“What’s his name, Della?” he asked, voice rigid.
“It doesn’t matter.” I licked my lips, seeing Nate and Mia looking in the other direction, Justin’s questioning of me clearly making them uncomfortable.
“Yes. It does. What’s his name?” he repeated, clenching his jaw as he waited for my answer.
“Chris,” I responded quietly. There I said it. I blew out a breath, letting a little bit of tension release from my body though the air was still thick with it.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he hissed. “The same guy that knocked you up, and then didn’t give a fuck about what that bitch mother of yours made you do?”
I flinched at his words, and took a step back, away from his reach. “Justin, I make my own decisions. He’s staying in Chapel Hill on business, so we met up for lunch yesterday. I didn’t know he would be here tonight, but it doesn’t matter if he is. Nothing is going on between us. I don’t need to explain myself to you.”
“Della,” he snarled before pushing the tips of his fingers into his eyelids. I could tell he was trying like hell to calm himself down. “There’s something going on there, whether you notice it or not. He wants you, and I’m not gonna sit here and just let him have you. I don’t expect you to tell me every, single thing, and you shouldn’t have to, but we at least need to trust each other enough. This is the kind of shit that you should be telling me. Chapel Hill is over two hours away. He’s not just stopping by. He’s here for a reason.” He reached out and cupped my chin in his fingertips. “I just got you back. I’m not losing you to some douchebag that couldn’t take care of you in the first place,” he whispered in a husky voice.
“Okay,” I answered simply. I didn’t really know what exactly I agreed to, but it seemed to ease some of the tension between the two of us. He sat back down, flipping his hat forward, and took a long sip from the glass of beer Nate slid over to him. “I need to get back to work. We’ll talk later.”
He yanked me back into him before I could walk away, pressing a kiss to my forehead and then releasing me. I went back to work, mind racing the whole time over Justin’s words. Obviously, I knew Chris was there for a reason. He had told me he wanted me yesterday. I didn’t plan to clue Justin in on that, but I think he already knew. However messed up Justin’s reaction was, it told me many things. It told me that he was serious about our relationship, and he was willing to fight for it. I was glad he was taking things seriously, but he didn’t need to fight for me. I was his, as long as he didn’t mess things up.
Because I sure wouldn’t.
THE NIGHT WAS finally over, and I couldn’t be more relieved. Between getting the stare down from Justin and Chris, the insane amount of customers that had flowed in for whatever reason, and the questions that Chris kept throwing at me, I was exhausted.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew Chris had shown up, completely unexpected, to throw me off guard. He wasn’t letting up on his idea about us being something more. Things with his dad’s business didn’t seem so temporary. The times that I stopped at his table for more than a couple of seconds, he started talking to me about his apartment hunting. Strangely, the areas that he was looking at were more toward me than Chapel Hill. I didn’t know what to do.
“I’m getting ready to head out, Della.” Brian flicked out the lights over the bar. “You okay to close up?”
“Yup, I think I’m good.” I pulled out the wad of bills that I had stuffed in my apron and started laying them out in piles on the countertop.
“All right, then. I’ll see you two later.” He grinned over my head, and without even turning around, I knew that Justin was still there.
He sat at the table all night, even after Nate and Mia left. I liked that he was there, but I wasn’t sure if it was more to just see me, or if he was keeping an eye on Chris.
“You’re still here?” I fought to keep the smile out of my voice, but it was hard.
“Yup.” I felt him behind me, his hands landing on my hips, and every inch of my body tingled while I tried to count my tips. Tried. He was making it pretty much impossible to concentrate. “Did you get a chance to eat anything all night?” he murmured against my neck, dragging his teeth across the skin before pulling away.
“Um….” I shook my head, trying to form actual words. “No, I didn’t really have time.” I gathered up my money and reached over the counter for my purse. “At least I made some good tips tonight, though.”
“Yeah, it probably had a lot to do with these.” His hands slid down my legs, his fingers fiddling with the bows at the top of my knee-highs.
“Whatever. We were slammed, and it’s starting to get chilly out.”