Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 122(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 152(@200wpm)___ 122(@250wpm)___ 101(@300wpm)
I do my best to be polite and shrug. “I’m going home.”
I turn to walk to the other end of the bar, but he grabs my hand and yanks me back.
“Wait. That’s not very nice, is it? We were just getting to know each other and you turned your back on me.”
“Look, I’m just here to serve drinks. I’m not looking for a hookup.” I stare daggers at him as I try to pull my hand out of his grip.
“Hookup? Did I say anything about hooking up? You have a dirty mind, Jessie. I like it.” He looks at his friend who laughs to egg him on.
“You need to let go of me,” I demand but he pulls me even closer, his hold like a vise.
“I don’t need to do anything. You just suggested a hookup and now I want you to follow through with it. You don’t know who I am, but I could buy and sell you a thousand times over.”
“With his daddy’s money,” my coworker chimes in.
The man’s face turns a light shade of purple and he barks, “Shut up, bitch. You don’t even have a daddy.”
“Let me go or I’ll have you tossed out,” I grit out.
He chuckles again and says, “You can try but I’ll have you fired.”
I find the threat funny considering that I’m about to quit, and my lips curl, which enrages him. His eyes seem to bulge out of their sockets, and he lifts his chin. “What? Do you think I’m joking? Are you laughing at me? I could take you behind this building, have my way with you, and the cops wouldn’t do a thing to me.”
“No, but I will,” a voice rings out from over his shoulder.
Relief washes over me in waves, and I press my palm to my chest. It’s Jack. How did he manage to walk up on us undetected?
“What did you say to me?” the blonde guy asks.
“Take your fucking hand off my girl before I break it off and beat you with it.”
The ever-shrinking man looks Jack up and down. “I know who you are. You work for my father.”
Jack cracks his knuckles, eyes narrowing. “No, bitch. Your father, the Assemblyman, works for me.”
Jack grabs him by his shoulders and lifts him off his feet, despite them being almost the same size. The blonde releases me and holds his hands up in the air. “I let her go, see? We don’t have a problem here.”
Jack sets him down, spins him around, and snarls, “Yes we do. You made a very disgusting threat to my girl and you’re going to apologize.”
“Okay, you’re right.” He turns his head to me and sputters, “I-I’m sorry. I’m a little drunk and shouldn’t have said that.”
I nod, still shocked by the surreal scene taking place in front of me. The entire tavern is silent except for the occasional whisper of “Do you know who that is?” from some of the patrons to their companions.
“I apologized. Now let me go!” the man squeals in a voice at least two octaves higher.
Jack flashes a sinister grin. “No. The apology was for her. The beating is all for me.”
Jack rears back and head butts the man with such force that his head bobbles on his neck. Then, with one hand, Jack tosses him across the tavern as though he weighs nothing. Two patrons rush out of the way just as the man’s body hits and upends a table.
Not satisfied with the punishment he’s inflicted thus far, Jack storms across the floor and picks him up by his collar. He punches him in the face three, four, five times then drops him like a sack of trash on the floor.
Jack is still breathing hard as he turns to me and shakes his head. The look of disappointment on his face is devastating to me. Oh god, what have I done?
“Who is that?” My coworker nudges me. “Is that your new boss?”
I don’t answer her. I can’t. In this moment, I feel like a little girl who’s been caught doing the naughtiest thing imaginable. I take off my apron and set it on the bar.
“I quit,” I tell her and walk away, not knowing if Jack will even allow me to go back to the compound. I don’t care that I’ll be unemployed if he doesn’t. If he doesn’t take me, I’ll just starve in the street.
Jack meets me as I walk to the front of the bar and takes me gently by the arm.
“You’re coming with me,” he growls.
“My car…”
“That’s a tomorrow problem. Right now, I have to deal with you.”
I should be terrified, but it doesn’t matter what punishment he has in store for me. All that matters is that he cares enough to bring me back home with him. Home. I didn’t realize until now what that massive house meant to me. It’s more than free shelter or free food.