Page 21 of Hawk

“Sorry about that.” I shake my head, “A lot on my mind.”

Her eyes search mine, and her brows furrow. “You sure it’s nothing more?”

“Yeah, sorry. He knows I don’t date. There’s nothing more to say to him.”

“All right, sure.”

She takes the drinks from the bar and places them on her tray. When she turns her back, my gaze sweeps the room. The dance floor is packed. Multi-colored lights flicker along the dancing bodies. Couples stand close to each while they talk to others near the brick pillars. The tables to the far right are packed with people eating, drinking and laughing. As I continue to scan the area, I pass Phil who is still watching me. I make sure I don’t react. I don’t want him to know that he’s getting to me.

“Hey, T. You good?” Croy comes up behind me as I’m cracking caps from the bottles of beer.

“Yeah, why do you ask?” It’s been two hours since Pam came up to me and she hasn’t said anything more about it. He’s still there, though, sitting in the corner.

“Just checking. It’s been hella busy tonight, and you’ve been slammed.”

I bend over, grabbing another bottle from the trough of ice. “Yeah, well, it would be nice if you were back here helping.”

He laughs. “I know you got this.” He passes me, ripping a ticket from the food server. “I’ll go see if this is ready in the back and take it out to the table. I think Julie’s swapped with the extended happy hour eats tonight.”

She’s packed every Thursday night with the happy hour eats. It’s nothing new. But hey, it’s not my business, so it’s not my place to say that maybe we should have another body or two on staff tonight.

“You do what you need to do,” I say as I pull the handle on the draft beer. “Like you said, I got this.” I cut him a glare, and all he does is throw his head back and laugh before he ducks under the bar and head towards the kitchen.

“Tessa?” My heart drops at his voice. I finish topping a drink with a couple of cherries before I address Phil. He’s sitting in the only vacant seat at the bar.

I force a smile. “Hey, Phil.”

“Busy night.”

“It always is.” I give him another forced smile, and then I keep myself busy, filling drinks as the tickets pop up. Taking dirty glasses, I push them over the scrubbers, glancing up at the red digital clock that’s hanging in the corner of the bar. One more hour until I’m off.

“Can I get another, Tessa?” Phil lifts his glass up. During some point in the night, he went from beer to mixed drinks.

“Sure, what are you drinking?”

“A Tight Snatch.”

I nod and pull out the vodka, peach schnapps, orange juice, and cranberry juice. When I place the glass on the matt, he stands.

“A double, please.”

I give another nod without making eye contact and pull out a larger glass. Once I’m satisfied with the drink, I place it on a napkin and push it towards Phil. As soon as I pull my hand away from the glass, he grabs my wrist.

“Tessa.” He rubs his thumb over my irregular pulse. “I know you said no to dinner.”

“I said no—period. I’m not interested.” I tug my hand from his grip, but he only tightens his hold. I can feel my heart rate spike. “Phil–”

“I suggest you drop my girl’s hand before I rip every single one of your fingers off and shove them up your ass.”

Hawk grabs Phil’s shoulder, spinning him around to face him. I pull my hand back, rubbing where Phil’s fingers were digging into my skin. Phil pushes off his chair, standing up, not backing down from Hawk.

“Not sure who you think you are, biker boy.” Phil lifts his hand and flicks the leather covering Hawk’s chest. Phil has a severe case of liquid courage.

Everything happens so fast.

Hawk’s hand shoots up, gripping Phil by his hand before pulling it down. He takes a step towards him, kicking his out foot, making Phil spin around. Hawk has his arms pinned behind his back, lifting them up towards his shoulder blades. Phil squeezes his eyes closed, apparently in pain.

“Hawk,” I call in warning when I see people separating and tall blonde head walking swiftly toward us. When Croy gets closer, I can tell he’s pissed.