Safe With You: Winter's Rose #1 Page 6

  She handed me a vodka mixed with cranberry juice before leaning back against the cushion. “Tell me everything.”

  “Tell you what?” I asked.

  She laughed. “Please. You start dating the hot bartender and you expect me not to ask?” She shook her head disappointedly. “First, I want to know what happened today. You’ve been in your own little world for most of today. What happened?”

  I stared at Baby and Johnny on the screen. I was unsure of how to answer this question. “I took a shower this morning.”

  “Okay?” She was confused about why I was explaining my personal hygiene routine to her.

  “I think someone was in the apartment. I felt someone watching me and when I came out of the bathroom, the door to the apartment was wide open.”

  Her eyes shot over my shoulder. “Is that why you’ve put the chain across tonight?”

  I nodded. “I checked to see if anything was missing but I don’t think there was. I checked on you and you were asleep.”

  “Do you think it was David?” she asked.

  “Yes. I was at Alex’s last night and someone put a window through in the bar. They think it was David.”

  “Why do they think that?” she asked. She looked shocked.

  “He was in there a few evenings ago, yelling. Asking what was going on between me and Alex.” I cringed, waiting for the influx of questions that I knew were coming.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?!” She smacked me lightly on my arm. “So David has gone crazy on us then.” She sighed, raising her eyebrows. “I thought he was having trouble letting go but I didn’t see this coming…”

  “You did?” I asked. Now I was confused.

  “I’ve seen him hanging around a few times.” She shrugged her shoulders. “So have you.” She leaned back and tapped her lap, gesturing for me to put my feet there.

  “I know.” I stretched my legs out, groaning when she began digging her thumbs into the arch of my foot. “He’s the one that cheated, though. He’s the one that ended this. Not me.”

  “I know.” She nodded her head. “I think he thought you’d never walk. I think he thought that you would just take it—that you’d go back to him.” She turned her head to face me. “You’re better than that. You deserve better than that.”

  “Thanks, Addie.” I smiled at her, loving how loyal she was. I’d expected her to get angry and start shouting at me for dragging her into my drama. “Alex is going to come over Friday evening and change our locks. He asked if we can keep using the chain lock when either of us are home until then.”

  “Not a problem.” She stroked her finger up the centre of my foot, tickling the skin there. “Now, spill on the real gossip.”

  “What do you want to know?” I sighed resignedly before gulping down the rest of my drink. I took her glass off her and went to the kitchen, refilling our drinks and re-joining her back on the sofa.

  “Tell me everything.” She grinned at me before taking a sip. “Have you and he…?”

  “No!” I defended. “No. But he might be here Saturday morning for breakfast.”

  “Message received.” She clinked her glass against mine.

  “What about you and James?” I asked, turning the questions back on her. “He’s a good looking man.”

  “He is.” She shook her head, crinkling her nose. “A lady never tells. Plus, I need a little bit of kink in my man, anyway.”

  “A little?” I mocked.

  She giggled. “Okay. A lot.” She tossed her head back letting out a proper laugh. “I’ve missed our chats, Charlie. We used to do this more often.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. My head has been so full lately and I—”

  “Uh, hello. You’ve just opened your own café and it’s going amazingly!” She reached over and took my hand in hers before giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m so proud of you.”

  “Thanks, Addie. I can’t believe it’s finally happening. I have to pinch myself sometimes…”

  “Let’s toast it.” She held her glass up. “To ‘Sinfully Sweet’.”

  “To friends.” I smiled, holding my glass.

  “To family,” she whispered.

  We clinked glasses before she placed her glass down on the coffee table and held her arms out for a hug.

  I copied her actions, putting my glass down and shuffled closer to her and wrapped my arms around her.

  “I’m so proud of you, Charlie.” She turned her head and kissed my cheek. “So fucking proud.”

  “Thank you, Addie.” I squeezed her extra tight before pulling away, leaning back and watching the rest of Dirty Dancing.

  As the credits rolled, I cringed when a yawn escaped. “I’m sorry.” I laughed. “I didn’t realise how tiring this job was going to be.”

  “You can go to bed?” She ended it as a question. “I’m going to hang out here and make a sexy Skype call later.”

  I laughed and leaned across, kissing her cheek. “So, if I hear any screams, I shouldn’t be alarmed, then? See you in the morning.” I gulped the rest of my drink down before dropping the glass off in the sink in the kitchen and disappearing to my room. After turning the light off, I climbed into bed. My phone lit up the dark room, alerting me to a text message.

  I grabbed my phone, smiling when I saw who it was from.

  Hope you had a good night with Addie. – A x

  I smiled, secretly loving that his thoughts were obviously on me enough for him to send a text message.

  It was lovely thanks. I just crawled into bed. – C x

  I looked at the screen, smiling when I saw the bubble appear, telling me that he was typing something. After waiting for a few moments, I frowned when it disappeared. Seconds later, my phone rang with his name appearing on the screen.

  I quickly answered it, still wondering why he hadn’t replied to my message.

  “You’re a tease,” he said before I could even say ‘hello’.

  “I am?”

  “You know you are.” I heard him sigh. “I’m stuck behind this bar imagining you in bed.”

  “Mr. Winters. You’re making me blush.” I giggled down the phone. I loved that he was comfortable enough to talk to me about this rather than a text message. “I thought you were a gentleman.”

  “I don’t know what made you think that, darling.”

  Fuck, he had a sexy voice.

  “I’ve got to go.” He sighed down the phone. “Are we still on for Friday? I was thinking we could do Chinese or something.”

  “That sounds perfect. I’ll see you on Friday.”

  “Sweet dreams, darling.”

  “Good night, Alex.” I placed my phone on the cabinet beside my bed before turning over, snuggling my head into the pillow. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face, hoping it would follow me into my dreams.

  Waking up the next morning, I groaned when I realised it was time to start the day. Looking at the clock, I saw that it was already ten minutes to six am, which meant I was already nearly half an hour late. I rolled to the side and swung my legs out of bed. Sitting on the side, my eyes still droopy, I knew that today was going to be a struggle. I stared at my reflection in the mirror, wondering if I could get away with passing on the shower until the evening.

  One look in the mirror had me shaking my head: I looked like I had shaken Fester Addams’ hand with the way that my hair was sticking up. It looked like a frizz-bomb had gone off.

  I headed for the bathroom, hanging my towel on the rail by the shower door before shutting the door, and stripped out of my pyjamas. Climbing in, I stood, waiting for the water to warm up, standing beneath the faucet.

  After washing some strawberry-scented shampoo into my hair, I used the pink, fuzzy loofah to soap up my body. As I washed my legs, I realised that I would have to shave them and other areas before Friday came.

  Friday had to be nothing other than perfect.

  9

  Alex

  Sitting in the corner of the bar on Thursday night going over the
financial figures from the last month’s takings, I took a swig from the glass coke bottle on my table. Looking at the profit figures, it was clear that Thursday’s curry evenings were our most popular nights. Each evening had a theme for our meals and the curries ensured the bar was always busy from six pm to ten-thirty.

  I always made sure to keep the ‘normal’ dishes running alongside the themed dishes so that I still attracted the customers who weren’t keen—like me—on being forced to eat a particular type of cuisine.

  I looked across at a table of four—two kids and their parents—smiling when I saw their little girl eating her slice of chocolate cake. She had chocolate all over her mouth and she appeared like she was loving it.

  “Looks like Charlie’s desserts are going down well.” James placed a burger and fries down in front of me with a tub of tomato sauce.

  “I knew they would.” I ticked a few numbers off before dunking a fry in the sauce. “Any more trouble since the whole window incident?” I waved my hand towards the now-repaired window.

  “Nothing.” He shook his head. “I had a word with the boys—Scott and John included—and I have told them to report any funny business to either you or me.”

  “Good plan.” I nodded my head at the stool opposite me. “I need you to cover me Friday night. I have a date with Charlie.”

  “How is the shop going?” he asked while stealing a fry. “I see the people going up and down. Seems pretty popular.”

  “She’s doing really well.” I could feel the smile forming on my face. “I knew she’d do well.”

  “So, uh…” He coughed to clear his throat. “What are you going to do about her ex? I didn’t realise how much of a loose screw he was.” He didn’t give me a chance to answer before he was on to the next question. “Does Addie know about him strolling into their apartment?”

  “If it was him,” I reason. “There’s no evidence that it was actually him. Just because he put my window through…”

  “Bullshit! You don’t believe that.” He had his eyebrows raised in surprise at me.

  “No, I don’t.” I tossed my pen down on the ledger. “It makes me feel better to deny it, though.”

  “Just watch your back.” He pointed his thumb to the bar before he grabbed another fry and walked back to the kitchen.

  I gazed over at Scott and saw that David was sitting on a barstool. He was continuously looking around the bar. He couldn’t see me sitting in the corner. It was one of the reasons why I sat here: peace and fucking quiet was hard to get in this place.

  After devouring my burger and fries, I waved at Scott to get his attention and pointed at my now empty coke bottle. He wasted no time in bringing one over.

  “There’s someone at the bar who wants to speak to you.” He nodded his head towards the few customers congregating there. He didn’t need to point him out. It looked like I had been found.

  “Send him over.” I nodded my head at him, not looking forward to this conversation.

  Since the day I’d opened this place, I’d always had one rule in place: control—keep a hold of it. If I lost my patience, I would only damage the business, my reputation and most importantly, my staff. I took the role of business owner seriously, and I promised myself that I would never go back to the Alex I was before this place. That Alex had been an arsehole.

  “What can I do for you?” I asked him. I gestured to the stool opposite me, hoping to get this over with.

  “I’d like to apologise,” he replied. “I’m sorry for the way that I acted last time I was here. I had no right to have a go at you about your relationship with Charlotte.”

  I looked at him, accepting that he was sorry. He had dark shadows beneath his eyes and it seemed like he hadn’t shaved in the last couple of weeks. He looked exhausted.

  “That’s okay,” I said dismissively.

  “It’s not okay.” He waved his hand in a defeating posture. “I had no right to shout at you about Charlotte. I know nothing is going on between you and her.”

  I tensed. He had a note of disgust in his tone when he emphasised the word ‘her’, almost as though the idea of her finding someone new was beyond her—almost as though she didn’t deserve to find someone new because there couldn’t be anyone better than him for her.

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “I don’t mean it to sound offensive.” He looked up at me. “I just know you and her are only friends.” He shook his head at himself. “I can only imagine the things she has told you about me and her.”

  Me and her.

  The fucker was making it really hard for me to keep hold of that control of mine at the moment. If he kept talking about him and Charlie, it was possible another window was going to get damaged when I threw his body through it.

  “She hasn’t told me anything.” I rested my elbows on the table before crossing my arms. “Just that you’re a cheating arsehole.” I gave him a big smile, trying to show how bothered I wasn’t, even though I obviously was. I expected to hit a nerve, but it just rolled off him.

  He looked over to my newly glazed window before cocking an eyebrow at me. “New window?” he asked. The fucker was mocking me now.

  “Nothing else to apologise for?” I asked, baiting him.

  “Not that I can think of.” He shrugged his shoulders before standing. “I had better be going to be honest.” He took a few steps away before I spoke up again.

  “Scott, help David to the door.”

  He turned back to look at me.

  “You’re banned from this day on.” I looked back down at my paperwork, not wanting to waste another minute on him. He was the past and the arsehole needed to accept that and move the fuck on.

  Friday was finally here and I was halfway out the door.

  “See you boys later.” I grabbed the long-stemmed daisies from where they were lying on the bar and grabbed my tool-kit with my other hand. “Any problems, don’t call me,” I joked.

  “I’ve never met anyone so excited to change a door lock before,” Addie said as she entered the room.

  James gave a wolf whistle from behind the bar.

  “Damn, woman. Where are you going dressed like that?”

  She grinned and gave us a twirl on the spot. She had a sparkly silver dress that came to her mid-thigh, her hair was curled, makeup was done and she had a very high pair of stilettos on her feet. “Thank you.” She rolled her eyes at me. “Some of us had to vacate the apartment before Mr. Hot New Bartender Boyfriend arrived.” She winked at me and looked over at James. “I’ll have a Cosmo please, handsome.” She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. “You had best get over there.”

  I nodded before walking past her, tapping her on the shoulder as I went. “I’ll leave your key with Charlie.”

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” she called after me.

  I shook my head at her confidence. I didn’t think there was anything that she wouldn’t do on a date.

  Walking up the block, I entered the code Charlie had messaged me a couple of days ago and then knocked on the door, eagerly waiting for her to answer. She didn’t keep me waiting long. The sound of the chain being unlatched met my ears before the door opened, revealing her to me.

  “Oh, wow.” I looked at her, trying to come up with something better to say.

  She was barefoot, dressed in a white, flowy summer dress that came to just past her knees.

  She giggled at my expression before she waved me in.

  “These are for you.” I held the flowers out to her. “I know you have some at the shop but now you can have some here.”

  “They are beautiful, Alex. Thank you.” She reached up and kissed my cheek, stepping aside. “I’ll go and put them in some water.”

  “No problem.” I set my toolbox on the floor and took a look at the lock. “I’ll just get started on this door.” I bent down to grab my screwdriver and began undoing the screws. Tossing the old lock on the floor, I made short work of fitting the new brass one. I also replac
ed the chain lock, not liking how thin and flimsy the previous one looked. It wouldn’t have taken much to kick the door open with only that chain for security.

  “You’ve finished already?” she asked when I walked into the kitchen.

  “You’re all protected now.” I grinned at her, loving the way that her eyes trailed over my chest. “Can I smell something cooking? Oh, before I forget, here is a key for your landlord and Addie.” I held them out to her, dropping them into her palm.

  “Well, I know you mentioned Chinese, but I thought I would cook for us instead. I hope that’s okay.” She dropped the keys on the worktop.

  “Of course.” I took a seat at the worktop, watching her stir the sauce. “So, what are you cooking?”

  “My famous BBQ chicken melts.” She leaned over and placed a bottle of Budweiser in front of me. “Is that okay?”

  “Come here.” I turned my body to the side and held my arm out, waving her closer to me.

  She took my hand and fitted her body in between my legs.

  “I’m guessing that David made you a question a lot of things. Didn’t he?” I dipped my head to catch her gaze, sensing she was trying to avoid my eyes.

  “I messed up, didn’t I?” she asked. It came out as a whisper and I knew that my question had put her on the spot.

  I didn’t want to make her feel like she was backed into a corner, but I didn't want us to lie to each other. Honesty was the only way we could do this. “You didn’t.” I shook my head before lifting our hands and linking them around my neck. “I’m not him, though, okay? Whatever went wrong in the past, let’s leave it there.”

  She frowned at me and I knew that she was reading my words.

  I wasn’t sure if I wanted her to read me. “I will never try and control you the way that he did,” I vowed. It was a promise that I would never break. I’d never had someone make me want to be a good guy, but the way that she was staring at me meant I wanted to keep it that way.

  “Something happened in your past, didn’t it?” she asked.