Page 25 of Beautiful Forever
“Thanks.”
“Sure thing.” She happily pockets the money into her half apron tied around her waist. “And just in case you’re curious”—she takes his hand and writes her name and phone number across his palm—“my name is Lydia. Let me know if you want to order anything.”
“We’re good for now.” As soon as she walks away, Aleksei waves his hand directly in my face. “Remember this for me,” he says before using one of the napkins to wipe off the ink.
It annoys me when he does that because as soon as I see it, I’m not going to forget it. My brain is filled with hundreds of random phone numbers of women he’s met.
“Please stop,” I distractedly say when his hand gets in the way of my line of sight.
Balling up the napkin he just used, he chucks it at my head. “You going to talk to her or just stare at her all fucking night?”
I can’t help it. There’s something about the redhead named Syn that draws me in.
While waiting for her table’s order at the bar, the guy next to her shoots out of his stool when the Duke Blue Devils score a touchdown. Syn tries to jump out of the way, but he spills his beer all over her. I don’t know what she says to him because her hair is hiding her face, but I know exactly what he says to her in response when I read his lips.
With a pissed-off turn of the heel, Syn heads down the adjacent hallway toward the restrooms. The guy at the bar waits less than two seconds before trailing her.
I push to my feet and stand up. “Be right back.”
Aleksei automatically discerns my change of mood and follows me. “You could’ve waited until after I finished my beer.”
When I catch up with the guy, he’s about to turn the doorknob to Keith’s office. I don’t see Syn, so I assume she went in there and not the ladies’ room.
“Word of advice. The next time you want to call a woman a bitchy cunt, you’ll think twice about it.”
“Who the?—”
I punch him. Lead hook to the side of the head. The guy drops to the floor.
“Well, that was very anticlimactic.” Aleksei checks to make sure no one is coming down the hall.
Grabbing the front of the guy’s shirt, he drags his unconscious body toward the back exit door that leads out into the alley where the trash bins are located.
“The alarm will go off,” I warn him.
Not giving a shit, he pushes on the bar, but nothing happens. Keith will need to fix that.
“Give me a hand. Dude is heavy.”
“You’re not seriously going to dump him in the trash.”
I stand aside when Aleksei hefts the guy in a fireman’s carry and lifts the lid to one of the large metal receptacles. The putrid smell that comes out is stomach-churning. He tosses the guy in, then slams the lid shut. “I’m done with the whole Tristan, cloak-and-dagger thing. You’re on your own for the rest of the night.”
“Where are you going?”
He throws up his hand in a wave. “To get laid. Something you should do.”
He jogs across the street toward campus, and I know exactly who he’s heading for. Serena Worthington. Everyone thinks I’m sleeping with her, but I don’t touch Hendrix’s playthings. Aleksei, on the other hand…
I consider going back inside, then decide against it and start down the alleyway.
Me: Meet me at the bell tower.
Pyotr: Already here. You need more beer.
Sometimes, I regret that he knows the code to get in.
Me: You drank it, you pay to replace it. DoorDash some. And order a couple of pizzas. We have work to do.
