a halo floating over that big head of yours.” She moved to slide past me, but I took hold of her arm. She froze in my grasp but kept her face turned away.
“Look at me, dammit.” She reluctantly turned her face toward me. Amy could be standing in a sea of beautiful women and hers would be the only face I saw. It was something I would have told her if I hadn’t been such a fool. But I was a fool. “You know how it is with me, Amy. Nothing’s changed. Why are you acting like this?”
The lip quiver dissolved into a sob and tears filled her eyes. I was just about to pull her into my arms, but as quickly as she’d broken down into tears, a rush of anger surged through her. She pulled her arm from my grasp and began pounding my chest with her fists. And I let her. I stood there and let her swing at me with every ounce of rage she could muster.
“Everything’s changed. I’ve changed.” She hit me again. “I’m tired of waiting for a human being to peel out of this steel suit of armor,” she sobbed as she pounded me again.
I grabbed her wrists and stared at her. I knew everything about her, and she knew everything about me. I’d been there through it all with her— her crappy childhood, her dad’s drowning, her mom’s sharp turn toward insanity, and she’d been there for me too. More than once, she’d spent the night with me in the shed out behind her house, hiding me from my dad’s wrath and leather belt. She always knew everything I was feeling, but she had never understood just how important she was to me. “No matter what else I do, Street, you know at the end of the day, it’s you. You have to know that. I’m sorry if I can’t promise any more. I just don’t have it to give.”
“It’s not enough.” She turned away from me. “You’re turning me inside out, Hunter.”
She stood facing the back wall of the bar for a few seconds. Her thin shoulders lifted and fell with shuddering breaths. Then she swung around and pressed herself against me. I slammed my mouth down over hers. It was always raw and easy and natural with Amy. No pretense or fake shit or worrying about pleasing the other person. The connection was solid and real.
I lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around me as my mouth devoured hers. She’d left me wanting her like a fucking madman that night, and I hadn’t realized until right now how badly I needed to finish what we’d started. “Fuck, baby, when you walked out on me the other night, I thought I would go nuts.” I sat her on the table. She leaned back on her hands as I shoved her skirt up to her waist.Her perfect handful-sized tits pressed against her blouse. I made an honest attempt at unbuttoning it, but impatience and the insane throbbing in my cock made me grab hold of the two sides of her blouse. I ripped it open and the buttons went flying. Other girls would have been pissed, but she groaned sweetly at having her shirt torn open. The only time I didn’t use a condom was with Amy. When I was with her, I wanted nothing between us. It had always been that way when I was with her. She wasn’t just a girl I met and fucked and walked away from. She was Amy, a person who had been part of me for so long, I couldn’t remember a time without her.
Only a few lights were left on in the place. They glowed down on her making her look almost unearthly. To me, there was no one more beautiful, more funny, more goddamn irritating than Amy, and if she ever walked out of my life, I would be ripped wide open.
The round swell of her tits pushed up over the lacy pink bra. Her eyes drifted shut and her head lolled back as I yanked off her panties. “Why can’t I say no to you, Hunter? How did you take hold of me like this. I can’t shake the thought of you . . . ever.” Her voice came out on a soft mewl as I pushed her thighs wide open.
“There’s only one place in this world for me, baby, and that’s right here between your legs.” I opened my fly and pushed my pants down just enough to free my straining cock. She cried out as I pushed my cock inside of her. She was hot and slick with cream.
